The Morphology of English Dialects

This book argues that, contrary to popular opinion, dialects do have a grammar, and that 'non standard' language often makes more sense.

Why do we insist on using words that are 'wrong'? In this engaging study, Lieselotte Anderwald argues that dialects, contrary to popular opinion, do have a grammar, and commonly used words that deviate from Standard English have a long pedigree and systematically make more sense.Where do dialects differ from Standard English, and why are they so remarkably resilient? This study argues that commonly used verbs that deviate from Standard English for the most part have a long pedigree. Analysing the language use of over 120 dialect speakers, Lieselotte Anderwald demonstrates that not only are speakers justified historically in using these verbs, systematically these non-standard forms actually make more sense. By constituting a simpler system, they are generally more economical than their Standard English counterparts. Drawing on data collected from the Freiburg English Dialect Corpus (FRED), this innovative and engaging study will be of great interest to students and researchers of English language and linguistics, morphology and syntax.