A Corpus-based Investigation of Modals in Spoken British English: Gender Variation and Change in the Years 1994 and 2014

Existing studies have described the diachronic development of modals in early periods, or their uses in more recent times. Works with a synchronic orientation have examined modals in contemporary English, and sociolinguistic variation linked to age. There are no studies that investigate gender variation and change of modals in contemporary spoken British English. The present research is a corpus-based investigation that aims to fill this gap and to describe the use of the central modals can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would in the years 1994 and 2014, and gender-based differences/similarities. The analysis has been undertaken on the spoken section of the BNC1994 and the Spoken BNC2014. The analysis reveals that there are limited differences between men and women and ongoing innovation in the years 1994 and 2014.