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All Outputs (23)

The trajectory of changing rhoticity in Bristol English: A consultative paper (2022)
Working Paper
Coates, R., Blaxter, T., Beeching, K., Murphy, J., & Robinson, E. The trajectory of changing rhoticity in Bristol English: A consultative paper

This consultative paper by Blaxter, Beeching, Coates, Murphy and Robinson presents data on rhoticity in Bristol English. Through an investigation into the speech of 30 Bristol speakers the study demonstrates that this traditional feature is declining... Read More about The trajectory of changing rhoticity in Bristol English: A consultative paper.

Can filled pauses be represented as linguistic items? Investigating the effect of exposure on the perception and production of um (2021)
Journal Article
Kirjavainen, M., Crible, L., & Beeching, K. (2022). Can filled pauses be represented as linguistic items? Investigating the effect of exposure on the perception and production of um. Language and Speech, 65(2), 263-289. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309211011201

The current paper presents three studies that investigated the effect of exposure on the mental representations of filled pauses (um/uh). In Study 1, a corpus analysis identified the frequency of co-occurrence of filled pauses with words located imme... Read More about Can filled pauses be represented as linguistic items? Investigating the effect of exposure on the perception and production of um.

Each p[ɚ]son does it th[ɛː] way: Rhoticity variation and the community grammar (2019)
Journal Article
Blaxter, T., Beeching, K., Coates, R., Murphy, J., & Robinson, E. (2019). Each p[ɚ]son does it th[ɛː] way: Rhoticity variation and the community grammar. Language Variation and Change, 31(1), 91-117. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394519000048

This paper examines individual differences in constraints on linguistic variation in light of Labov’s (2007) proposal that adult change (diffusion) disrupts systems of constraints and Tamminga, MacKenzie, and Embick’s (2016) typology of constraints.... Read More about Each p[ɚ]son does it th[ɛː] way: Rhoticity variation and the community grammar.

Apologies in French and English: An insight into conventionalisation and im/politeness (2019)
Journal Article
Beeching, K. (2019). Apologies in French and English: An insight into conventionalisation and im/politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 142, 281-291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2019.01.014

© 2019 This paper argues that a cross-linguistic study of the lexical semantics of terms used to apologise in English and French can shed light on the conventionalisation of (mock) politeness. Despite the long historical interdependence between the t... Read More about Apologies in French and English: An insight into conventionalisation and im/politeness.

Introduction (2018)
Book Chapter
Beeching, K., Ghezzi, C., & Molinelli, P. (2018). Introduction. In K. Beeching, C. Ghezzi, & P. Molinelli (Eds.), Positioning the Self and Others (1-18). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.292.01bee

This volume brings together contributions inspired by discussions that took place during the Panel “Positioning the self and others: Linguistic traces” which was held at the 14th IPrA Conference in Antwerp, 26–31 July 2015. Though much work has been... Read More about Introduction.

Metacommenting in English and French: A variational pragmatics approach (2018)
Book Chapter
Beeching, K. (2018). Metacommenting in English and French: A variational pragmatics approach. In K. Beeching, C. Ghezzi, & P. Molinelli (Eds.), Positioning the Self and Others (127-153). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.292.06bee

© 2018 John Benjamins Publishing Company. Metacommenters allow speakers to take some distance from a particular lexical selection, or enter into a negotiation with their interlocutors. A variational pragmatics approach is taken to the investigation o... Read More about Metacommenting in English and French: A variational pragmatics approach.

Reflexivity and discourse-pragmatic variation and change (2017)
Book Chapter
Beeching, K. (2017). Reflexivity and discourse-pragmatic variation and change. In H. Tyne, M. Bilger, P. Cappeau, & E. Guerin (Eds.), La variation en question(s) Hommages à Françoise Gadet (157-179). Brussels: Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b10950

This chapter takes a corpus linguistic approach to the investigation of reflexive, or metacommenting, expressions in French, primarily si tu veux/si vous voulez (STV/SVV). STV and SVV form part of a range of frequently occurring reflexive devices whi... Read More about Reflexivity and discourse-pragmatic variation and change.

Insights from contrastive linguistics: Translating 'sort of' into French (2016)
Book Chapter
Beeching, K. (2016). Insights from contrastive linguistics: Translating 'sort of' into French. In M. Boisseau, C. Chauvin, C. Delesse, & Y. Keromnes (Eds.), Linguistique et Traductologie: les enjeux d'une relation complexe (85-98). Arras: Artois Presses Université

Identifying the meanings and functions of pragmatic markers such as well, you know, I mean and sort of has posed a considerable challenge for linguists in semantics and pragmatics, particularly those interested in semantic change and pragmaticalisati... Read More about Insights from contrastive linguistics: Translating 'sort of' into French.

Pragmatic Markers in British English: Meaning in Social Interaction (2016)
Book
Beeching, K. (2016). Pragmatic Markers in British English: Meaning in Social Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Fundamental to oral fluency, pragmatic markers facilitate the flow of spontaneous, interactional and social conversation. Variously termed ‘hedges’, ‘fumbles’ and ‘conversational greasers’ in earlier academic studies, this book explores the meaning,... Read More about Pragmatic Markers in British English: Meaning in Social Interaction.

Alors/donc/then at the right periphery: Seeking confirmation of an inference (2016)
Journal Article
Beeching, K. (2016). Alors/donc/then at the right periphery: Seeking confirmation of an inference. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 17(2), 208-230. https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.17.2.03bee

This paper compares the functions and development of right peripheral (RP) alors, donc and then in French and English. These items developed historically from temporal expressions, they express consequence and can serve, intersubjectively, as an appe... Read More about Alors/donc/then at the right periphery: Seeking confirmation of an inference.

Researching Sociopragmatic Variability: Perspectives from Variational, Interlanguage and Contrastive Pragmatics (2015)
Book
Woodfield, H., & Beeching, K. (Eds.). (2015). Researching Sociopragmatic Variability: Perspectives from Variational, Interlanguage and Contrastive Pragmatics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Researching Sociopragmatic Variability showcases a range of research approaches and brings together new findings from three key areas: variational pragmatics, interlanguage pragmatics and contrastive pragmatics. The volume investigates sociopragmati... Read More about Researching Sociopragmatic Variability: Perspectives from Variational, Interlanguage and Contrastive Pragmatics.

Discourse Functions at the Right and Left Periphery: Crosslinguistic Investigations of Language Use and Language Change (2014)
Book
Beeching, K., & Detges, U. (2014). Discourse Functions at the Right and Left Periphery: Crosslinguistic Investigations of Language Use and Language Change. Leiden/Boston: Brill

A basic property of human language is that it unfolds in time; the left and right margin of discourse units do not behave in a symnmetrical fashion. The working hypothesis of this volume is that discourse elements of the left periphery have mainly su... Read More about Discourse Functions at the Right and Left Periphery: Crosslinguistic Investigations of Language Use and Language Change.

A parallel corpus approach to investigating semantic change (2013)
Book Chapter
Beeching, K. (2013). A parallel corpus approach to investigating semantic change. In K. Aijmer, & B. Altenberg (Eds.), Advances in corpus-based contrastive linguistics. Studies in honour of Stig Johansson (103-125). Amsterdam: John Benjamins

Traugott and Dasher (2002) draw our attention to items at the extreme right of the spectrum of semantic change where the canonical or core meaning is almost entirely bleached. Lexicographers and semanticists have struggled to pin down the senses of s... Read More about A parallel corpus approach to investigating semantic change.

Sociolinguistic aspects of lexical variation in french (2012)
Book Chapter
Beeching, K. (2012). Sociolinguistic aspects of lexical variation in french. In T. Pooley, & D. Lagorgette (Eds.), On linguistic change in French: socio-historical approaches ( Le changement linguistique en français ) (37-54). Presses Universitaires de Savoie

In his volume on Parisian French, Lodge (2004) highlights the importance of lexical variation in French, finding it anomalous that sociolinguists, in the Labovian tradition at least, have neglected this highly salient aspect of speaker identity. As... Read More about Sociolinguistic aspects of lexical variation in french.

Semantic change: Evidence from false friends (2010)
Journal Article
Beeching, K. (2010). Semantic change: Evidence from false friends. Languages in Contrast, 10(2), 139-165. https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.10.2.03bee

Functional linguists are in general agreement that semantic change may be triggered as part of the negotiation of meaning in interactional contexts: a 'one-off' contextual implicature generalises to become a new core meaning of a lexical item (Traugo... Read More about Semantic change: Evidence from false friends.

Procatalepsis and the etymology of hedging and boosting particles (2009)
Book Chapter
Beeching, K. (2009). Procatalepsis and the etymology of hedging and boosting particles. In M. M. Hansen, & J. Visconti (Eds.), Current Trends in Diachronic Semantics and Pragmatics (81-106). Bingley: Emerald

This chapter breaks new ground by highlighting the role of concession in semantic change, drawing examples cross-linguistically from English, French and German. It contributes to theories of semantic change which support cognitive and social-interact... Read More about Procatalepsis and the etymology of hedging and boosting particles.

Sociolinguistic factors and the pragmaticalization of bon in contemporary spoken French (2009)
Book Chapter
Beeching, K. (2009). Sociolinguistic factors and the pragmaticalization of bon in contemporary spoken French. In K. Beeching, N. Armstrong, & F. Gadet (Eds.), Sociolinguistic Variation in Contemporary French (215-239). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins

The multifunctional nature of discourse-marking bon (well) is well-attested in the literature (Auchlin, 1981; Winther, 1985, Hansen, 1998a and b, Jayez, 2004). Its adverbial and interjective uses can, according to Hansen (1998a), be related to its ca... Read More about Sociolinguistic factors and the pragmaticalization of bon in contemporary spoken French.