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SUMMARY:Recent changes in the modal system of English - Joanne Close (Univ
 ersity of Leeds)
DTSTART:20100510T134500Z
DTEND:20100510T143000Z
UID:TALK24063@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Petros Karatsareas
DESCRIPTION:'Current' or 'recent' change is an emerging research area whic
 h recognises that short-term changes are an important part of grammar syst
 ems. Electronic corpora such as the Diachronic Corpus of Present Day Engli
 sh (DCPSE) developed at the Survey of English Usage\, University College L
 ondon\, make it possible to study recent linguistic changes.\n\nThis paper
  uses data from DCPSE to investigate changes in the modal system of Englis
 h that have occurred over a thirty year period from the early 1960s to the
  early 1990s. The core modals _must_\, _shall_ and _will_ are examined and
  the following questions are addressed:\n\n* Are the core modals decreasin
 g?\n* Are the core modals becoming 'monosemous'?\n\nFollowing recent work 
 on the English modal system which suggests a possible 'competition' betwee
 n core modals and semi-modals (see Krug (2000)\, Leech (2003)\, Smith (200
 3) and Tagliamonte and Smith (2006)\, among others)\, a third question wil
 l also be considered:\n\n* Can changes in the core modals be correlated wi
 th changes in the use and frequency of use of the semi-modals (_have to_\,
  _have got to_ and _be going to_).    \n\nKrug\, M. (2000) _Emerging Engli
 sh Modals: A Corpus-Based Study of Grammaticalization_.	 Berlin & New York
 : Mouton de Gruyter.\n\nLeech\, G. (2003) "Modality on the move: the Engli
 sh modal auxiliaries 1961-1992". In Facchinetti\, R. et al.\, _Modality in
  Contemporary English_. Berlin & New York: Mouton de	Gruyter. 223-240.\n\n
 Smith\, N. (2003) Changes in modals and semi-modals of strong obligation a
 nd epistemic necessity in recent British English In Facchinetti\, R. et al
 .\, _Modality in Contemporary	English_. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyt
 er. 241-266.\n\nTagliamonte\, S. & J. Smith (2006) Layering\, competition 
 and a twist of fate. _Diachronica_ 23: 2\, 	341-380.\n
LOCATION:Bowett Room\, Queens’ College\, Cambridge
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