THECASEOFTHEPASTTENSEBEINCERTAINVARIETIESOFENGLISH

TheCaseofPastTenseBeinCertainVarietiesofEnglish:anOverallLookonaGlobal
PhenomenoninLanguageChange
NikolettNovkArnold
UniversityofPcs

THECASEOFTHEPASTTENSEBEINCERTAINVARIETIESOFENGLISH
2

InthisreportIwouldliketogiveashortoverviewconcerningtheresearchanddebate
aboutthecaseofdifferentpasttensebeusagesthroughoutthevarietiesofEnglish.Ididnot
decidetolistandstudyallcasesinallregions,becauseitwouldbearatherlengthydiscussion.I
alsothinkthatthisprocesswouldcreateachaoticbundleofinformationwhileminegetsthegist
oftheissuethemost.AtlastIwouldalsoliketogiveanaccountofarecentcountertheorythat
pointstoanewperspectiveonthiswidelyknownanddebatedphenomenon.TheliteratureIread
onthistopicreferstothisphenomenonwithdifferentterms:invariantwas,subject/verb
nonconcord,defaultsingulars,primitivesofvernaculardialectsandvernacularuniversals,but
Imgoingtousethetermwas/werevariationasmostscholarsdo.
Was/werevariationreferstothenonstandarduseofpastbeincertainnonstandard
varietiesofEnglish.AccordingtoBritain(2002),itisratherwidespreadphenomenonandoneof
itstypescanbefoundineveryvernacularofEnglish.Thetwomostcommonarewasandweren't
leveling,buttherearefewexamplesforwereandwasn'tleveling.Seetheexamplesbelowwith
datafromSmithIslandEnglish.

Therootswasgoingjustlikethis.(F,1926)
Therejustwasn'tenoughoysters.(M,1930)
Iweren'tabletoanswer.(M,1930)
*Iwerescared(unattested)
(Parrott,2007)

THECASEOFTHEPASTTENSEBEINCERTAINVARIETIESOFENGLISH
3

Ichoosethisvarietyasanexample,becausethreecasesarepresentinSmithIsland
English,exceptforwerelevelingwhichisthemostuncommontype.SmithIslandEnglishisthe
vernacularspokenonSmithIsland,Marylandwhichisaverysmallcommunityamountingto
only364people(Parrott,2007).
Whenwediscusswas/werevariationthefollowingaspectsshouldbeconsidered
sociolinguisticaspects,thecaseofpolarityandtheproximityoftheverbfromitsreferent.These
allplayamajorroleinexplainingthephenomenon.
Sociolinguisticaspectsneedtobetakenintoaccountwhenwelookforunderlyingissues
concerningthetopic.AstudybyTagliamonteandBaayen(2012)reportsthatsocioeconomic
effectsplayaroleinwasandwerentlevelinginYorkasamongworkingclassspeakersthese
phenomenaaremorewidespread.Thesamestudyfoundthatwomenandtheyoungergeneration
alsotendtousesuchforms.
ChesireandFox(2008)conductedacomparativeresearchofinnerLondonandouter
LondontendenciesandconcludedthatwaslevelingisattestedinouterLondonBritish
populationmorefrequentlythanininnerLondonmultiethnicsociety,andarguedthatthisisdue
totheethnicalbackgroundofthespeakers.Theyfounddifferenceswithinouterandinner
LondonwhiteBritishyoungpopulationandstatedthatitmightbetheinfluenceofthe
immigratedfriendsoftheinnerLondonagegroup.
AccordingtoWilliamsatraditionalrecessioncanbeobservednotonlyinwas/were
variationbutinLumbeedialectofNativeAmericansinBaltimore,Marylandasawhole.She
explainsthisdirectionbythedecreasedneedofculturepreservationinlanguageasculturecan

THECASEOFTHEPASTTENSEBEINCERTAINVARIETIESOFENGLISH
4

becelebratedwithvariouseventsanditisaidedbythedevelopmentofinstitutionstoapproach
thismatter.
Polarityisthemostresearchedandcreditedtopicconcerningwas/werevariation,itrefers
tothecontrastbetweenaffirmativeandnegativesentences.Themostcommoncaseisthat
weren'toccurswithnegativesandwasoccurswithaffirmativeswhichisattestedinanumberof
varieties:York,Reading,theFensandNorthCarolina(TagliamonteandBaayen,2012),
Ocracoke,Lumbee,HydeCounty,SmithIsland(Britain,2002).Anotherpatternistheopposite
oftheearlierone,wasn'tisusedwithnegativesandwerewithaffirmativesasseeninthe
followingterritories:NorthernEngland,SouthwestScotland,NorthernIreland(Tagliamonteand
Baayen,2012).Athirdcasemustbenotedhereaswell,insomeregionspolarityisnottakeninto
accountatall,negativeandpositivesentencesarebothleveledtowasinallnumbersand
persons:NewZealandEnglish(TagliamonteandBaayen,2012),FalklandIslandEnglish,
AustralianEnglish,SamanEnglish,TristanDeCunha,AlabamaEnglish,AAVE,NovaScotian
English,Buckie(Britain,2002).
Athirdaspectconcerningwaslevelingistheproximitybetweentheverbanditsreferent
orsubject.Agreementrelationshipbetweenwordandelementbecomescompromisedwhenthey
aredistantfromeachother.ExamplesfromYork:

Therewasblackclouds.
Therewasstillquitestrongwindsinthispart.
Therewaslotsofcinemas.
(TagliamonteandBaayen,2012)

THECASEOFTHEPASTTENSEBEINCERTAINVARIETIESOFENGLISH
5

Linguisticevidenceshowsthatlevelingofwasindifferentsubjecttypeconstructsisnot
randombutoccursinpredictablerankingsconcerningtheirfrequency.Thisorderingstarting
fromthemostfrequentisexistentialthere,2ndpersonpronoun,1stpersonpluralpronoun,plural
nounphraseand3rdpersonpluralpronoun.Itisimportanttonotethatitisnotamustthatall
casesarepresentineveryvernacularthathaswasleveling,itisjustanorderthatthe
phenomenonfollows.Orderingrepresentedthroughexamples:

A.TheywasallborninGeorgia,mamaanddaddyboth.(3rdpers.plur.pron.)
B.Allthestudentteacherswascomin'outtoWellborn.(pluralNP)
C.Wewasinidealplaceforit.(1stpers.plur.pron.)
D.Youwasamajorette?(2ndpers.pron.)
E.Therewasabouttwentysomethin'boysandjustfourgirls.(exist.There)

(Antieau,2011)
AccordingtoBritain(2002)weareexperiencingalanguagechange.Hearguesthatthe
deviationfromthestandard4waysystemwhichisperson,numberandpolaritysensitivewhere
was,wasnt,were,werentareusedcanbetracedthroughoutthepastcentury.Originally,the
2waysystemwhichispolaritysensitivewasusedintheSouthernpartofEnglandwhichstarted
tospreadNorthinaprocessofdiffusion.ThisisprovedbyhisfindingsintheFensregionand
thedataexaminedbyTagliatelleandBaayeninYork(2012).OldestspeakersinFensregions,
bornaround1900usea3waysystem:wasandwereinpositivecontexts,andweren'tinnegative

THECASEOFTHEPASTTENSEBEINCERTAINVARIETIESOFENGLISH
6

ones.Today,inthesameregiona2waysystemindominantbasedonpolarity,wasinpositive,
weren'tinnegativecontext.YoungerpeopleinYorkusethesamesystem,pointingto
generationalchange.Also,thehistoryofresearchinthisareaprovesthisassumption.Thefirst
researchertocommentonregionaldialectswasEllis(1889),andhefoundthatintheNorthern
regionswerelevelingwascommon,whileintheSouthernpartswaslevelingwasthenorm.The
SurveyofEnglishDialectscompiledinthemid20thcenturyshowsacollectionofvariantsfor
differentregions,andalsoaccountsforvariouspronunciations.Cheshire,EdwardsandWhittle
(1989)didasurveyinschoolsinthewholecountryanditturnedoutthatwaslevelingwasthe
mostcommonexceptfortheNorthwherewerelevelingwasthemostfrequent.Werentleveling
alsoturnedouttobemorecommonintheSouth.
Pronunciationisanotheraspectworthmentioning,whilealltheresearchersIhavebeen
citingsofarhaveworkedwithtranscribedcorpora.Richards(2010)identifiedfourphonetic
patternsofthepastbeinMorley,asuburbofLeeds,offeringanentirelynewaspectontheideas
outlinedabove.Shearguesthatbesidesthestandardwas[wz]andwere[w]twointermediate
formsappearedalongthelinesofpolarity.Shesaysthattheseintermediateformsarepresent
butearliertheywerenottakenintoaccountwhenstudyingthephenomenon,andthiscaseshould
bechanged.ShealsoexploredthatMorleydoesnotleveltowasinacontextwherewasleveling
isattestedforexampleinYorkdialect,theyuseoneoftheirintermediateforms[w].She
concludesbyadmittingthatthestudyonintermediateformsshouldbefurtherinvestigatedtosee
iftheyareindependentstructureorjustalternationsinabinarysystem.
Inconclusion,Iwouldliketosaythatfurtherresearchonthistopicwillbefruitfulinthe
betterunderstandingoflanguagechange.Asthisisasanongoingchangeevencasestudies

THECASEOFTHEPASTTENSEBEINCERTAINVARIETIESOFENGLISH
7

couldbemadetounderstandhowspeakersactuallythinkaboutthisaspectofthelanguageto
pursuemoreonthesociolinguisticdimension,astheissueofpolarityiseasilytraceablewiththe
useofcorpusdata.Theissueofpronunciationshouldalsobefurtherinvestigated,notonlyinone
regionbutinallregionsasthisaspectcouldgivemoretotheunderstandingoftheprocesses.

THECASEOFTHEPASTTENSEBEINCERTAINVARIETIESOFENGLISH
8

References

Antieau,L.D.(2011).Was/wereVariationintheMiddleRockyMountains.KansasWorking
PapersinLinguistics,32,4866
Britain,D.(2002).Diffusion,levelling,simplificationandreallocationinpasttenseBEinthe
EnglishFens.JournalofSociolinguistics,6,1643
Cheshire,J.,&Fox,S.(2009).Was/werevariation:AperspectivefromLondon.Language
VariationandChange,21,138.
Parrott,J.K.(2007).DistributedmorphologicalmechanismsofSmithIslandweren'tleveling.
UniversityofPennsylvaniaWorkingPapersinLinguistics,13,1,23,295308
Richards,H.(2010).Preteritebe:Anewperspective?.EnglishWorldWide,31,6281
Tagliamonte,S.A.,&BaayenR.H.(2012).Models,forests,andtreesofYorkEnglish:
Was/werevariationasacasestudyforstatisticalpractice.LanguageVariationand
Change,24,135178
Williams,K.EthnicIdentityandPastBeConfigurationintheLumbeeCommunityofBaltimore,
Maryland.[Abstract]Retrievedfrom
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/nwav/abstracts/nwav36_williams.pdf