Abstract
Accurate circumscription of the Variable context is crucial to ally quantitative analysis Of linguistic variation. Investigations of past inflection ill African American Vernacular English and Caribbean English creoles thus generally include a more or less detailed section concerning the inclusion Or exclusion of particular forms the theoretical, grounds oil which these decisions are made. ...
Abstract
Accurate circumscription of the Variable context is crucial to ally quantitative analysis Of linguistic variation. Investigations of past inflection ill African American Vernacular English and Caribbean English creoles thus generally include a more or less detailed section concerning the inclusion Or exclusion of particular forms the theoretical, grounds oil which these decisions are made. however, Lire not always spelled out. Consequently, there still does not seem to be agreement on what Precisely constitutes the envelope of variation in such investigations-a fact that not only complicates data extraction and analysis bill also hampers cross-variety comparisons. This article summarizes and evaluates previous definitions of the scope and relevant contexts of the variable (ed), providing, internal (linguistic) argumentation supporting or contraindicating the inclusion or exclusion of, particular tokens. My data stern from a larger study of past temporal reference in the Urban variety of Bahamian Creole English (Hackert, Stephanie. [2004]. Urban Bahamian Creole: System and variation. Amsterdam: Benjamins), an intermediate creole with close historical links with Gullah its well as relations with African American Vernacular English, Trinidadian Creole, and Barbadian.
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