Third-person present singular verb inflection in Early Modern English: new evidence from speech-related texts

This article contributes to existing studies that are concerned with standardisation and supralocalisation processes in the development of written English during the Early Modern English period. By focussing on and comparing civic records and letter data from important regional urban centres, notably Bristol, Coventry and York, from the period 1500–1700, this study provides new insight into the gradual emergence of supralocal forms. More precisely, the linguistic variables under investigation are third person indicative present tense markers (singular and plural). The findings of this study reveal that each urban centre shows a unique distribution pattern in the adoption of supralocal -(V)s singular and plural zero. Furthermore, verb type as well as text type appear to be important language internal and external factors respectively.

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Third-person present singular verb inflection in early British and American English

Language Variation and Change ◽

10.1017/s0954394500001447 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 113-139 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Merja Kytö

Keyword(s):

Early Modern ◽

American English ◽

Distribution Patterns ◽

Rate Of Change ◽

Text Type ◽

The Third ◽

Verb Inflection ◽

Mother Country ◽

Third Person ◽

The Third Person

ABSTRACTThis study concentrates on the development of the third-person indicative present singular verb inflection in Early Modern British and American English. Within the framework of sociohistorical variation analysis, corpus-based comparisons focus on a number of extralinguistic and linguistic factors that have influenced the choice of the forms over successive periods of time. During the period studied, the main line of development is the replacement of the -th by the -s ending; the zero from is clearly in decline, as is the use of the -s and the -th endings in the third-person present plural inflection. The type of the verb (notably have and do vs. other verbs) and stem-final sounds play an important role in the choice of the form. The text type, the level of formality, and the sex of the author can also be seen to influence the distribution patterns. The -s ending had already been firmly established in everyday usage before the settlers left for the New World. Contrary to what has usually been attributed to the phenomenon of “colonial lag,” the rate of change was more rapid in the colonies than in the mother country.

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Its strength and the beauty of it: The standardization of the third person neuter possessive in Early Modern English

Towards a Standard English ◽

10.1515/9783110864281.171 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Terttu Nevalainen ◽

Helena Raumolin-Brunberg

Keyword(s):

Early Modern ◽

The Third ◽

Early Modern English ◽

Third Person ◽

The Third Person

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Regional Variation in Early Modern English: The Case of the Third-Person Present Tense Singular Verb Ending in Norfolk Correspondence

Journal of English Linguistics ◽

10.1177/0075424217723435 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 338-366

Author(s):

Christopher Joby

Keyword(s):

Early Modern ◽

Regional Variation ◽

New Approach ◽

The Third ◽

General Terms ◽

Early Modern English ◽

Third Person ◽

Present Tense ◽

The Third Person ◽

Thomas Browne

A well-known example of variation in Early Modern English is found in the morphology of the third-person singular present tense indicative verb. In general terms there was a gradual shift from - th to - s (e.g., pleaseth to pleases). However, previous studies such as Kytö (1993) and Nevalainen and Raumolin-Brunberg (2003) found that this shift was by no means uniform, varying by, for example, region, type of text, and author. More specifically, Nevalainen, Raumolin-Brunberg, and Trudgill (2001) analyzed the distribution of endings for the third-person singular present indicative verb in Early Modern East Anglian English, i.e., the variety of English used in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. However, for the final twenty-year period of their study (1660-1680), they only have four informants. This article analyzes the distribution of verb endings for a larger number of informants during this period, which marks the final stages of - th recession in East Anglian English, using letters written in Norfolk. The corpus based on these letters allows for a detailed analysis of linguistic and extralinguistic factors that influenced this distribution. Linguistic factors include the stem-final sound and verb-type ( have, do, and say are analyzed separately). Among the extralinguistic factors analyzed are the sex of the author and addressee, the level of formality, and the author’s social class. One of the informants in this study is Sir Thomas Browne. The distribution of verb endings in his correspondence makes him an outlier. His usage has led some authors to exclude his results from their analysis. The present article offers a new approach to dealing with such cases. The overall results are compared with those for other parts of England from the same period in order to identify patterns of regional variation. Finally, an analysis of correspondence for the period 1680-1750 indicates that by this time - th had more or less disappeared from Norfolk correspondence.

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Free Indirect Speech, Slipping, or a System in Flux? Exploring the Continuum between Direct and Indirect Speech in Early Modern English

10.1093/oso/9780190918064.003.0007 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 156-182

Author(s):

Terry Walker ◽

Peter J. Grund

Keyword(s):

Early Modern ◽

Electronic Text ◽

Direct Speech ◽

Indirect Speech ◽

Early Modern English ◽

Person Reference ◽

Speech Representation ◽

Third Person ◽

History Of ◽

The Continuum

This chapter explores speech representation structures in Early Modern English that exhibit a mixture of direct speech and indirect speech. Drawing data from an Electronic Text Edition of Depositions 1560–1760 (ETED), we chart the frequency and characteristics of different types of speech representation that overlap between direct and indirect speech (such as the mixture of third-person and first-person reference, and the use of reporting expression + that + direct speech representation). We show that accounting for such uses as “slipping,” free indirect speech, and/or signs of a system under development is less convincing. Instead, we argue that the mixture should be seen as exploitation of speech representation resources for various sociopragmatic and communicative purposes, such as disambiguating voices and shifting responsibilities for the speech report. The chapter thus contributes to the broader goal of enhancing our understanding of the sociopragmatics of speech representation in the history of English.

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