[Ads-l] weird "which"

[Bethan Tovey-Walsh]

I've noticed this one a lot online, apparently from U.S.-English speakers in particular. I suspect that it's a reanalysis of the standard "which" as a relative pronoun into "which" as a conjunction meaning approximately "in relation to which", "as a result of which", etc.. So instead of understanding "which" as the object of the main clause, it's understood as a conjunction linking a main clause to the preceding noun phrase. I've seen quite a few examples along the lines of:

"She told me to go, which I was not going to do that."
"They said they were stealing, which my kids would totally not steal anything."

It seems to me that the step from "[noun phrase], which I wasn't going to do" to "[noun phrase], which I wasn't going to do that" is a fairly small one. I'd be interested to hear your opinions.

BTW

___________________________________________________
Dr. Bethan Tovey-Walsh

Myfyrwraig PhD | PhD Student CorCenCC
Prifysgol Abertawe | Swansea University

CV: LinkedIn

Croeso i chi ysgrifennu ataf yn y Gymraeg.
On 23 Jun 2020, 10:55 +0100, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>, wrote:
> Weird to me, anyway, especially in a pricey, presumably carefully edited TV
> commercial for a glamour hair product:
>
> "Including a full-size leave-in elixir which nine out of ten women said
> their hair appeared thicker and fuller in just one week!"
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org