Lexicosemantic diffusion in World Englishes: variable meaning–form relations in prospective verbs

This article suggests that in the investigation of World Englishes, which has tended to focus on syntactic, phonological and lexical preferences, analysis shifts word meanings (and meaning–form relations items) needs be incorporated. Exemplary small-scale studies show polysemic words certain varieties come prefer specific meanings, fields some begin forms over others. Based analyses different ICE corpora, a set prospective verbs, their meaning relationships varying correlations with syntactic construction choices are investigated quantitatively (using HCFA conditional inference trees) qualitatively (showcasing interesting innovative, possibly emerging uses countries). Regionality is consistently shown weakly conditioning significant factor. Thus, it suggested lexicosemantic variability diffusion evolution Englishes deserve need systematically.