Marisa Brooks
Biographic Data
| ID | 820127 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Marisa Brooks |
| GIVEN NAMES | Marisa |
| FAMILY NAME | Brooks |
| SIGNATURE | BROOKS M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0400-2962 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
A linguistic phoenix
For seven years in a row (2016 through 2022), we carried out a project with two goals. One was to train undergraduate students in sociolinguistic interviewing; the other was to catch change among English intensifiers. We expected to find an innovative variant, maybe either so or super . However, the incoming form we identify is very . We propose that, after a long decline, very became unusual enough to gain novelty value and be available for recy…
Constraints on speech rate
Research questions: Polinsky argues that speech rate in heritage languages is highly correlated with proficiency level. In sociolinguistics studies, speech rate in monolingual speakers is found to be conditioned by social factors. What occurs when both proficiency and social factors vary? Is speech rate a valid measure of proficiency? Methodology: We use two automated methods of measuring articulation rate (syllables per second), cross-referenced…
Obsolescence and abortive innovations in variationist approaches to language change
The focus of most variationist studies of linguistic change to date has been the emergence and increase of new forms. The opposing process—obsolescence, or the decline and loss of older variants—is less well understood. Addressing several calls for more attention to be paid to obsolescence and its properties, this article surveys case studies mostly from English and French and suggests generalisations. Obsolescence, for many reasons, is a very lo…
The origins of pretend like
Like can be a finite complementizer in present-day varieties of English after a few verbs of perception, apparentness, and/or behavior. Normally, like in this function is an innovation that has replaced the earlier variants as if and as though. Pretend like CP appears to be an exception: it is not clear that a precedent exists in the form of pretend as if or pretend as though. To investigate, this study employs the Corpus of Historical American E…
As if, as though , and like in Canadian English
This article traces the history of the minor complementisers as if , as though , and like (when they follow evidential verbs such as seem and look ) in Canadian English. By the 21st century, both as if and as though were rare in Canada, while like appeared to have become popular ( López-Couso and Méndez-Naya 2012b ). The Victoria English Archive ( D’Arcy 2011–2014 , 2015 ; Roeder, Onosson, and D’Arcy 2018 ) is used to map out the change in a comb…
Language play is language variation
This article argues that language play is intimately related to linguistic variation and change. Using two corpora of online present-day English, we investigate playful conversion of adjectives into abstract nouns (e.g. made of awesome ∅), uncovering consistent rule-governed patterning in the grammatical constraints in spite of this option stemming from deliberate subversion of standard overt suffixation. Building on Haspelmath's (1999) notion of…
Be like and the Constant Rate Effect
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 prodi…
I feel like and it feels like
The collocation I feel like has attracted American media attention for reportedly being newly ubiquitous (Baker 2013, Smith 2015, Worthen 2016). While I have proposed that it is becoming an epistemic marker in North American dialects of English (Brook 2011: 65), I have made this prediction of (it) feels like as well. The present study artificially restricts the conventional envelope of variation to evaluate what distinguishes these two phrases in…
Peaks and arrowheads of vernacular reorganization
A key component of Labov's (2001:411) socially motivated projection model of language change is the hypothesis that adolescents and preadolescents undergo a process of vernacular reorganization, which leads to a “seamless” progression of changes in progress. Between the ages of approximately five and 17, children and adolescents increase the “frequency, extent, scope, or specificity” of changes in progress along the community trajectory (Labov, 2…
Taking it up a level
This paper uncovers evidence for two linked levels of morphosyntactic change occurring in Canadian English. The more ordinary is a lexical replacement: with finite subordination after seem, the complementizer like has been overtaking all the alternatives ( as if, as though, that, and Ø ). On top of this, there is a broader syntactic change whereby the entire finite structure (now represented primarily by like ) is beginning to catch on at the exp…
I don't come off as timid anymore
The period from ages 18 to 25 is sometimes called 'emerging adulthood' (Arnett , ) since it has come to be characterized by major life transitions. Linguistically, this means that lifespan change in the individual (Sankoff , ) might be particularly likely during these years (Labov : 447; Bigham : 533; Kohn : 20). Addressing a need for more real-time sociolinguistic research on early adulthood, we employ data from a panel study of a single speaker…
Interactive Name Databases as an Introduction to Social Factors and Graph Interpretation
Review Article| May 01 2017 Interactive Name Databases as an Introduction to Social Factors and Graph Interpretation Marisa Brook Marisa Brook Michigan State University Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google American Speech (2017) 92 (2): 264–278. https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-4202064 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Marisa Brook; Interactive Name Databases as…
Why Does Canadian English Use try to but British English Use try And? Let's Try and/to Figure It Out
This article examines the variation between try to and try and in two major varieties of English, Canadian and British. Embedding our research in earlier studies of corpora, we extend our knowledge of this phenomenon to vernacular community-based dialect data. Comparative sociolinguistic analysis and statistical methods establish the significant mechanisms underlying the alternation. Unexpected social patterns in the United Kingdom point to a cha…
Peaks and arrowheads of vernacular reorganization
A key component of Labov's (2001:411) socially motivated projection model of language change is the hypothesis that adolescents and preadolescents undergo a process of vernacular reorganization, which leads to a “seamless” progression of changes in progress. Between the ages of approximately five and 17, children and adolescents increase the “frequency, extent, scope, or specificity” of changes in progress along the community trajectory (Labov, 2…
Taking it up a level
This paper uncovers evidence for two linked levels of morphosyntactic change occurring in Canadian English. The more ordinary is a lexical replacement: with finite subordination after seem, the complementizer like has been overtaking all the alternatives ( as if, as though, that, and Ø ). On top of this, there is a broader syntactic change whereby the entire finite structure (now represented primarily by like ) is beginning to catch on at the exp…
I don't come off as timid anymore
The period from ages 18 to 25 is sometimes called 'emerging adulthood' (Arnett , ) since it has come to be characterized by major life transitions. Linguistically, this means that lifespan change in the individual (Sankoff , ) might be particularly likely during these years (Labov : 447; Bigham : 533; Kohn : 20). Addressing a need for more real-time sociolinguistic research on early adulthood, we employ data from a panel study of a single speaker…
Language play is language variation
This article argues that language play is intimately related to linguistic variation and change. Using two corpora of online present-day English, we investigate playful conversion of adjectives into abstract nouns (e.g. made of awesome ∅), uncovering consistent rule-governed patterning in the grammatical constraints in spite of this option stemming from deliberate subversion of standard overt suffixation. Building on Haspelmath's (1999) notion of…
Obsolescence and abortive innovations in variationist approaches to language change
The focus of most variationist studies of linguistic change to date has been the emergence and increase of new forms. The opposing process—obsolescence, or the decline and loss of older variants—is less well understood. Addressing several calls for more attention to be paid to obsolescence and its properties, this article surveys case studies mostly from English and French and suggests generalisations. Obsolescence, for many reasons, is a very lo…
Why Does Canadian English Use try to but British English Use try And? Let's Try and/to Figure It Out
This article examines the variation between try to and try and in two major varieties of English, Canadian and British. Embedding our research in earlier studies of corpora, we extend our knowledge of this phenomenon to vernacular community-based dialect data. Comparative sociolinguistic analysis and statistical methods establish the significant mechanisms underlying the alternation. Unexpected social patterns in the United Kingdom point to a cha…
Interactive Name Databases as an Introduction to Social Factors and Graph Interpretation
Review Article| May 01 2017 Interactive Name Databases as an Introduction to Social Factors and Graph Interpretation Marisa Brook Marisa Brook Michigan State University Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google American Speech (2017) 92 (2): 264–278. https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-4202064 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Marisa Brook; Interactive Name Databases as…
Taking it up a level
This paper uncovers evidence for two linked levels of morphosyntactic change occurring in Canadian English. The more ordinary is a lexical replacement: with finite subordination after seem, the complementizer like has been overtaking all the alternatives ( as if, as though, that, and Ø ). On top of this, there is a broader syntactic change whereby the entire finite structure (now represented primarily by like ) is beginning to catch on at the exp…
I don't come off as timid anymore
The period from ages 18 to 25 is sometimes called 'emerging adulthood' (Arnett , ) since it has come to be characterized by major life transitions. Linguistically, this means that lifespan change in the individual (Sankoff , ) might be particularly likely during these years (Labov : 447; Bigham : 533; Kohn : 20). Addressing a need for more real-time sociolinguistic research on early adulthood, we employ data from a panel study of a single speaker…
Peaks and arrowheads of vernacular reorganization
A key component of Labov's (2001:411) socially motivated projection model of language change is the hypothesis that adolescents and preadolescents undergo a process of vernacular reorganization, which leads to a “seamless” progression of changes in progress. Between the ages of approximately five and 17, children and adolescents increase the “frequency, extent, scope, or specificity” of changes in progress along the community trajectory (Labov, 2…
I feel like and it feels like
The collocation I feel like has attracted American media attention for reportedly being newly ubiquitous (Baker 2013, Smith 2015, Worthen 2016). While I have proposed that it is becoming an epistemic marker in North American dialects of English (Brook 2011: 65), I have made this prediction of (it) feels like as well. The present study artificially restricts the conventional envelope of variation to evaluate what distinguishes these two phrases in…
Be like and the Constant Rate Effect
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 prodi…
As if, as though , and like in Canadian English
This article traces the history of the minor complementisers as if , as though , and like (when they follow evidential verbs such as seem and look ) in Canadian English. By the 21st century, both as if and as though were rare in Canada, while like appeared to have become popular ( López-Couso and Méndez-Naya 2012b ). The Victoria English Archive ( D’Arcy 2011–2014 , 2015 ; Roeder, Onosson, and D’Arcy 2018 ) is used to map out the change in a comb…
Language play is language variation
This article argues that language play is intimately related to linguistic variation and change. Using two corpora of online present-day English, we investigate playful conversion of adjectives into abstract nouns (e.g. made of awesome ∅), uncovering consistent rule-governed patterning in the grammatical constraints in spite of this option stemming from deliberate subversion of standard overt suffixation. Building on Haspelmath's (1999) notion of…
Constraints on speech rate
Research questions: Polinsky argues that speech rate in heritage languages is highly correlated with proficiency level. In sociolinguistics studies, speech rate in monolingual speakers is found to be conditioned by social factors. What occurs when both proficiency and social factors vary? Is speech rate a valid measure of proficiency? Methodology: We use two automated methods of measuring articulation rate (syllables per second), cross-referenced…
Obsolescence and abortive innovations in variationist approaches to language change
The focus of most variationist studies of linguistic change to date has been the emergence and increase of new forms. The opposing process—obsolescence, or the decline and loss of older variants—is less well understood. Addressing several calls for more attention to be paid to obsolescence and its properties, this article surveys case studies mostly from English and French and suggests generalisations. Obsolescence, for many reasons, is a very lo…
The origins of pretend like
Like can be a finite complementizer in present-day varieties of English after a few verbs of perception, apparentness, and/or behavior. Normally, like in this function is an innovation that has replaced the earlier variants as if and as though. Pretend like CP appears to be an exception: it is not clear that a precedent exists in the form of pretend as if or pretend as though. To investigate, this study employs the Corpus of Historical American E…
A linguistic phoenix
For seven years in a row (2016 through 2022), we carried out a project with two goals. One was to train undergraduate students in sociolinguistic interviewing; the other was to catch change among English intensifiers. We expected to find an innovative variant, maybe either so or super . However, the incoming form we identify is very . We propose that, after a long decline, very became unusual enough to gain novelty value and be available for recy…
Linguistic Variation and Morphology (12 works) · Linguistics (12 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (9 works) · History (8 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (6 works) · History (5 works) · Philosophy (5 works) · Psychology (5 works)