Notes on the Development of Existential They
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7627372 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Montgomery (0000-0002-7389-5007), Michael W Montgomery (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 81 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 132-145 |
| Publication date | 2006-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Speech (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0003-1283 • E-ISSN: 1527-2133 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00031283-2006-009 |
| OpenAlex | W2037020827 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 8 |
This paper examines expletive they, a form occasionally noted in the literature (especially on Appalachian English) but heretofore not analyzed. It examines phonological and syntactic patterns in which the form occurs and explores four hypotheses for its development. Two of these posit that expletive they reflects a phonological process of postvocalic /r/ loss from expletive there and a third that it is derived from pronominal they, which has an identical phonological shape. Historical citations support only a fourth possibility, which argues that expletive they can be traced to Ulster and ultimately to Scotland in the seventeenth century and has been in variation with expletive there for 400 years. The form is thus seen to have had a long and complex history in both the United States and the British Isles
Astrophysics · Epistemology · Existentialism · Linguistics · Physics · Variation (astronomy · History · Lexicography and Language Studies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 2006 - 2026 (21) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |