Due to and Based on: A Corpus-based Study of Adverbials

Abstract

In standard English grammar there is rather strict differentiation between grammatical functions of some collocational phrases. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency to blur this distinction, especially in case of phrases like due to and based on. This paper attempts to investigate this tendency on the basis of six English corpora: ICE-GB, BROWN, LOB, FROWN, FLOB, and SWITCHBOARD. The changes in the use of these two phrases will be analyzed in terms of the written and spoken form, regional variations, synchronic and diachronic perspectives. In addition, the overall results from the corpora are compared with those from high school textbooks in Korea in order to detect the tendency in Korea. Eventually the study probes into the possibility that the tendency is related to language change. Three interpretations are possible for the results, but I will argue that the analyses show the positive evidence that these phrases are in the process of decategorialization from the adjectival phrase, which is a core and intra- clausal element, toward the adverbial phrase, which is a periphery and extra-clausal element. The prediction that American spoken English is leading this tendency of adverbial function may explain why the use of these phrases with adverbial function is increasing.