Word Order After the Loss of the Verb-Second Constraint or the Importance of Early Modern English in the Fixation of Syntactic and Informative (Un-)Markedness

2005 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 342-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Pérez-Guerra
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Early Modern English

Word Order Patterns in Early Modern English

Language ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Eric Potsdam ◽  
Bjorg Baekken
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Early Modern English

scholarly journals Object-Verb in Early Modern English: Modelling Markedness

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Pérez-Guerra
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Statistical Modelling ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Related Text ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Early English ◽  
Order Pattern

Abstract Although Verb-Object (VO) is the basic unmarked constituent order of predicates in Present-Day English, in earlier stages of the language Object-Verb (OV) is the preferred pattern in some syntactic contexts. OV predicates are significantly frequent in Old and Middle English, and are still attested up to 1550, when they “appear to dwindle away” (Moerenhout & van der Wurff 2005: 83). This study looks at OV in Early Modern English (EModE), using a corpus-based perspective and statistical modelling to explore a number of textual, syntactic, and semantic/processing variables which may account for what by that time had already become a marked, though not yet archaic, word-order pattern. The data for the study were retrieved from the Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Early Modern English (1500–1710) and the Parsed Corpus of Early English Correspondence (c.1410–1695), the largest electronic parsed collections of EModE texts. The findings reveal a preference for OV in speech-related text types, which are less constrained by the rules of grammar, in marked syntactic contexts, and in configurations not subject to the general linearisation principles of end-weight and given-new. Where these principles are complied with, the probability of VO increases.

Motivations for particle verb word order in Middle and Early Modern English

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARION ELENBAAS
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
The Other ◽  
Particle Verbs ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
The One ◽  
Particle Verb

This article examines possible motivations for the choice of particle verb word order in Middle English (1100–1500) and Early Modern English (1500–1700). The word order alternation of Present-Day English particle verbs, which presents language users with a choice between verb–object–particle and verb–particle–object order, first emerged in Early Middle English (twelfth century). For Present-Day English, several studies (e.g. Gries 1999, 2003; Dehé 2002) have shown that the choice is influenced by a number of linguistic factors, such as the heaviness of the object (morphosyntactic factor) and the givenness of the object (discourse factor). This article reveals the influence of a number of morphosyntactic factors and also shows that the choice is increasingly influenced by the givenness of the object. The differences between Present-Day English on the one hand and Middle and Early Modern English on the other hand are discussed in the light of syntactic changes going on in these periods. It is argued that the developments in particle verb syntax are characterised by an increasing division of labour between the two word orders, which may also explain why both orders survive into Present-Day English.

Word order patterns in Early Modern English By Bjørg Bækken

Language ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 222-222
Author(s):  
Eric Potsdam
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Early Modern English

scholarly journals Early Modern English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terttu Nevalainen
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Standard English ◽  
Gradual Change ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Vowel Shift ◽  
New Research ◽  
Over Time

In the Early Modern English period (1500–1700), steps were taken toward Standard English, and this was also the time when Shakespeare wrote, but these perspectives are only part of the bigger picture. This chapter looks at Early Modern English as a variable and changing language not unlike English today. Standardization is found particularly in spelling, and new vocabulary was created as a result of the spread of English into various professional and occupational specializations. New research using digital corpora, dictionaries, and databases reveals the gradual nature of these processes. Ongoing developments were no less gradual in pronunciation, with processes such as the Great Vowel Shift, or in grammar, where many changes resulted in new means of expression and greater transparency. Word order was also subject to gradual change, becoming more fixed over time.

scholarly journals Pragmatic Marker I Pray in Early Modern English

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 34-42
Author(s):  
N. Yu. Merkuryeva
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Word Order ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
Pragmatic Markers ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Modal Verb ◽  
Linguistic Material

Te article deals with the sentences that contain pragmatic marker I pray you / thee and its variants as a parenthetical clause. Te linguistic material for synchronic analysis is taken from the texts of the plays written by the English authors during the 16−17th centuries. Te examination of the lexicalgrammatical and stylistic characteristics of the structures under analysis shows that the greatest variety of the marker forms is achieved at the beginning of the period under consideration. Te following processes are seen to be the sources of the diversity: the increase of expression by means of an adverb (now, still, hartyly) or a modal verb, the change of the pronunciation of the constituent words followed by modifcations of their representation in the text (comes into I prythee with variants prithee, pr’ythee), the elimination of subject and / or object (resulting in the forms pray, pray you, I pray). Towards the end of the period under consideration, in the second half of the 17th century, the diversity of the variants of the marker decreases, predominantly the following structures continue to exist: I pray, pray and I prythee. Te parenthetical clause is studied in diachrony as well. Te forms of the marker constituents, the peculiarities of the marker word order, the position of the clause in the sentences, the combination with other pragmatic markers are compared with the sentences from the texts of the 14−15th centuries.

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