“The Geordie accent has a bit of a bad reputation”: internal and external constraints on stative possession in the Tyneside English of the 21st century

Abstract

The subject of stative possession has generated much interest over the past decade, particularly regarding the origin of the constructionhave gotand its use in different varieties of British and North American English (e.g. Tagliamonte, 2003, 2013; Jankowski 2005; Tagliamonteet al., 2010). In these varieties,have gotalternates withhaveto mark possession in sentences such as those in (1) below.(1)a.We've gota nice lounge there you know, with French doors, and wehavethese seats we can take outside and sit (0711b).1b.That's the worse type of person. Theyhavenothing and then they've gotsomething and they think they are better than anybody else (0804a).