当代英语中的语法变迁——运用对应语料库追踪语言变化

How Grammar Has Been Changing in Recent English:Using Comparable Corpora to Track Linguistic Change

本文阐述一种基于语料库研究语言变化的方法,集中探讨英国英语和美国英语中最近的语法变迁。该研究方法对匹配的对应语料库进行比较,所用语料库均采用准确对等的抽样方法对间隔大致相同时间的书面语进行抽样提取语料样本。该研究揭示了英语用法增加和减少极为显著的模式,如进行体使用的增加与被动语态使用的减少,并通过口语化、语法化、美国化、密集化和规约化进程来解释上述变化。

This article describes a corpus-based method of studying language change, focusing on the recent history of British and American English grammar. The method involves the comparison of matching corpora, precisely and equivalently sam- pled from the use of the written language, and separated by （approximately） equal intervals of time. The study reveals strikingly significant patterns of declining and increasing frequency ： for example, increasing use of the progressive aspect and decreasing use of the passive voice. As likely explanations for such changes, processes such as colloquialization, grammaticalization, Ameri- canization, densification and prescriptivism are invoked.