The dialogic nature of nonstandard English
Journal Title: Token: A Journal of English Linguistics - Year 2016, Vol 5, Issue 1
Abstract
The purpose of this text is to describe nonstandard speech events from a dialogic point of view. Dialogism, as defined by Bakhtin himself, refers to the interplay between a speaker’s discourse and other uses of language which are exterior to her/him or related to former ones. Analyzing nonstandard utterances actually reveals the speaker’s ambiguity which combines two distinct discursive planes – attitudinal and predicative. Starting from the assumption that some of the nonstandard constructions (i.e. negative concord, existential it-clauses, preverbal done, and double modal constructions) date back to Early Modern English, I will take the view that nonstandard speech events exist in the context of a continuum, and contribute to a better understanding of the system.
Authors and Affiliations
Patrice Larroque
Keywords
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