Phonemically contrastive fricatives in Old English?

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
DONKA MINKOVA
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Relative Strength ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Voicing Contrast ◽  
History Of ◽  
Interdental Fricatives

The article addresses two recent hypotheses regarding the history of the English fricatives /f/–/v/, /s/–/z/, /θ/–/ð/: the hypothesis that phonemicization of the voicing contrast occurred in Old English, and the related claim that the reanalysis of the contrast was due to Celtic substratum influence. A re-examination of the arguments for early phonemicization leads to alternative interpretations of the observed voicing ‘irregularities’ in Old English. The empirical core of the article presents the patterns of alliteration in Old and Middle English; this kind of evidence has not been previously considered in evaluating the progress of the change. The analytical core of the article is dedicated to the dynamics of categorization based on edge vs domain-internal contrasts, the relative strength of the voicing environments, and the distinction among fricatives depending on place of articulation. A comprehensive LAEME and MED database of all relevant forms reaffirms the traditional position regarding French influence for the phonemicization of voicing for the labial fricatives. The categorization of the contrast for the interdental fricatives is a language-internal prosodic process, and the history of the sibilants requires reference to both external and internal factors. The shift from a predominantly complementary to a predominantly contrastive distribution of the voiced–voiceless fricative pairs has been occurring at different rates for a whole millennium. The claim that phonemicization is attributable to Celtic influence in Old English is empirically and theoretically unsubstantiated.

Positive and negative face as descriptive categories in the history of English

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 178-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas H. Jucker
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Clear Distinction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Negative Face

Studies in the history of politeness in English have generally relied on the notions of positive and negative face. While earlier work argued that a general trend from positive politeness to negative politeness can be observed, more recent work has shown that in Old English and in Middle English face concerns were not as important as in Modern English and that, in certain contexts, there are also opposing tendencies from negative to positive politeness. In this paper, I focus in more detail on the notions of positive and negative face and follow up earlier suggestions that for negative face a clear distinction must be made between deference politeness and non-imposition politeness. On this basis, I assess the usefulness of the notions of positive and negative face for the development of politeness in the history of English.

scholarly journals The Affix Changes from Middle English to Modern English Found In The Miller's Tale Written by Geoffrey Chaucer and Its Modern English Version

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Egi Putriana ◽  
Jufrizal Jufrizal ◽  
Fitrawati Fitrawati
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Geoffrey Chaucer ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Version ◽  
New Words ◽  
History Of ◽  
Vowel Change

The history of English language has three periods of time; Old English, Middle English, and Modern English. The linguistic forms in English development are different each period. This research aims to find out one of the changes, that is, the affix changes from Middle English to Modern English form that found in both of The Miller’s Tale Story Middle English and Modern English versions. This research also aims to find out the spelling changes in affixes. This research used descriptive qualitative method. The data, which are the collection of words that have affixes found in The Miller’s Tale, were identified based on the base of the words and its affixes and its were classified based on the type of its functions. Based on data analysis, there are seven affixes in Middle English which have been changed in Modern English form. These changes occur in the deletion of vowel, change of vowel, substitution of the affix, and elimination of the affix. The spelling change also influenced the change in suffixes. Some of the vocabularies change into the new words and some of the words change only in its vowel.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Lilo Moessner
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Computational Analysis ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Grammatical Category ◽  
Present Book ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Periods

This chapter sets the present book off against previous studies about the English subjunctive in the historical periods Old English (OE), Middle English (ME), and Early Modern English (EModE). The aim of the book is described as the first comprehensive and consistent description of the history of the present English subjunctive. The key term subjunctive is defined as a realisation of the grammatical category mood and an expression of the semantic/pragmatic category root modality. The corpus used in the book is part of The Helsinki Corpus of English Texts, comprising nearly half a million words in 91 files. The research method adopted is a combination of close reading and computational analysis.

Directional Out Of in the History of English: Grammaticalization and Reanalysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-126
Author(s):  
Marion Elenbaas
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Structural Reanalysis ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Particle Verb ◽  
Late Modern ◽  
English I

In Present-Day English, the particle out is obligatorily adjacent to the following of PP, as in He pulled the plugs out of his ears / *He pulled out the plugs of his ears, even though particles can normally precede or follow the object of the particle verb, as in Hepulled out the plugs / Hepulled the plugs out. Interestingly, in Old English and Middle English, the particle out could occur either adjacent or nonadjacent to the of PP. Based on corpus data covering the period from Old English to Late Modern English, I show that the change in the syntax of directional out of involves grammaticalization: The bleaching of the directional meaning of the preposition of led to a structural reanalysis by which the of PP became included in the particle's phrasal projection and could no longer be separated from the particle out. This in turn led to phono-logical reduction of the preposition of. The loss of the nonadjacent option is argued to be connected to the status of particles as optionally projecting elements.*

scholarly journals Degree of Grammaticalisation of Behind, Beneath, Between and Betwixt in Middle English

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-222
Author(s):  
Ewa Ciszek-Kiliszewska
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
English Prose ◽  
Natural Context ◽  
History Of ◽  
Diachronic Changes ◽  
Respective Function

The present paper traces the history of four selected adverbs with the prefix be- in Middle English. Already in Old English behind, beneath, between and betwixt are attested to function as both adverbs and prepositions, which demonstrates that the process of grammaticalisation accounting for the development of prepositions from adverbs started before that period. The focus of the study are the diachronic changes of the degree of grammaticalisation of the examined lexemes in the Middle English period as demonstrated by the ratio of their use with a respective function in the most natural context. Hence, specially selected Middle English prose texts are analysed. The analysis shows that while behind and beneath are still frequently used as adverbs in the whole Middle English period, between and betwixt are predominantly used as prepositions already in Early Middle English. This clearly demonstrates that the degree of grammaticalisation of the latter two Middle English words was much higher than that of behind and beneath.

scholarly journals The Derivative Aspect of the Formation of the Prefixal and Onomasiological Category of Negation

Linguaculture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Olga Migorian
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
English Language ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Formation Potential ◽  
History Of

The article addresses the formation of the prefixal and onomasiological category of Negation in Old English, Middle English, Early New English and New English. The work represents basic lexico-semantic groups of verb and noun bases, which actively participate in the formation of the onomasiological category of Negation across different periods in the history of the English. It includes a complex diachronical study of the English prefixal derivatives from the point of view of their word-formation potential within the onomasiological category of Negation. It presents an analysis of the considerable changes in the semantic and onomasiological structures within the frame of the onomasiological category of Negation in the history of the English language.

scholarly journals The Chequered History of the Prodigal ‘you’ Pronoun

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Dennis Michael Bryant
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Second Person ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Single Form ◽  
English Usage ◽  
History Of

This paper pursues the proposition that today’s English can be likened to a spectacularly-coloured butterfly that is always prepared to flutter forward undaunted by its dazzling change over time. In order to exemplify change as a long-term characteristic of English, this paper charts the progress of the second person ‘you’ pronoun, from Old English days, through to Middle English times, arriving into Modern English where the ‘you’ pronoun displays seemingly prodigal behaviour having abandoned its richness of case forms, resulting in a single form now representing all cases while also indicating both a multiple person audience while equally interpreted to indicate a singular person audience. However, it is clear that the latter behaviour is at odds with ‘you’ requiring a grammatically plural verbal particle. Such a paradox may leave ESL, and even native speakers, with an unfavourable impression that ‘you’ has to be accepted as an un-analysable concept. Given existing claims of lethargy in correctly informing the Academy on a range of English Grammar topics, this paper seeks to follow a Critical Theory methodology of evidence-based analysis of the ‘you’ situation; that is, this analysis consults Old English texts through to Middle English texts to today’s English usage, always providing supporting examples along the way.

2. Origins

2018 ◽  
pp. 12-32
Author(s):  
Simon Horobin
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
English Language ◽  
French Language ◽  
Norman Conquest ◽  
Language Origins ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Late Modern

Where does the English language come from? While English is distantly related to both Latin and French, it is principally a Germanic language. ‘Origins’ provides a brief history of the English language, highlighting a number of substantial changes, which have radically altered its structure, vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling. It begins with Old English (AD 650–1100), then moves on to Middle English (1100–1500), which saw the impact of the French language after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Early Modern English period (1500–1750) witnessed the biggest impact of Latin upon English, while Late Modern English (1750–1900) resulted in an expansion of specialist vocabulary using Latin and Greek.

Towards a history of English resultative constructions: the case of adjectival resultative constructions

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
CRISTIANO BROCCIAS
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Evolutionary Path ◽  
Resultative Constructions ◽  
Force Dynamics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Metaphorical Interpretation

This contribution provides a corpus-based investigation of the history of adjectival resultative constructions (RCs), e.g. He wiped the table clean, with special reference to Old English and Middle English. The article first briefly discusses some of the parameters relevant to a synchronic analysis of RCs, namely causativity, causality and force-dynamics, as well as the distinction between adjectival and adverbial RCs (collectively referred to as ARCs since the two types cannot always be differentiated diachronically). The article then shows that the diachronic data point to an expansion of the ARC from very specific instantiations, involving a limited set of verbs and adjectives/adverbs (i.e. the washing and cutting scenarios), to progressively more general types (which, however, set up a coherent network of analogical extensions). It is observed that this evolutionary path correlates with the metaphorical interpretation of actions as forces and the emergence of ‘proper’ causative examples, i.e. examples where the verb only symbolises the causing subevent in the causal chain evoked by the RC. Further, it is argued that this investigation highlights the importance of the usage-based model in linguistic analysis.

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