The Variable Fortunes of the Were-Subjunctive in Varieties of English

Abstract

This chapter examines the use of the so-called were-subjunctive in hypothetical counterfactual conditional clauses in three varieties of English: British, Irish and Indian English. Some recent studies have suggested that the were-subjunctive has declined in frequency in the last half-century or so and is being replaced by indicative was. Another change, possibly connected with the decline of the were-subjunctive, is the increasing use of would in the subordinate clause of conditional sentences. The database of this study consists of the written and spoken components of the International Corpus of English (ICE) corpora from British, Irish and Indian English. Existing studies of American, Australian and some South Asian Englishes are used as further points of comparison. The results show that in British English the distribution between subjunctive were and indicative was is fairly even, although there is a slight majority for the was option. Indian English behaves much like British English, retaining a firm place for the were-subjunctive in its grammar. In Irish English, by contrast, the were-subjunctive is a clear minority choice as compared with British English or Indian English.