Is more better better than betterer? : A Corpus-Based Study on Adjective Double Comparison in the Corpus of Global Web-Based English

Abstract

This thesis examines the rare and ungrammatical phenomenon of adjective double comparison in Present-Day English. This is a corpus-based quantitative study, the aim of which is to determine the frequency of the phenomenon in data acquired from the Corpus of Global Web-based English (GloWbE). The material consists of internet texts written in 20 different English-speaking countries around the world. The main research questions are the following. Is there a difference in the frequency of double comparison forms between the Inner Circle and Outer Circle Englishes (i.e. native and non-native speakers), the two comparison methods (inflectional and periphrastic double comparison), and the two comparison degrees (the comparative and the superlative)? In addition, what is the influence of syllable count, final segment, and stress pattern on the choice of comparison method?

The results show that inflectional double comparison is barely more frequent than periphrasis in the Inner Circle, while periphrastic double comparison is clearly more frequent than inflection in the Outer Circle. Overall periphrasis is more common than inflection, and accordingly, there are more Outer Circle usages than Inner Circle ones. The comparative is more frequent than the superlative, monosyllables are the most frequent adjectives by tokens and disyllables by types. However, the effect of syllable count, final segment, and stress pattern on the choice of comparison method in disyllables is inconclusive. However, as only a part of the periphrastic data was closely analysed, more extensive study is needed on the double forms of GloWbE and on the World Englishes of the internet in general.