Introduction

Based on the assumption that functional constraints underdetermine the precise shape a grammar can take, this contribution explores the influence of a rhythmic universal on grammatical variation in BrE and AmE. Although the historical division between the two national varieties under consideration has occurred only recently (by the standards of linguistic evolution), corpus analyses reveal significant dissimilarities in the ways the phonological universal is implemented. This provides a small-scale example of the interaction between system-internal, grammatical choices and system-external, functional conditions of language use.

At the centre of the discussion is the so-called Principle of Rhythmic Alternation, i.e. the tendency to separate stressed syllables by intervening unstressed ones. In previous work (cf. Schlüter 2002, 2003, 2005), its influence on the shaping of English grammar has been demonstrated. In the present contribution, the emphasis will be placed on dissimilarities in its implementation in the two major national varieties of English. For this purpose, two domains of grammatical variation will be focused on that have so far received little attention in the context of British–American differences and have therefore never been subjected to a thorough analysis. This concerns the choice between mono- and disyllabic past participles of the verbs light and knit and the positional alternation of the degree modifier quite in combination with the indefinite article.