[Ads-l] weird "which"

[Bethan Tovey-Walsh]

Ah, okay; I see what you mean. Given what you’ve outlined, if it isn’t just an accidental omission of a word, perhaps this is a further step in normalising a kind of “conjunctive which”? It’s absolutely fascinating! Thanks for the example, and for unpacking how it differs from the type I cited.

___________________________________________________
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, 13:35 +0100, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>, wrote:
> This seems even weirder to me, Bethan. The examples you give are of a kind
> familiar to me from my university teaching days in the late '70s.
> Whatever the syntactical explanation, both "whiches" can be replaced by
> (and defined as) 'but.' Exx. meaning 'and' are also possible.
>
> But the current case is not subject to an exclusively lexical analysis.
> The sentence might be normalized in these ways and maybe others:
>
> 1. "Including a full-size leave-in elixir, which nine out of ten women
> said made their hair appear thicker and fuller in just one week!"
>
> 2. "Including a full-size leave-in elixir, and nine out of ten women said
> it made their hair appear thicker and fuller in just one week!"
>
> No. 2 is stylistically awkward but perfectly correct. But to get from one
> of these normal constructions to the Viviscal version requires a
> strange shift in understanding the meaning of "which." In No. 1 the elixir
> is the focus; in No. 2 both the elixir and the comments are equally in
> focus.
>
> But the Viviscal version seems to focus equally on the elixir and on the
> hair. It feels like something between subordination and conjunction.
> A simple "and" or "but" won't fix it. And, as I suggested, it's appearance
> in a TV commercial is, well, astounding, because it suggests that a number
> of copywriters agreed that it sounded just fine.
>
> JL
>
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 23, 2020 at 7:09 AM Bethan Tovey-Walsh <accounts at bethan.wales>
> wrote:
>
> > 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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> "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