Negation and OV order in Late Middle English

2000 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD INGHAM
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Large Database ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
15Th Century

Optional OV order in Later Middle English (LME) has given rise to conflicting theoretical accounts. Earlier analyses postulating movement to AgrOP or alternative base orders are found to be inadequate to deal with the occurrence of OV in non-literary LME; in a large database of 15th century private familial correspondence, residual OV order is found to have been productive only with negated objects. Multiple subject constructions with there expletives showed the same restriction. These phenomena are accounted for by postulating overt Neg Movement (Haegeman 1995) as a permitted option in LME. In this framework, it is argued that LME showed a mixed typology having both Neg movement and a null Neg operator. LME had three ways of satisfying the NEG Criterion (Haegeman 1995): Merge not in Spec NegP, coindex [OP]i … [XP(Neg)]i, and Move XP(Neg) to Spec NegP. Modern English has only the first two. The distribution in this period of negative concord with not is shown to support our analysis.

Negated subjects and objects in 15th-century nonliterary English

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Ingham
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Large Database ◽  
Theoretical Account ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Subject And Object ◽  
Finite Verb

Using a large database of familial correspondence, it is shown that NP positions in 15th-century English were essentially those of Present-Day English, contrary to claims that the syntactic structure of Late Middle English still had a position for preposed object NPs, and that 15th-century English possessed multiple subject constructions with expletive there. The only form of OV order to remain productive in familial correspondence of this period occurred in the configuration: finite verb–negated NP–lexical verb. Neither ordinary NPs nor other quantified NPs were productive in this configuration. It is also shown that negated subject NPs, but not ordinary or other quantified subject types, were commonly found in multiple subject constructions. All these phenomena can be conveniently accounted for in terms of movement to a Neg projection (Haegeman, 1995). A theoretical account of noncanonical subject and object positions in terms of Neg movement thus receives strong empirical support from the distribution of argument NPs in 15th century English.

Negative Concord in Early Middle English

1978 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
George B. Jack
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Negative Concord

scholarly journals The Distribution of the Perfect Auxiliaries be/have in Middle English Texts

2018 ◽  
pp. 33-46
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Alicja Zdziera
Keyword(s):  
Simple Model ◽  
Middle English ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Auxiliary Verbs ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Verbs Of Motion ◽  
Verb Phrases ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Germanic Languages

Like many Germanic languages, English has developed specific periphrastic constructions to express perfective meaning. Before being fully grammaticalized in the 16th century, they were used occasionally in Old and Middle English as complex verb phrases with either habban ‘to have’ or beon/wesan ‘to be’ acting as auxiliary verbs. By the Modern English period, forms created with be disappeared from the language and were almost completely replaced by forms with have, a process which did not occur, for instance, in German. As the data on this development are quite scarce, a relatively simple model is assumed with a steady diachronic progress towards the system established in Modern English, a model which disregards synchronic variation. This paper attempts to investigate the distribution of the perfective constructions with be and have, especially in the 15th century texts and to identify the main factors accounting for diff erences in their usage. Instead of taking into account only the diachronic aspect of the development described, the present study focuses mainly on investigating the synchronic variation in the auxiliaries used with the two most frequent verbs of motion, namely come and go in the perfective meaning.

scholarly journals York’s Guilds’ Names in the 15th Century and Their Translation into Spanish

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Mourón Figueroa
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Corpus Christi ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Late Medieval England ◽  
Corpus Christi Cycle ◽  
Definition Of

En la Inglaterra de la Baja Edad Media, los gremios de la ciudad de York se encargaban de representar escenas bíblicas tomadas del ciclo de Corpus Christi. Nuestro objetivo principal será describir, definir y traducir los nombres de los gremios que aparecen en la lista de Burton (1415). Asimismo, trataremos problemas surgidos del intento de establecer una correspondencia adecuada entre los términos en inglés medio, en español y la definición del gremio. Como veremos, los términos que designan a los gremios ingleses no suelen reflejar con exactitud aquellos usados para los gremios medievales españoles o para trabajos y profesiones actuales.Palabras clave: Gremios de York, ciclo de Corpus Christi, traducción, inglés medio, comercio.ABSTRACTIn late medieval England, YorkKs guilds were responsible for the performance of short Biblical scenes from the Corpus Christi cycle. Since no translation of the whole cycle into Spanish is available, we will describe, define and translate the guildsK names in BurtonKs list (1415). We will also deal with some problems found when establishing an accurate correspondence among the terms in Middle English, in Spanish and the definition of the craft. The terms which designate the English guilds do not exactly reflect those used for the Spanish medieval gremios or for current trades and jobs in English and Spanish.Key words: YorkKs guilds, Corpus Christi cycle, translation, Middle English, trade

scholarly journals The Grammaticalization of the Epistemic Adverb Perhaps in Late Middle and Early Modern English

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafał Molencki
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old French ◽  
Old Norse ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Hybrid Form ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
History Of

Abstract Old and Early Middle English did not yet have modal sentential adverbs of low probability. Old Norse did not have such words, either. From the 13th century onwards first epistemic prepositional phrases of Anglo-Norman origin functioning as modal adverbials consisting of the preposition per/par and nouns such as adventure, case, chance were borrowed into Middle English. In the late 15th century an analogous hybrid form per-hap(s), the combination of the Old French preposition per/par ‘by, through’ and the Old Norse noun hap(p) ‘chance’, both singular and plural, was coined according to the same pattern and was gradually grammaticalized as a univerbated modal sentence adverb in Early Modern English. The Norse root happ- was the source of some other new (Late) Middle English words which had no cognate equivalents in the source language: the adjective happy with its derivatives happily, happiness, etc. and the verb happen. Together with another new Late Middle English formation may-be, a calque of French peutêtre, perhaps superseded the competing forms mayhap, (modal) happily, percase, peradventure, perchance, prepositional phrases with the noun hap and, finally, per-hap itself in Early Modern English after two centuries of lexical layering or multiple synonymy. The history of perhaps is a clear example of grammaticalization, whereby a prepositional phrase became a modal adverb now also used as a discourse marker. We find here all the typical features of the process: phonetic attrition, decategorization, univerbation, and obligatorification.

scholarly journals Copying strategies of late Middle English scribes: Hand(s) and language(s) of two 15th-century manuscripts

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-172
Author(s):  
María José Carrillo-Linares
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Bodleian Library ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
University Library ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour

The purpose of this paper is to compare two 15th-century manuscripts, Cambridge, University Library Kk.1.3 and Oxford, Bodleian Library Hatton 50, focusing on both paleographical and linguistic aspects. Samples from different sections of both manuscripts have been transcribed from either the original manuscripts or digital photographic reproductions. Each word and morpheme have been lexico-grammatically tagged to evaluate the scribe’s linguistic behaviour with respect to spelling, phonology, and morphology. Paleographical and linguistic data to support the two main conclusions of the study are offered. With this analysis, I conclude that both manuscripts are, almost certainly, copied by the same person. Comparison of the different copying strategies generated by this single scribe allows us to achieve a better understanding of the written material in which Middle English has been preserved.

scholarly journals The Medical Recipes in the Antidotary in GUL MS Hunter 513 (ff. 37v–96v)

2014 ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Teresa Marqués-Aguado
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Medical Texts ◽  
Scholarly Research ◽  
Text Type ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Two Parameters

Many Middle English medical texts contain medical recipes where remedies for various conditions are put forward. Recent scholarly research has characterised the recipe text-type from a linguistic viewpoint and also according to its elements, paying special attention to the writing tradition that the texts they are found in belong to. In this line, the present article explores and characterises the recipes contained in a 15th-century Antidotary found in GUL MS Hunter 513 (ff. 37v–96v) according to the two parameters mentioned. This analysis is based on the previous evaluation of the writing tradition where the text should be placed according to its composition.

Melusine

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Printing Press ◽  
Original Text ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Prose Narratives ◽  
Prose Romance ◽  
Human World ◽  
Prose Romances

The Middle English Melusine is a prose romance produced by an anonymous author in the late 15th century. It is a reasonably faithful translation of the French Roman de Mélusine, completed by Jean d’Arras in 1393 at the behest of Jean, Duc de Berri. Jean’s original text, together with a verse version, Roman de Partenay, penned by La Coudrette c. 1401–1405, enjoyed immense popularity in medieval western Europe, with a rich array of manuscripts and incunabula being produced and translations emerging in German, Dutch, and Castilian. There also exists an English translation of the verse romance, The Romans of Parthenay (c. 1500). A pseudohistorical narrative weaving elements of romance and chronicle, Melusine traces the foundation of the House of Lusignan to its mythical ancestor. Cursed to metamorphose into a snake below the waist on Saturday evenings, Melusine’s salvation is contingent upon her marrying a man who swears never to learn of or speak about her secret. After marrying a nobleman of Poitiers, Melusine quickly transforms the wild landscape of Poitou in northwestern France into a rich, cultivated, and prosperous region, constructing an impressive series of fortresses and churches within a matter of days. The first fortress becomes the realm’s main seat of power and is named “Lusignan” in honor of its patroness. Melusine and her husband soon have ten sons, most of whom bear strange facial markings that seem to allude to a supernatural parentage. Despite this, many of the sons venture off on crusade and conquest, spreading their dynasty’s influence across Europe and the Near East. Eventually, Melusine’s snake tail is discovered by her husband; when he reveals her secret to the court, she is forced to leave the human world forever and roam the Earth as a dragon until Judgement Day. As her curse dictates, Melusine must return to Lusignan to hail death and the transferal of power within her genealogical line. Little is known about the precise origins of the Middle English Melusine. As with many insular romances, the translator and patron remain anonymous, though the text’s colossal length would indicate a wealthy clientele. Contrary to literary trends in France and Burgundy, prose narratives written in English appeared relatively late in the 15th century, only truly gaining popularity after the arrival of Caxton’s printing press. The Middle English Melusine is therefore an important example of England’s early prose romances in the vernacular.

scholarly journals Negative inversion, negative concord and sentential negation in the history of English

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILLIP WALLAGE
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Minimalist Framework ◽  
The Way ◽  
English I

It is claimed in van Kemenade (2000: 62) that clauses with initial negative constituents are a context in which subject–verb inversion occurs throughout the history of English. However, different patterns of negative inversion are seen at different periods of English. I argue that changes in the availability of negative inversion reflect changes in the way sentential scope for negation is marked in negative concord constructions. Thus, negative concord involving Middle and Early Modern English not does not co-occur with negative inversion, but negative concord involving Middle English ne does. Changes to negative inversion can be seen to parallel changes in the way sentential scope negation is expressed at successive stages of the Middle English Jespersen Cycle. I propose that the changes to negative inversion and Jespersen's Cycle should both be analysed as changes in the ability of negative items to mark sentential scope for negation. This observation can be formalised within a Minimalist framework as variation in the LF-interpretability of negative features, following the account of Jespersen's Cycle proposed by Wallage (2008).

scholarly journals The soul in the mediaeval Psalter

Adeptus ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 84-101
Author(s):  
Kinga Lis
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
14Th Century ◽  
Middle French ◽  
English Prose ◽  
Selection Strategies ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
Anglo Norman

The soul in the mediaeval PsalterThe paper is an attempt to examine what lies at the heart and soul of the mediaeval Psalter in the contemporaneous approach(es) to its vernacularisations. In particular, the paper investigates the applications of the mediaeval translation theory in relation to a 12th-century Anglo-Norman, a 15th-century Middle French and four 14th-century Middle English prose Psalter renditions, with a view to locate them within the spirit of the attitude to biblical translations current in the Middle Ages and against the backdrop of the position of the Psalter in the period. In practical terms, the analysis is conducted on the basis of the equivalent selection strategies for rendering four Latin nouns central to the Psalter: anima, animae ‘soul,’ cor, cordis ‘heart’ and, perhaps surprisingly, ren, renis ‘kidney’ and lumbus, lumbi ‘loins’. All cases of variation in this respect are studied closely from intra- as well as extra-textual perspectives in order to establish the possible reasons behind the divergences, as these constitute exceptions rather than the rule, even in apparently heterodox renditions. Dusza w średniowiecznym PsałterzuArtykuł stanowi próbę bliższego przyjrzenia się podstawowym zasadom średniowiecznego podejścia do tłumaczenia psałterza na języki wernakularne. Przedstawiono w nim analizę zastosowania mediewalnej teorii tłumaczeń w odniesieniu do dwunastowiecznego Psałterza anglo-normandzkiego, piętnastowiecznego Psałterza średniofrancuskiego i czterech czternastowiecznych tłumaczeń Księgi Psalmów na średnioangielski. Celem było wykazanie, w jakim stopniu analizowane teksty odzwierciedlają ówczesne podejście do tłumaczeń biblijnych w kontekście znaczenia psałterza w średniowieczu. Badanie przeprowadzone jest na podstawie doboru ekwiwalentów w tłumaczeniu czterech – niezwykle istotnych z powodu rangi tych tekstów w średniowieczu – łacińskich rzeczowników: anima, animae‚ ‘dusza’, cor, cordis‚ ‘serce’ oraz, co może zaskoczyć, ren, renis‚ ‘nerka’ i lumbus, lumbi, ‘lędźwie’. Najwięcej uwagi poświęcono ustaleniu źródła analizowanej z perspektywy zarówno intra-, jak i ekstratekstualnej wariancji w doborze odpowiedników, jako że rozbieżność w tym względzie stanowi raczej wyjątek, a nie regułę, nawet w tłumaczeniach – wydawałoby się – heterodoksyjnych.

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