Abstract: Based on the corpora of COHA and COCA, this paper aims to investigate the frequency change of the structures of than I and than me over the past 200 years and the genre or register differences of their contemporary usage during the past 20 years. The research findings indicate that: firstly, the transformation from the frequent use of the relatively formal structure of than I at the beginning of 19th century to the overwhelmingly frequent use of the informal and colloquial structure of than me at the middle of the 20th century explicitly illustrates the colloquialization of American English; secondly, during their development, there exits some competition between than I and than me; and thirdly, the colloquial trend of the comparative form has been shown in nearly all styles and registers, such as spoken English, fiction, magazine, newspaper and academic writings. Finally, through comparing the frequency, register and collocation of than I and than me, the factors causing the diachronic changes and the synchronic differences are also discussed. 

Keywords: than I; than me; corpus; change; variation

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1.-Introduction-1

2.-Research Methodology-1

2.1.-Corpus Description-1

2.2.-Research Design-4

3.-Historical Developments of than I and than me Based on COHA-4

3.1.-Diachronic Changes of than I-4

3.2.-Diachronic Changes of than me-5

3.3.-Comparison of than I and than me in COHA-6

4.-Register Variation of than I and than me in Different Registers Based on COCA-10

4.1.-Register Variations of than I-10

4.2.-Register Variations of than me-11

4.3.-Comparison of than I and than me in Different Registers-12

5.-Conclusion-16

References-21