“he saith yt he thinkes yt”: Linguistic Factors Influencing Third Person Singular Present Tense Verb Inflection in Early Modern English Depositions

2016 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Terry Walker
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Verb Inflection ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Present Tense

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

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.

Third-person singular zero in the Norfolk dialect A re-assessment

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Joby
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Present Tense

AbstractI use the results of my own research into the language use of the immigrant (or ‘Stranger’) communities in early modern Norwich to evaluate Peter Trudgill’s thesis that it was language contact in Norwich between the Strangers and the local English inhabitants that led to the emergence of third-person singular present tense zero (he go rather than he goes). I present evidence that third-person singular zero was already in use in Norwich and elsewhere in Norfolk by the time when Dutch- and French-speaking immigrants arrived in Norwich. The question then arises as to whether language contact did in fact play any role in establishing zero-marking as the norm in the Norfolk dialect, a process which was complete by about 1700. I argue is that if language contact did play a role in the success of zeromarking, it would have been in a manner different to that described by Trudgill.

Parenthetical reporting clauses in the history of English: the development of quotative inversion

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA CICHOSZ
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Old English ◽  
Direct Speech ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
History Of ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Diachronic Analysis ◽  
Late Modern ◽  
Annotated Corpora

This study is a corpus-based diachronic analysis of English reporting parentheticals, i.e. clauses introducing direct speech, placed after or in the middle of the reported message. The aim of the investigation is to trace the development of the construction throughout the history of English, establishing the main factors influencing the choice between VS and SV patterns (i.e. with and without quotative inversion respectively), showing how various reporting verbs were increasingly attracted to the construction, and demonstrating the gradual morphological reduction of the main reporting verbs: quoth and say. The study is based on syntactically annotated corpora of Old, Middle, Early Modern and Late Modern English, and uses other corpora to illustrate more recent changes. The study reveals that reporting clauses do not show regular quotative inversion with all subject types until the Early Modern English period and links this development to the emergence of the comment clause with say. It is also claimed that quotative inversion is not directly derived from the V-2 rule and that parenthetical reporting clauses have functioned as a separate construction since the Old English period.

scholarly journals Supralocalisation Processes in Early Modern English Urban Vernaculars

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-66
Author(s):  
Moragh Gordon ◽  
Tino Oudesluijs ◽  
Anita Auer
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Urban Centre ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Third Person ◽  
Unique Distribution ◽  
Internal And External Factors ◽  
Insight Into

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.

Investigating the past of the futurate present

2021 ◽  
pp. 210-238
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Cowper ◽  
Daniel Currie Hall ◽  
Bronwyn M. Bjorkman ◽  
Rebecca Tollan ◽  
Neil Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Distinct Class ◽  
The Past ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Primary Form

Using a corpus of 1118 future-referring clauses from each of five versions of the Christian Gospels, this paper explores the effect that the development of English modals as a distinct class had on the range of meanings expressed by the simple present tense. It is shown that in Old English, the simple present tense was the primary form used to express future meanings, while by Early Modern English modals were obligatory in such clauses. In late Middle English, modals were very frequently used, but are shown not to be obligatory. The change is attributed to the advent, in the late 1500s, of a contrastive interpretable feature modality, spelled out by the modals. Thereafter, a clause lacking this contrastive feature could not be interpreted as future-referring except in planned or scheduled contexts. The featural implications of the present-day decline of the true modals are then briefly considered.

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

1993 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-139 ◽  
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.

scholarly journals Some more on the history of present-tense -s, do and zero: West Oxfordshire, 1837

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Wright
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Dialect Contact ◽  
Third Person ◽  
History Of ◽  
Present Tense ◽  
Auxiliary Verb

AbstractThis paper analyses the present indicative third-person singular markers in a diary kept by a servant from West Oxfordshire in 1837. There are three present-tense markers present in the diary: periphrastic auxiliary verb do, -s, and zero. However, all affirmative declarative do forms are found to be emphatic, so I deduce that periphrastic do was not present. Zero occurs at the surprisingly high rate of 21%. I examine the possibility that zero was the result of hypercorrection (perhaps due to misapplied schooling, or perhaps due to dialect contact as the diarist left West Oxfordshire and took up employment in London), but this is rejected because -s and zero patterns in the same way as in other southern data, based on an analysis of pronoun v. NP subjects, auxiliary v. full-verb have, non-categorical NPPR, and non-categorical Early Modern subjunctive zero. Presumably, these regular patternings would not be present were the zeroes due to an over-applied rule. I hypothesise that as periphrastic do and older -th became abandoned, an empty morpheme slot emerged, which later became filled with generalised -s. It is this temporarily empty morpheme slot, I suggest, which accounts for the 21% zeroes.

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

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.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document