Australian Journal of Linguistics

Vol. 7, no. 1 (1987)

Articles

Variation in the lexical verb in Inner-Sydney English	Edina Eisikovits	1-24
Verbs of result in the complements of raising constructions	Thor May	25-41
The evolution of a Cantonese phonotactic constraint	John Newman	43-72
Dependent or not? Drawing a line in verb valency	Peter Paul	73-96
The semantics of auxiliary inversion in English	John Penhallurick	97-128

Book reviews

Relevance: Communication and cognition (D. Sperber & D. Wilson)	Paddy Austin	129-137
Educational linguistics (Michael Stubbs)	David Corson	137-144
Explanations for language universals (Brian Butterworth, Bernard Comrie & Östen Dahl, editors)	Graham Mallinson	144-150
Computational linguistics: An introduction (Ralph Grishman)	Roland Sussex	150-154
International English usage (Loreto Todd & Ian Hancock)	Laurie Bauer	154-158

Shorter notices

Features and projections (P. Muysken & H. van Riemsdijk, editors)	Dudley K. Nylander	159-161
Diversity and development in English-related creoles (Ian F. Hancock, editor)	Karl J. Franklin	161-163
A new course in Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin) (Tom Dutton & Dicks Thomas)	Karl J. Franklin	163-164

Abstracts

Variation in the lexical verb in Inner-Sydney English

Edina Eisikovits

Abstract: Together with the use of double negatives, the use of non-standard verb forms is generally stigmatised in all varieties of English, including Australian English. But although we all know, for example, that some speakers use done for the past tense of do, or went for the past participle of go, we have little systematic knowledge regarding the nature or extent of this variation. Shnukal's (1978) study of Cessnock English is the only Australian study which attempts to quantify the occurrence of non-standard past tense and past participle verb forms, or to explore systematically the linguistic and non-linguistic factors which influence this variation, while Cheshire (1982) provides an investigation of variation in present tense verb forms in Reading English. This paper attempts to fill this gap by examining the variation in the lexical verb apparent in the speech of Inner-Sydney adolescents. The focus of this paper will be on variation in irregular past tense and past participle forms. Two main questions will be addressed in order to identify the system underlying the variation apparent, and where appropriate, some remarks relating this variation to historical patterns are also included: (i) What kinds of variation occur?, (ii) What linguistic/non-linguistic factors influence this variation?

The semantics of auxiliary inversion in English

John Penhallurick

Abstract: The form and scope of auxiliary inversion in English is examined, and it is suggested that auxiliary inversion is a word-order form, signalling that some uncertainty attaches in some way to the predicate. This meaning is shown to be semantically appropriate for all of the contexts (conditional clauses, questions, initial negatives, 'other openers' and wishes) in which inversion appears. The importance of discourse context is stressed. Cases of pseudo-auxiliary inversion, involving be and have, are explained.

Last update: 5 May 2000
Comments to Tim Curnow