The Morphology of English Dialects Verb-Formation in Non-standard English [Paperback]

This book argues that, contrary to popular opinion, dialects do have a grammar, and that 'non standard' language often makes more sense.Why do we insist on using words that are 'wrong'? In this engaging study, Lieselotte Anderwald argues that dialects, contrary to popular opinion, do have a grammar, and commonly used words that deviate from Standard English have a long pedigree and systematically make more sense.Why do we insist on using words that are 'wrong'? In this engaging study, Lieselotte Anderwald argues that dialects, contrary to popular opinion, do have a grammar, and commonly used words that deviate from Standard English have a long pedigree and systematically make more sense.Where do dialects differ from Standard English, and why are they so remarkably resilient? This new study argues that commonly used verbs that deviate from Standard English for the most part have a long pedigree. Analysing the language use of over 120 dialect speakers, Lieselotte Anderwald demonstrates that not only are speakers justified historically in using these verbs, systematically these non-standard forms actually make more sense. By constituting a simpler system, they are generally more economical than their Standard English counterparts. Drawing on data collected from the Freiburg English Dialect Corpus (FRED), this innovative and engaging study comes directly from the forefront of this field, and will be of great interest to students and researchers of English language and linguistics, morphology and syntax.1. Introduction; 2. Past tense theories; 3. Naturalness and the English past tense system; 4. Sellt and knowed: non-standard weak verbs; 5. Drunk, seen, done and eat: 2-part instead of 3-part paradigms; 6. Come and run: non-standard strong verbs with a 1-part paradigm; 7. Conclusion: supralocalization and morphological theories.