zero vs. "that" relatives

David Bowie db.list at PMPKN.NET
Sat Dec 27 16:01:33 UTC 2008


From:    Paul Johnston <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU>

<snip>

> ...Remember, too,
> how long it took sociolinguistds who came up through the Labovian
> model to find a way to elicit syntactic variants in a way that would
> be pretty close to what happens without an observer.

Actually, as a sociolinguist who came up through the Labovian model, i'd
argue that we're not there yet--but then again, i'd argue that we're not
there yet for phonological variation, either.

--
David Bowie                               University of Central Florida
     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.

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