The Evolution of Pragmatic Markers in English Pathways of Change

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I/You Admit and Admittedly

in all cases, although American English uses it somewhat more often with the
fi rst person.
Tables 6.2 and 6.3 show the rate of parenthetical, or comment clause , usage.
For the purposes of this tabulation, parenthetical usage was determined by

Table 6.1 I admit and you admit in the BYU- BNC and COCA a

BYU- BNC COCA

I admit 238 ( 26% ) 1292 ( 39% )
I (modal) admit 669 ( 74% ) 2040 ( 61% )
I must
admit

I will/ ’ll

admit

I have/ had

to admit

I must

admit

I will/ ’ll

admit

I have/ had
to admit
450 (67%) 48 (7%) 159 (24%) 522 (26%) 552 (27%) 966 (47%)
you admit 50 ( 39% ) 337 ( 50% )
you (modal)
admit

79 ( 61% ) 329 ( 50% )

you must

admit

you will/ ’ll

admit

you have/

had to

admit

you must

admit

you will/ ’ll

admit

you have/

had to

admit

30 (38%) 9 (11%) 32 (41%) 69 (21%) 40 (12%) 220 (67%)

a. The corpus results were extracted March 20, 2016. Examples of have got to admit were negli-
gible and hence omitted.
Source: adapted from Laurel J. Brinton, “From performative to concessive disjunct: I/you admit and
admittedly ,” in Merja Kytö, John Scahill, and Harumi Tanabe (eds.), Language change and vari-
ation from Old English to Late Modern English. Bern: Peter Lang, 2010, p. 282; with permission.

Table 6.2 Parenthetical I admit/ I (modal) admit in the BYU- BNC and COCA a

BYU- BNC COCA

I admit 46/ 238 ( 19% ) 210/ 1292 ( 16% )
Initial Medial Final Initial Medial Final
3 (7%) 28 (61%) 15 (33%) 62 (29%) 98 (47%) 50 (24%)
I (modal)
admit

85/ 669 ( 13% ) 239/ 2040 ( 12% )

Initial Medial Final Initial Medial Final

16 (19%) 45 (53%) 24 (28%) 87 (36%) 109 (46%) 43 (18%)

a. Data were collected March 20, 2016. The search phrase was [y] I admit [y] ( I admit preceded
and followed by punctuation), with similar search strings for the modal forms. Results were then
manually sorted into initial, medial, and fi nal.
Source: adapted from Laurel J. Brinton, “From performative to concessive disjunct: I/you admit and
admittedly ,” in Merja Kytö, John Scahill, and Harumi Tanabe (eds.), Language change and variation
from Old English to Late Modern English. Bern: Peter Lang, 2010, p. 283; with permission.