Flipping the on/off switch

Change in progress in the prepositional complements of verbs like base

Bibliographic Data

ID21695343
AuthorsGuy Tabachnick (0009-0006-5705-516X, University of Nova Gorica), Laurel Mackenzie (0000-0001-6427-4762, New York University)
Year2025
Volume29
Issue4
Pages672-699
Publication date2025-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnglish Language and Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1360-6743 • E-ISSN: 1469-4379
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1360674324000716
OpenAlexW4408387304
LanguageEN
References cited20

Traditionally, verbs like base have combined with the preposition on to express a meaning of derivation ( based on ). However, many writing in a US context have noticed the rapid rise of based off (of) alongside based on (Curzan 2013; Behrens 2014; Janda 2021). In this article, we document the relative increase of off in two English-language corpora in the verb base and six other verbs. The results show a clear real-time trend of increasing use of off , with some differences in the course of the change across different verbs. We also see an increase in use of off in apparent time, which we infer from the topical organization of comments in one of our corpora, the social media site Reddit

Allomorph · Lexicalization · Linguistics · Morpheme · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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