The Structure of Discourse-Pragmatic Variation -- Editorial page -- Title page -- LCC data -- Table of contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- List of abbreviations and typographical conventions -- Key to transcription conventions -- Glossary of dialect words -- Acknowledgements -- Part I -- 1. Introduction -- 1.1 Variationist sociolinguistics and discourse-pragmatic features -- 1.2 Discourse-pragmatic features: Definition of scope and terminology -- 1.3 Reasons for the neglect of discourse-pragmatic features in variationist research -- 1.4 Arguments in favour of the quantitative analysis of discourse-pragmatic features -- 1.5 Aims and focus of the book -- 1.6 Organisation of the book -- 2. Data, methodology and theoretical framework -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Data -- 2.2.1 Corpus -- 2.2.2 Speaker sample -- 2.2.3 Summary -- 2.3 Variationist sociolinguistics -- 2.3.1 Premises of variationist sociolinguistics -- 2.3.2 Discourse-pragmatic variables -- 2.3.3 Quantitative methods -- 2.3.4 Summary -- 2.4 Grammaticalisation -- 2.4.1 Mechanisms of change in grammaticalisation -- 2.4.2 Grammaticalisation and discourse-pragmatic features -- 2.4.3 Grammaticalisation in synchronic data -- 2.4.4 Summary -- 2.5 Conversation analysis (CA) -- 2.5.1 Choice of CA -- 2.5.2 Key concepts of CA -- 2.5.3 Functional domains -- 2.5.4 Quantifying multifunctionality -- 2.5.5 Validating qualitative analyses -- 2.5.6 Summary -- 2.6 Conclusion -- 3. The BwE verb negation system -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 The evolution of verb negation and negative particles -- 3.3 Negative auxiliaries in BwE -- 3.3.1 Negative auxiliary variants in BwE -- 3.3.2 Geographical distribution and categorisation of negative particle/negative auxiliary variants -- 3.4 Previous research on negator and negative auxiliary variation -- 3.4.1 Extra-linguistic distribution of variants.

3.4.2 Intra-linguistic distribution of variants -- 3.5 Quantitative analysis of negative particle and negative auxiliary variation -- 3.5.1 Distributional analysis -- 3.5.2 Multivariate analysis -- 3.5.3 Summary of results -- 3.6 Conclusion -- Part II -- 4. The construction i don't know -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Previous research on i don't know -- 4.2.1 Qualitative studies: Discourse-pragmatic functions of i don't know -- 4.2.2 Quantitative studies: Variation and change in the use of i don't know -- 4.2.3 Aims and contribution of this chapter -- 4.3 The variable context and data coding -- 4.3.1 The variable and the envelope of variation -- 4.3.2 The dependent variable: Variants of i don't know in BwE -- 4.3.3 Independent variables: Data coding -- 4.4 Qualitative analysis of i don't know -- 4.4.1 Functions performed by unbound i don't know -- 4.4.2 Functions performed by bound i don't know with phrasal or clausal complements -- 4.4.3 Functions performed by i don't know with dependent wh-words -- 4.4.4 Summary of functions -- 4.5 Quantitative analysis of i don't know -- 4.5.1 Distributional analysis -- 4.5.2 Multivariate analysis -- 4.5.3 Summary of results -- 4.6 Discussion -- 4.7 Conclusion -- 5. The construction i don't think -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Previous research on i don't think -- 5.2.1 Qualitative studies: Discourse-pragmatic functions of i don't think -- 5.2.2 Quantitative studies: Variation and change in the use of i don't think -- 5.2.3 Aims and contribution of this chapter -- 5.3 The variable context and data coding -- 5.3.1 The variable and the envelope of variation -- 5.3.2 The dependent variable: Variants of i don't think in BwE -- 5.3.3 Independent variables: Data coding -- 5.4 Qualitative analysis of i don't think -- 5.4.1 Functions performed by i don't think -- 5.4.2 Summary of functions.

5.5 Quantitative analysis of i don't think -- 5.5.1 Distributional analysis -- 5.5.2 Multivariate analysis -- 5.5.3 Summary of results -- 5.6 Discussion -- 5.7 Conclusion -- 6. Negative polarity question tags (neg-tags) -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Previous research on question tags -- 6.2.1 Qualitative studies: Discourse-pragmatic functions of question tags -- 6.2.2 Quantitative studies: Variation and change in the use of question tags -- 6.2.3 Aims and contribution of this chapter -- 6.3 The variable context and data coding -- 6.3.1 The variable and the envelope of variation -- 6.3.2 The dependent vairable: neg-tag variants in BwE -- 6.3.3 Independent variables: Data coding -- 6.4 Qualitative analysis of neg-tags -- 6.4.1 Functions performed by neg-tags -- 6.4.2 Summary of functions -- 6.5 Quantitative analysis of neg-tags -- 6.5.1 Distributional analysis -- 6.5.2 Multivariate analysis -- 6.5.3 Summary of results -- 6.6 Discussion -- 6.7 Conclusion -- Part III -- 7. Discussion & conclusion -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Synthesis of the results -- 7.3 Implications of the results -- 7.4 Conclusion -- 8. Challenges for the future -- 8.1 The state of the art and beyond -- 8.2 Dealing with low token frequency -- 8.3 Developing reliable analytical methods -- 8.4 Exploring intra-linguistic constraints on discourse-pragmatic variation -- 8.5 Exploring patterns of discourse-pragmatic change -- 8.6 Investigating the range of discourse-pragmatic variables -- 8.7 Conclusion -- References -- Appendices -- 1. Inventory of functions of unbound i don't know in the BwE corpus -- 2. Inventory of functions of bound i don't know -- 3. Inventory of functions of i don't know + wh-word -- 4. Inventory of functions of i don't think in the BwE corpus -- 5. Inventory of functions of neg-tags in the BwE corpus -- Index.