Getting at GET in World Englishes: A Corpus-Based Semasiological-Syntactic Analysis

Despite Its Exceptional Frequency And Versatility, Get Has Never Been A Focus Of Research In Its Entire Variability, Which Goes From Lexical To Grammatical Uses, Nor In Large Amounts Of Data From Different Varieties Of English. The Present Corpus-based Study Deals With Over 11,600 Tokens Of Get In Written And Spoken Language From Three Varieties Of English And Thus Provides New Insights For Variationist Linguistics. Firstly, It Offers A Comprehensive Semasiological-syntactic Analysis Of Get, I.e. An Analysis Of All Its Meanings And All The Constructions Into Which It Enters, Suggesting Ten Categories As Being Necessary For Its Complete Description. Secondly, It Contributes To The Understanding Of Factors That Are At Work In Variation In World Englishes And Lead To Quantitative Differences Between Regional Standard Varieties. Thus, The Present Study Demonstrates That The Use Of Get In The New Englishes Analysed Is Less Affected By Substrate Effects Than By The Effects Of Second Language Acquisition And The Varying Influence Of British And American English Norms. Moreover, It Can Be Shown That The New Englishes Display More Grammatical Uses Of Get Than Does British English. Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- List Of Figures -- List Of Tables -- Introduction -- Get : Origins And Previous Research -- Aims And Overview Of The Present Study -- Theoretical And Methodological Framework -- Models Of World Englishes -- The Sociolinguistic Situation Of Jamaica And Singapore -- Database -- Methodological Stance -- Issues And Factors In The Variation Of Get In World Englishes -- Prescriptivism -- The Colloquial Style Of Get -- Substrate Effects -- Effects Of Second Language Acquisition -- Influence Of The Two Major Standard Varieties -- Analysis Of Surface Forms Of Get In World Englishes -- Token Frequencies Of Get -- Word-forms Of Get -- Semasiological-syntactic Analysis Of Get In World Englishes -- Verb-complementational Profile Of Get -- Monotransitive And Ditransitive Get -- Theoretical Background And Hypotheses -- Results : Frequencies And Forms -- Results : Meaning -- Results : Mode And Genre -- Summary -- Get As A Linking Verb -- Get-passives -- Theoretical Background And Hypotheses -- Results : Frequencies -- Results : Mode And Genre -- Results : Grammaticalisation And Meaning -- Summary -- Causative Get-passives -- Get-existentials -- Theoretical Background And Hypotheses -- Methodology -- Results : Frequencies And Mode -- Results : Subtypes -- Results : Genre -- Summary -- Get-pvs -- Theoretical Background And Hypotheses -- Results : Frequencies -- Results : Forms, Range, Versatility, And Meaning -- Results : Mode And Genre -- Summary -- Get As A Verb Of Motion -- Possessive (have) Got -- Theoretical Background And Hypotheses -- Results : Frequencies And Forms -- Results : Mode And Genre -- Summary -- Semi-modal (have) Got To -- Theoretical Background And Hypotheses -- Results : Frequencies And Forms -- Results : Mode And Genre -- Results : Meaning -- Summary -- Catenative Get -- Get-chunks -- Theoretical Background And Hypotheses -- Lexical Bundles With Get -- Collocates Of Get -- Get-idioms -- Summary -- Discussion And Summary -- The Position Of Get On The Lexis-grammar Continuum -- Summary : Issues And Factors Revisited -- Conclusion And Outlook -- References -- Index. Elisabeth Bruckmaier. Originally Presented As The Author's Thesis (doctoral)--lmu, Munich, 2015. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 315-325) And Index.