Homogeneity in subject-verb concord in South African English

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Periodical article

Title:	Homogeneity in subject-verb concord in South African English
Author:	De Vos, Mark
Year:	2013
Periodical:	Language Matters: Studies in the Languages of Africa (ISSN 1022-8195)
Volume:	44
Issue:	1
Pages:	58-77
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	linguistics English language language usage
Abstract:	This paper explores the strategies employed by speakers of South African English for subject-verb concord using a large-scale methodology. It is argued that there is a complex interplay between broad types of agreement (e.g., syntactic vs notional agreement) and specific strategies for agreement (e.g., agreement with head noun vs 'attraction' agreement with the linearly closest noun). It is demonstrated that a particular type of notional agreement, namely 'Atomic-Homogeneous' agreement, plays the largest role in South African English; although other types of agreements are also present in the data set. Since this type of agreement has not been widely reported on in the literature on American and British English, it may be that South African English represents a departure from agreement in these varieties. The paper also demonstrates the viability of large-scale methodologies for this type of research. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [Journal abstract]