A Corpus-based Variationist Approach to the Use of It is I and It is Me: A Real-time Observation of a Syntactic Change Nearing Completion in COHA

Abstract

This is a corpus-based variationist linguistics (CVL) study into a syntactic variation and change that is nearing completion: the shift from it is I (nominative) to it is me (accusative) in American English. Despite a number of recent statements in grammar books and dictionaries that the new variant, i.e., the accusative construction, has earned public acceptance, few attempts have been made to provide empirical support for the entire diachronic shift from nominative case to accusative case. Real-time quantitative data from the diachronic corpus COHA characterizes almost the entire process of the syntactic change, and the analysis of the data using the multivariate model demonstrates: (i) that the shift first occurred in the first-person singular I/me, and then in the other personal pronouns; (ii) that the shift fron I to me had been almost completed by the latter half of the 20th century; (iii) that the shift achieved a level of near-completion much earlier in contracted constructions such as it’s I/me than in non-contracted constructions such as it is I/me. The present study makes a cross-disciplinary contribution to the study of language variation and change by combining advantages of variationist sociolinguistics with those of corpus linguistics. It succeeds in complementing findings from previous studies by providing an empirical, comprehensive and detailed account of the process of this well-known syntactic change.