Because, x: A new construction of because in popular culture

<p>This thesis explores the new language fad, <em>Because, X,</em> which originated on the Internet and was named the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year in 2013. Since the construction is relatively recent, there has been little formal research conducted on it beyond Internet articles and discussions. The research presented in this thesis aims to understand this new construction through detailed syntactic, semantic, and quantitative analyses. This includes investigating instances of the <em>Because, X</em> construction from its origins in 2011 to recent occurrences as well as gathering participant judgments on the construction from two different studies conducted for this work.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English Language and Literature

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Walla, Stephanie

Contributors dc:contributor

• T. Daniel Seely, Ph.D., Chair
• Eric Acton, Ph.D.

• Because
• X
• discourse
• language
• popular culture
• semantics
• syntax
• Linguistics

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/678

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2073