Linguistic Perspectives on a Variable English Morpheme

Laura Rupp is a Universitair Hoofddocent Engelse Taalkunde at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Her research interest embrace grammatical variation and change, the interface between grammar and discourse-pragmatics, and (diversity in) English pronunciation. Her most recent research projects have been on verbal –s in English and variation in the use of articles.David Britain is Professor of Modern English Linguistics at the University of Bern, Switzerland. His research interests embrace language variation and change, varieties of English (especially in Southern England, the Southern Hemisphere and the Pacific), dialect contact and attrition, dialect ideologies, and the dialectology-human geography interface, especially with respect to space/place, urban/rural and the role of mobilities.

“Whether diagrammatic iconicity is really the underlying motivation for these phenomena or rather a very general observable outcome is a matter up for further discussion, for which this volume provides considerable incentive. … This volume could serve as a precursor for future fruitful discussions predicated on this proposed integrative approach.” (Nikolaus Wildner, Language in Society, Vol. 51 (5), 2022)

• Introduction.- Chapter 1: Verbal –s.- Chapter 2: Verbal Zero.- Chapter 3: Past BE.- Chapter 4: Verbal –s in Existential there sentences.- Conclusion.