This thesis explores the new language fad, Because, X, 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 Because, X 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.
","abstract_html":"<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>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Walla, Stephanie"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"English Language and Literature","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["T. Daniel Seely, Ph.D., Chair","Eric Acton, Ph.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-11-07T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-11-07T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:06Z","subjects":["Because","X","discourse","language","popular culture","semantics","syntax","Linguistics"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.emich.edu/theses/678","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["T. Daniel Seely, Ph.D., Chair","Eric Acton, Ph.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Walla, Stephanie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-05-30T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["English Language and Literature"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Because","X","discourse","language","popular culture","semantics","syntax","Linguistics"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/678"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis explores the new language fad, Because, X, 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 Because, X 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.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Because, x: A new construction of because in popular culture"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["T. Daniel Seely, Ph.D., Chair","Eric Acton, Ph.D."],"dc:creator":["Walla, Stephanie"],"dc:date.available":["2017-05-30T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis explores the new language fad, Because, X, 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 Because, X 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.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.emich.edu/theses/678"],"dc:subject":["Because","X","discourse","language","popular culture","semantics","syntax","Linguistics"],"dc:title":["Because, x: A new construction of because in popular culture"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["English Language and Literature"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:06Z"}