The long-term diachrony of referential null subjects in early English

2019 ◽  
pp. 181-216
Author(s):  
Kristian A. Rusten
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Old English ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Argument Ellipsis ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Early English

Chapter 6 investigates the long-term diachrony of null subjects in early English. On the basis of a large-scale empirical analysis of overt and null referential subjects in Old, Middle, and Early Modern English, it is argued that no real diachronic decline in the possibility of null subjects can be detected across a period spanning c.850 years of early English texts. It is argued that this is consonant with a story where Old English does not feature a productive pro-drop property. The chapter also shows that verb-initial clausal syntax and conjunct clause environments constitute the strongest favouring effects for null subjects in Middle and Early Modern English, as is also the case in Old English. An argument is made that this is consonant with a story where subject omission in early English is viewed as a form of argument ellipsis.

Referential Null Subjects in Early English

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristian A. Rusten
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Old English ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
History Of ◽  
Verbal Agreement ◽  
Early English

This book offers a large-scale quantitative investigation of referential null subjects as they occur in Old, Middle, and Early Modern English. Using corpus linguistic methods, and drawing on five corpora of early English, the book empirically addresses the occurrence of subjectless finite clauses in more than 500 early English texts, and excerpts of texts, spanning nearly 850 years of the history of English. The book gives an in-depth quantitative analysis of c.80,000 overt and null referential pronominal subjects in 181 Old English texts. On the basis of this substantial data material, the book re-evaluates previous conflicting claims concerning the occurrence and distribution of null subjects in Old English. The book critically addresses the question of whether the earliest stage of English can be considered a canonical or partial pro-drop language. It also provides an empirical examination of the role played by central licensors of null subjects proposed in the theoretical literature, including verbal agreement and Aboutness topicality. The predictions of two important pragmatic accounts of null arguments are also tested. In order to provide a longitudinal perspective, results are provided from an investigation of c.139,000 overt and null referential pronominal subjects occurring in more than 300 Middle and Early Modern English texts and text samples. Throughout, the book builds its arguments by means of powerful statistical tools, including generalized fixed-effects and mixed-effects logistic regression modelling, and is the most comprehensive examination so far provided of null subjects in the history of English.

Conclusions

2019 ◽  
pp. 217-222
Author(s):  
Kristian A. Rusten
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Old English ◽  
Null Subjects ◽  
Argument Ellipsis ◽  
Early Modern English

Chapter 7 concludes the book by giving a summary of the background for the study, as well as of its main results. The chapter makes note of the widely diverging previous descriptions of null subjects in Old English, and concludes that this language was not a canonical pro-drop language, instead suggesting that null subjects are linguistic 'residue'. Moreover, it argues that there is no evidence for a ‘dialect split’ with regard to subject omission. As certain conditions that are often taken to license null subjects do not appear to be present in Old English, it is suggested that the omitted subjects may be analysed as argument ellipsis. These findings are corroborated by the Middle and Early Modern English data, which display similarities to Old English with regard to the scarcity of null subjects, as well as to their morphosyntactic characteristics.

scholarly journals Sociolinguistics and Language History: The Helsinki Corpus of Early English Correspondence

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Terttu Nevalainen ◽  
Helena Raumolin-Brunberg
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Linguistic Change ◽  
Language History ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
Early English

The paper introduces our new project on diachronic sociolinguistics, focusing on the problems of compiling a representative corpus for this purpose. We study long-term linguistic change in the Late Middle and Early Modern English periods (1420-1680) in a computer-readable corpus of personal letters, which is designed specifically for the purposes of sociohistorical research. When completed, the Helsinki Corpus of Early English Correspondence will comprise some 1.5 million running words representing all the literate social ranks of the time, both sexes, and different ages and occupations. In our case, the issues that a corpus compiler must deal with include the coverage of all the sociolinguistically relevant categories of data, authenticity of extant materials, and the quality of editing.

Co-occurrence and iteration of intensifiers in Early English

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belén Méndez-Naya
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Old English ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
English Prose ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Early English ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon

This article focuses on an aspect of intensification which has not, so far, received due attention in the extensive literature on the topic: intensifier iteration (very very hot) and co-occurrence (very extremely hot), with a special focus on Old, Middle and Early Modern English as represented in the York-Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Old English Prose and the Penn Parsed Corpora of Historical English. The results show that in earlier English, intensifier iteration is less frequent than co-occurrence; that while the former is clearly associated with emphasis, the latter also intersects with grammaticalization and renewal; and that co-occurrence is particularly salient in periods of instability when the competition of intensifiers is at its height. Iteration and co-occurrence of intensifiers are analysed in this article as cases of the widespread cross-linguistic phenomenon of accretion.

Positional spelling redistribution: word-initial / and / in Early Modern English (1500–1700)

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
MARCO CONDORELLI
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Quantitative Model ◽  
Printing Industry ◽  
Quantitative Investigation ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Potential Factors ◽  
Early English ◽  
Diachronic Development ◽  
The Relationship

The alternations in <u>/<v> and <i>/<j> are among the most well-known and commented-upon changes in Early Modern English spellings, yet little has been said about the potential factors underlying their standardisation, and whether and how the two alternant pairs could be linked together. The reason behind this knowledge gap may be found in the absence of a large-scale, quantitative investigation of these spellings, and consequently, the impossibility of commenting upon the relationship between patterns of chronological development and potential causes of change. This article focuses on the standardisation of word-initial <u>/<v> and <i>/<j> between 1500 and 1700 in printed English, and uses a quantitative model for the analysis of patterns of diachronic development in the two alternant pairs, across a range of texts from a sampled version of Early English Books Online. The results describe a rather abrupt, synchronised change in the redistribution of word-initial <u>/<v> and <i>/<j> between the 1620s and the 1640s. The discussion argues for a close connection between the diachronic developments in word-initial <u>/<v> and <i>/<j>, and pragmatic factors that affected the Early Modern English printing industry.

scholarly journals THE STYLISTIC FUNCTIONING OF SCRIPTURAL ALLUSIONS IN AN EARLY MODERN ENGLISH PLAY “JOHAN BAPTYSTES PREACHYNGE” BY J. BALE

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 1001-1007
Author(s):  
A.A. Khavronich
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Semantic Expansion ◽  
Early English ◽  
The Given ◽  
Selection Of

The given article analyzes the peculiarities of the stylistic functioning of allusions to the Holy Scripture within one religious play belonging to the modern early English period, namely “Johan Baptystes Preachynge” produced by a dramatist J. Bale. The analysis is performed from the standpoint of linguopoetics. We consider stylistic features via the correlation of form and meaning, dissection of the conceptual component, juxtaposition with medieval plays representing adaptations of the same scriptural plot. Within the framework of this analysis we identify and assess elements performing the function of impact incorporated into the scriptural allusions and estimate their role in the selection of other lexical units, construction of extended metaphors, syntactic shaping of particular fragments of the play. We draw a conclusion that via the extension of scriptural metaphorical complexes the author brings about a meaningful focus shift to ensure a protestant reinterpretation of the included biblical theses. A substantial share of stylistically marked elements undergoes semantic expansion and develops adherent connotations since they relate to the pivotal elements of the allusions.

Constraints on ellipsis alternation: A view from the history of English

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Nykiel
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Form Processing ◽  
Argument Ellipsis ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
History Of ◽  
Construction Type ◽  
Semantic Dependencies ◽  
Late Modern

AbstractI offer a diachronic perspective on English ellipsis alternation, or the alternation between inclusion and omission of prepositions from remnants under sluicing and bare argument ellipsis. The relative freedom to omit prepositions from remnants has not been stable in English; this freedom is connected to the strength of semantic dependencies between prepositions and verbs. Remnants without prepositions are first attested, but remain less frequent than remnants with prepositions, as late as Early Modern English and gain in frequency following this period. I demonstrate that three constraints—correlate informativity, structural persistence, and construction type—predict ellipsis alternation in Early and Late Modern English. However, predicting ellipsis alternation in present-day English requires semantic dependencies in addition to the three constraints. The constraints can be subsumed under principles of language processing and production (considerations of accessibility, a tendency to reuse structure, and a conventionalized performance preference for efficiently accessing constituents that form processing domains), permitting a unified processing account of ellipsis alternation with cross-linguistic coverage.

From ‘quickly’ to ‘fairly’: on the history ofrather

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
MATTI RISSANEN
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Type I ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Semantic Development ◽  
Syntactic Development

In this article I describe the semantic and syntactic development of the moderatorratherfrom Old to Present-day English using a variationist approach.Ratheroriginates in an Old English comparative adverb indicating speed, and hence time, but the loss of the indication of speed and movement can already be traced in the Old English period. In Middle English the ‘preferential’ senses ofrather(e.g. the type ‘I would rather do X than Y’) become more common than the temporal senses. This contrastive meaning constitutes the unmarked use ofratherin Early Modern English, but it gradually weakens in the course of the Modern English period. The moderator use becomes popular in the second half of the eighteenth century. The semantic development outlined above goes hand in hand with a syntactic development from an original adjunct into a subjunct and conjunct, and finally into a modifier of adjectives and adverbs.

Complexity in national legislation of the Early Modern English period

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anu Lehto
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Systematic Method ◽  
National Legislation ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
Late Fifteenth ◽  
Early English

This paper concentrates on Early Modern English statutes printed in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The study considers the development of complexity and the rise of modern writing conventions by following the diachronic pragmatic view. The analysis also draws on genre studies and underlines the sociohistorical impact on linguistic changes. Complexity is assessed by a systematic method that observes the textual structure and syntax. The material consists of legislative documents in Early English Books Online; six of the documents were transcribed and compiled into a small-scale corpus. The results indicate that complexity was a common feature in the Early Modern English period: coordination and subordination are frequently used, and the sixteenth-century documents have an increasing tendency to favour subordination. During the sixteenth century, legislative sentences and text type structure become more regular and correspond to present-day practices.

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.

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