Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-19-2025
Volume
7
Issue
2
Abstract
This project focuses on the construction I can’t even, a sentence coined in the early 2000s that expresses a speaker’s strong emotion to the point where they are lost for words. The most typical emotion conveyed using I can’t even is exasperation, as in example (1), but it can also be an indication of extreme happiness, like in (2).
- (1) He tried to get my number AGAIN. I can’t even.
- (2) You came all the way from New York to watch me perform? I can’t even.
While the modal can and the adverb even normally require the presence of a lexical verb, users of I can’t even still utter it as a self-standing sentence.
There is little to no published research on I can’t even despite its seemingly truncated syntax. My project fills this gap by a) describing the syntactic properties of I can’t even, b) evaluating multiple hypotheses for its syntactic derivation, and c) discussing its pragmatic properties. I examine and reject three possible analyses of I can’t even: (1) that even acts as a lexical verb, (2) that can acts as a lexical verb, and (3) that I can’t even arises from VP ellipsis. I propose a syntactic derivation of I can’t even based on van Riemsdijk (2002), which posits the existence of silent lexical verbs that do not correspond exactly to any overt verb. I then discuss how the silent structure of I can’t even contributes to its pragmatic effects, particularly its ability to generate high cognitive relevance (Sperber and Wilson 1986) and reinforce both the speaker’s and their listener’s positive face (Brown and Levinson 1987). Lastly, I argue that the social stigma of I can’t even as ‘lazy’ English is not inherently due to its unpronounced syntactic elements, but instead arises from its association with a teenage female speaker base.
This paper forges novel connections between the fields of syntax and pragmatics by studying an under-researched construction through the intersecting lenses of silent constituents and positive politeness. Ultimately, despite its attribution to a demographic group that is stereotypically portrayed as ignorant and vapid, I can’t even is a complex linguistic phenomenon that obeys systematic principles and rules.
Recommended Citation
Luna, Ester. 2025. I Can’t Even With This Thesis: A Syntactic and Pragmatic Analysis. Yale Working Papers in Grammatical Diversity 7 (2), 1–27.
Comments
This is a revised version of the author's senior thesis at Yale University.