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A new approach to transitive expletives: evidence from Belfast English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2007

ALISON HENRY  and
SIOBHAN COTTELL
ALISON HENRY
Affiliation:
School of Communication, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Shore Road, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, N. [email protected], [email protected]
SIOBHAN COTTELL
Affiliation:
School of Communication, University of Ulster at Jordanstown, Shore Road, Newtownabbey BT37 0QB, N. [email protected], [email protected]
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Abstract

This article discusses the existence of transitive expletives in a variety of English. Belfast English has none of the features previously proposed as licensing transitive expletives, but nevertheless allows these, calling into question previous analyses of the licensing of this structure. This article considers the properties of transitive expletives in this variety, showing that they are restricted to sentences where the associate is quantified, and that the associate can appear in a range of positions, similar but not identical to those available to ‘floated’ quantifiers. It is argued that Belfast English has a higher merge position for the expletive than does Standard English, and that the general availability in English of quantifier positions between T and vP – perhaps because auxiliaries in English head phases, and phases can be closed by a quantification – means that, even though Belfast English is not a Verb Second language, a position is available for both the expletive and the associate.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 11 , Issue 2: Special issue on English dialect syntax , July 2007 , pp. 279 - 299
Copyright
Cambridge University Press 2007

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