Mapping the comparative correlative across the GloWbE

Abstract

The English Comparative Correlative (CC) is a bi-clausal construction (e.g., [ The more I read ] _C1 [ the more I know ] _C2 ) that has recently been investigated using a Construction Grammar (CxG)-based approach. Within this framework, empirical evidence has been adduced for the existence of so-called meso-constructional networks underlying the CC. Inspired by these investigations, the present study is based on a 1,560-token data set from 19 GloWbE corpus varieties, making it the first to investigate meso-constructional networks across such a broad range of English varieties. Conflating these into five data sets corresponding to the evolutionary stages of Schneider’s Dynamic Model, results show that meso-constructional networks also exist in the non-standard varieties. Providing visualizations of these networks, similarities and differences are discussed, showing that while there is considerable overlap between stages, there are also stage-specific idiosyncrasies that conform to claims made by Schneider about stages correlating with specific linguistic characteristics. The study thus contributes to our understanding of the English CC, CxG as a theory, and World Englishes studies.