Abstract
This article presents a synchronic quantitative study of adjectives in the semantic field of strangeness in a large North American city, Toronto, the largest urban center in Canada. The analysis is based on nearly 2,000 adjectives, representing 11 different types, as in She’s really weird and She’s odd. The distribution of these adjectives in apparent time provides startling evidence of change. The adjective strange is quickly moving out of favor, and weird has expanded dramatically, usurping all other forms. Neither linguistic nor social factors are implicated in this change, suggesting that lexical replacement is the prevailing mechanism driving the development. Consideration of the broader context reveals that renewal and recycling of these adjectives is rooted in the history of English and is progressing in parallel at least across British and North American English. The actuation of the shift toward weird may be rooted in developments in literature and mass media, revealing that adjectives are a vibrant area of the grammar that may be used to track cultural influences on linguistic change.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
