Abstract
Across English varieties, frequent subject + epistemic/evidential verb constructions have been reanalysed as formulaic stance markers capable of introducing an embedded clause in the absence of that. I think has grammaticalised further and can occur in a syntactically parenthetical location in an utterance as an ‘epistemic parenthetical’. This chapter explores the emergence of grammatical constraints on think usage in a collection of State Library of Western Australia oral histories. The corpus features 39 speakers of Anglo-Celtic Australian English born between 1874 and 1983. Findings indicate that it is not until the late 20th century that parenthetical I think emerges as a grammatically entrenched variable with pragmatic functions involving the expression of opinion and the mitigation of negative judgement. Keywords: epistemic; evidential; think; Australian English; parenthetical
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Grammatical Change in English World-Wide |
Editors | Peter Collins |
Place of Publication | The Netherlands |
Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company |
Pages | 205-219 |
ISBN (Print) | 9789027203755 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |