grammar - Is "because-noun" a new preposition?


There are a handful of articles suggesting that a new preposition has appeared in the form of "because-noun":



Isn't "Because (of)... whatever" a causitive? Causitives are adverbs; in fact they are at very core of "adverbiality." That happened and now this is the result. The only way pre- and post-conditions arise is through a change (read: action) in condition or state. (Temporal consituents are more associated with adverbs, as well.) Prepositional phrases can ornament verbs, but not be inherent to them.


"I am an astronaut because science." = "Science is what made me an astronaut." There is no prepositional context here.


So I submit that there is actually no new "because-noun" grammatical form in American English, only a mildly-interesting economical shortening, like "Nope, he dead."



Answer



I think that David M's Comments explanation ("It probably started as a way of being cute and got out of hand.") is exactly on point. If someone writes



Because donuts.



the phrase amounts to an extreme telescoping of a longer (usually jocular) idea along the lines of



Because donuts are a consideration here—and when donuts are involved, nothing more need be said. I mean, think about it: donuts, for gosh sakes. OMG let's stop talking and get some donuts! Mmmmm, donuts!



This telegraphic style—with its omission of one, several, or many surrounding words—may or may not be linked to Twitter tweeting, but I don't see any necessary connection between the two. The first time I can recall encountering a similar wording involves Patti Smith's 1978 song "Because the Night"; in the full lyrics, the relevant wording turns out to be



Because the night belongs to lovers. Because the night belongs to lust.



etc.; but the title itself was startling and provocative because it stopped at "Because the Night."


Antecedents aside, I don't think there's much point in trying to assign a part-of-speech identity to because in a "Because noun" formulation, since that formulation reduces the underlying idea to a vestigial remnant.


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