3 - The feature catalogue

Summary

This chapter details the 57-feature catalogue that serves as the basis for the study's analysis of morphosyntax aggregates. We sketch the feature selection criteria (Section 3.2) and the technicalities of the extraction process (Section 3.3). We also present concise literature reviews for each of the features considered (Section 3.4). Section 3.5 is a chapter summary that discusses some of the frequency variability thus uncovered against the backdrop of the literature.

The feature catalogue: an overview

What follows is a list of features in the catalogue, annotated with linguistic examples. The features fall into eleven major domains of English morphosyntax: pronouns and determiners, the noun phrase, primary verbs, tense and aspect, modality, verb morphology, negation, agreement, relativization, complementation, and word order and discourse phenomena.

A. Pronouns and determiners

1. [1] non-standard reflexives (e.g. they didn't go theirself)

2. [2] standard reflexives (e.g. they didn't go themselves)

3. [3] archaic thee/thou/thy (e.g. I tell thee a bit more)

4. [4] archaic ye (e.g. ye'd dancing every week)

5. [5] us (e.g. us couldn't get back, there was no train)

6. [6] them (e.g. I wonder if they'd do any of them things today)

B. The noun phrase

1. [7] synthetic adjective comparison (e.g. he was always keener on farming)

2. [8] the of -genitive (e.g. the presence of my father)

3. [9] the s-genitive (e.g. my father's presence)

4. [10] preposition stranding (e.g. the very house which it was in)

5. [11] cardinal number + years (e.g. I was there about three years)

6. [12] cardinal number + year-Ø (e.g. she were three year old)