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Be like and the Constant Rate Effect: from the bottom to the top of the S-curve

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2020

MATT HUNT GARDNER Open the ORCID record for MATT HUNT GARDNER [Opens in a new window] ,
DEREK DENIS Open the ORCID record for DEREK DENIS [Opens in a new window] ,
MARISA BROOK Open the ORCID record for MARISA BROOK [Opens in a new window]  and
SALI A. TAGLIAMONTE Open the ORCID record for SALI A. TAGLIAMONTE [Opens in a new window]
MATT HUNT GARDNER
Affiliation:
Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics (QLVL), Linguistics Research Unit, KU Leuven, Blijde-Inkomststraat 21, Box 3308, 3000Leuven, Belgiummatt.gardner@kuleuven.be
DEREK DENIS
Affiliation:
Department of Language Studies, University of Toronto Mississauga, Maanjiwe nendamowinan 4162, 3359 Mississauga Road, MississaugaONL5L 1C6Canadaderek.denis@utoronto.ca
MARISA BROOK
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto, Sidney Smith Hall, Room 4055, 100 St George Street, TorontoONM5S 3G3, Canadamarisa.brook@utoronto.ca
SALI A. TAGLIAMONTE
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto, Sidney Smith Hall, Room 4075, 100 St George Street, TorontoONM5S 3G3, Canadasali.tagliamonte@utoronto.ca
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Abstract

The be like quotative emerged rapidly around the English-speaking world and has quickly saturated the quotative systems of young speakers in multiple countries. We study be like (and its covariants) in two communities – Toronto, Canada, and York, United Kingdom – in apparent time and at two separate points in real time. We trace the apparent-time trajectory of be like and its covariants from inception to saturation. We take advantage of the prodigious size of our dataset to examine understudied aspects of the linguistic factors that condition quotative variation. Building on earlier suggestions (Cukor-Avila 2002; Durham et al.2012) that be like might show patterning over time consistent with the Constant Rate Effect (or CRE, Kroch 1989), we argue that the CRE does indeed apply to the rise of be like, but needs to be handled with care. Logistic modelling assumes that the top of the S-curve is located at 100 per cent of a given variable context. In the case of be like, the saturation point is nearer 75–85 per cent, with minor variants retaining small semantic footholds in the system. In conjunction with our analysis, we suggest how to adapt the predictions of the CRE to changes likely to lead to saturation but not categorical use.

Keywords

quotativeslanguage variation and changebe likeconstant rate effectcomparative sociolinguistics
Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , June 2021 , pp. 281 - 324
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020 Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

We are indebted to Bill Haddican, Mercedes Durham, and their collaborators for kindly allowing us to use the data from Durham et al. (2012); the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto and its International Course Module programme for sponsoring the data-collection in York in 2013; the University of York, particularly Sam Hellmuth; York St John University, especially Andrew Merrison; the Killam Trusts; the Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom (ESRC) for research grants between 1996 and 2003; the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for research grants from 2001 to the present; our audiences at Change and Variation in Canada 7 (Toronto, ON, 4-5 May 2013), NWAV 42 (Pittsburgh, PA, 4-5 October 2013) and the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (Washington, DC, 7-10 January 2016). Specifically, we would like to thank Laura Wright, Alexandra D'Arcy and three anonymous reviewers for their comments, as well as the Language Variation and Change Group at the University of Toronto. We also acknowledge the following undergraduate students for collecting new data in 2013: Al-Hawra Al-Saad, Shakeera Baker, Matthew Barozzino, Anjanie Brijpaul, Sarah Cao, Kwan Chan, Judy Chau, Jasmine Po Yan Choi, Suekyoung Choi, Annita Chow, Yeogai Choy, Leif Conti-Groome, Susana Coto, Naomi Cui, Joel Dearden, Alice Dutheil, Younghoon Eom, Izzy Erlich, Neil Fletcher Hoving, Dylan Fotiadis, Samantha Fowler, Leor Freedman, Paula Garces, Francesca Granata, Norhan Haroun, Jangho Hong, Rong Huang, Yanling Huang, Sherry Hucklebridge, Chia-Tzu Juan, Yerbol Kerimov, Sherina Khan, Parisa Khosraviani, Caroline Kramer, Ophelia Kwong, Brian Lang, Victor LeFort, Jian Li, Shengnan Li, Jennifer Li, Yayun Liang, Samantha Pei-Hsuan Lu, Grace Lui, Kit Lui, Hanna Lyle, Julienne Mackay, Vanessa Mak, Eula Mangantulao, Bianca Masalin-Basi, Jonathan Mastrogiacomo, Robin McLeod, Denise Medina, Trista Mueller, Anoja Nagarajah, Diana Nicholls, Jungwook Park, Tae Park, Victoria Peter, Jennifer Pratt, Monty Preston, Assad Quraishi, Philipp Rechtberger, Maria Recto, Heather Regasz-Rethy, Kristen Santos, Louise Shen, Maksym Shkvorets, Brianna Stein, Patricia Thompson, Stephanie Travassos, Khoa Tu, Yi Wang, Luke West, Ravi Wood, Jessica Yeung, and Sung-Jun Yoon.

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