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)认为例〔11〕中的‘mad’不是指“the people there were angry/insane”(那里的人在生气发疯),而是“There were a lot of people at that party.”(那集会上有许多人)。虽然这是俚语,但从俚语人们可以预期语言的变化。值得注意的是‘mad’的变化将给封闭类增加一个新成员。 (8)以‘like /go’代替‘say’ Lance Nathan还举下例说明有人以‘like’或‘go’代替言语动词‘say”。她认为这可能是近二三十年出现的变化。〔12〕“So I was like, ‘How did you do on the syntax exam?’and my friend goes, ‘not too bad.’” (9)Thankfully 有人从用语合乎规范的科技杂志《科学美国人》(Scientific American)上发现本该用‘hopefully’的地方,用了‘thankfully’,如: 〔13〕“Life is un predictable. Thankfully, the accord is not.”(1991/11ｐ 91) (10)Just Suzette Elgin (9.675)谈到,过去人们说:〔14〕“You can’t just rely on your intuition..”意思为“you have to rely on something more than your intuition.”(你应该依靠其它东西,更甚于你的直觉。)可是现在人们说: 〔15〕“You just can’t rely on your intuition.” 这个说法过去的意思接近于“Shucks, you can’t rely on your intuitions.”(呸!你不能依靠你的直觉)。 (11)其它Marc Picard (9.720)发现有人用‘good’代替‘fine’,如: 〔16〕A: Hey, how are you today? B: I’m good. How are you? Rick McCallister (9.720)解释说原先这是不标准的用法,但十至十五年前受教育的人也这么说,因而这成了区别“代沟”的标记。David Robertson (9.729)列举以下一些说法: 〔17〕a “you can only give the patron their due date and fine amount.” B “Okey, let me give you my social security number. C “does it〔印好的日程表〕give the time?” D “May I take your date of birth?” 把‘date’,‘number’,‘the time’等与‘give’和‘take’这样的动词连用,其出现和迅速传播是主宰美国的信息文化所决定的。 3 句法变化 (1)并列结构中的两个成分不匹配Karen Coutenay (9.702)曾收集大量的例子,说明并列结构中两个成分在结构上并不一致。这里仅举几个例子示意: 〔18〕ａ “Do you live in Japan and are looing for a summer job teaching Japanese there?”(一为现在式问句,一为进行体问句) ｂ “Does anybody have experience with analysis of homepages and can giveme some advice?”(一用助动词ｄｏｅｓ,一用助动词ｃａｎ) ｃ “Have you got some one you are seeking and can not find any clues?”(一用完成体的助动词have,一用情态助动词否定式cannot) Michael Newman (9 716)认为上引例子都是病句,不能看作在句法上的创新。(2)在宾语位置使用代词形式Kevin Caldwell (9 720)发现两个代词同现时常见到如下形式: 〔19〕ａ between you and I ｂ for you and I c say a little prayer for I (摘自通俗歌曲) Carl Mills (9 686)承认在主流美国英语中这是新的用法。但当人们为了抑制这一自然趋势,用非标记形式代替标记形式,也可起到更为令人注意的效果,如: 〔20〕a “ it’s mine.” B “me Tonto, him Lone Ranger” C “How are thee?” 按Mills的解释,莎士比亚有时也是这么说的。 (3)The problem is... 麻省大学Peggy Speas (9.690)表示,在下面例句中,他会说(ａ)或(ａ′)句,但他听到别人说(ｂ)句。〔21〕(ａ)(What the problem is) is that no one can meet after 6 p.m. (ａ′)〔The problem〕 is that no one can meet after 6 p.m. (ｂ)The problem is is that no one can meet after 6 p.m. Ellen F. Prince (9.701)解释说Charlotte Linde在70年代曾做过这方面的研究,并以George Lakeoffｆ的‘syntactic amalgams’(句法溶合)理论回答。其它例子为:〔22〕ａ The thing is, is that… b The thing of it is, is that... (4)副词被形容词代替 Peter R. Burton (9.702)提出的问题为:美国人几乎都有把形容词替代副词的倾向,而且有些用法似乎已早就开始了,如: 〔23〕You done good (而不是说You did well).又如: 〔24〕1 Think different. 2.Think differently. 3.Think something different. 4.Think something that is different. 5.Think of something different. 人们似乎越来越讨厌使用以‘-ly’结尾的副词,以至人们喜欢选择1式,而不是2式,3式是4式的简略式,但在特殊情况下,Burton宁可用5式。 (5)数(Number) 一种情况是把They作为单数(Michael Newman,9.716),以回答对当代性别歧视的指责。实际上,这种用法在中世纪也出现过。另一种情况是用‘amounts’表示数量,如: 〔25〕ａ.“cards of… women… with numbers indicating the amount of men they haveslept with.”(Brian Cover in The Japan Times) ｂ.“I’m surprised by the amount of people who don’t realize better quality bikes come in different sizes,” Shinkawa said… (Honolu Star-Bulletin.1991/08/11)第三种情况是该用‘many’的场合用了‘much’,如: 〔26〕“How much runners in this race?”(比赛时的提问) Gerald B. Mathias (9.689)指出从复数突然转为单数已成为常见的事了,特别是在广告中见到,如: 〔27〕ａ.“Sears sell shoes, DOnt They?” ｂ.“Acerbis ATB Fenders, they protect the rider… Does not work on bikes with…” ｃ.“Acro2’s e