Abstract
Abstract
This article traces the history of the minor complementisers as if, as though,
and like (when they follow evidential verbs such as seem and look) in Canadian
English. By the 21st century, both as if and as though were rare in Canada, while
like appeared to have become popular (López-Couso and Méndez-Naya
2012b). The Victoria English Archive (D’Arcy 2011–2014,
2015; Roeder, Onosson, and D’Arcy 2018)
is used to map out the change in a combination of synchronic and diachronic spoken data. Results show that as if
and as though are unusual even in the earliest speakers, which puts spoken Canadian English at odds with
contemporaneous writing (Brook 2014). However, this unexpected register difference may
explain why the complementiser like caught on in North American dialects of English sooner and more readily than
in the United Kingdom – where a robust as if and as though in speech would have remained
barriers.
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Subject
Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics