scholarly journals Medieval English root clauses

Literator ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-154
Author(s):  
H. W. Broekman
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Complementary Distribution ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Finite Verb

The movement operation Verb Second moves the finite verb from its base-generated position in VP to C via the I node within the Chomsky (1986) framework. As the finite verb and the complementiser are in complementary distribution, the above predicts that, contrary to fact, Verb Second is not possible in embedded clauses. However, in Frisian and Swedish Verb Second does occur in embedded clauses. This entails that a lexical complementiser does not always prevent a finite verb from undergoing Verb Second. 'The aim of this paper is to provide a survey of Old English and Middle English root clauses particularly with respect to Verb Second. Old English does not strictly conform to Verb Second in declarative root clauses. In Old English finite verbs also occur in first position and in third position in declarative root clauses. A comparison with Icelandic data will be provided as this language displays all three verb placements in declarative head main clauses as well.

The scope of embedded Verb Second in modern Yiddish

2020 ◽  
pp. 665-681
Author(s):  
Molly Diesing ◽  
Beatrice Santorini
Keyword(s):  
Native Speaker ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Verb Movement ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Finite Verb

Embedded Verb Second (V2) clauses have been analysed as embedded main clauses or in terms of selection. This chapter presents data from both corpora and native speaker judgements showing that Verb Second order in embedded clauses in Yiddish goes well beyond what can be explained by either of the above approaches, with V2 possible and attested in interrogatives as well as declaratives. Adjunction of adverbials to V2 clauses is possible as well, yielding orders with the finite verb in third position (V3). But V3 resulting from lack of verb movement, as is seen in Mainland Scandinavian and (optionally) in Icelandic, is not found.

scholarly journals Structural variation in Old English root clauses

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 367-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Pintzuk ◽  
Eric Haeberli
Keyword(s):  
Structural Analysis ◽  
Old English ◽  
Structural Variation ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Structural Position ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Traditional Assumption ◽  
Constituent Order ◽  
Basic Constituent ◽  
Finite Verb

AbstractA standard observation concerning basic constituent order in Old English (OE) is that the position of finite verbs varies by clause type. In root clauses, the finite verb tends to occur toward the beginning of the clause, and we frequently find Verb Second (V2) order. In contrast, in subordinate clauses, finite verbs generally occur toward the end of the clause, and these clauses are frequently verb-final. We challenge the traditional assumption that verb-final orders and, hence, the occurrence of the finite verb in a head-final structural position are rare in OE root clauses. We present new data demonstrating that the frequency of head-final structure in OE root clauses is much higher than previously acknowledged. We then explore some of the implications of this finding for the general structural analysis of OE.

scholarly journals The consequences of the loss of verb-second in English: information structure and syntax in interaction

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
BETTELOU LOS
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Syntactic Change ◽  
Linguistic Level ◽  
English Syntax ◽  
Finite Verb

English syntax used to have a version of the verb-second rule, by which the finite verb moves to second position in main clauses. This rule was lost in Middle English, and this article argues that its loss had serious consequences for the information structure of the clause. In the new, rigid subject-verb-object syntax, the function of preposed constituents changed, and the function of encoding ‘old’ or ‘given’ information in a pragmatically neutral way was increasingly reserved for subjects. Pressure from information structure to repair this situation subsequently led to the rise of new passive constructions in order to satisfy the need for more subjects; the change in the informational status of preposed constituents triggered the rise of clefts. If information structure can be compromised by syntactic change in this way, this suggests that it represents a separate linguistic level outside the syntax.

The functions of weorðan and its loss in the past tense in Old and Middle English

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER PETRÉ
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Mixed System ◽  
Past Tense ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
The Past ◽  
English System ◽  
Sudden Transition

In this article, I relate the loss of weorðan in the past tense to the loss of an Old English grammatical subsystem that encouraged the expression of narrative by bounded sentence constructions. This type of construction represents a situation as reaching its goal or endpoint, and serves to mark progress in a narrative (e.g. then he walked over to the other side). Instead of this system, from Middle English onwards a mixed system emerges with differently structured bounded sentence constructions as well as, increasingly, unbounded sentence constructions – which structure events as open-ended, usually by means of a progressive form (e.g. he was walking). I show how weorðan in Old English was strongly associated with the Old English system of bounded sentence constructions – an association with boundedness is not surprising given its meaning of ‘(sudden) transition into another state’. In the thirteenth century this rigid Old English system started to break down, as primarily evidenced by the disappearance of the time adverbial þa and the loss of verb-second. Wearð, being strongly associated with the old way of structuring narrative, decreased too and eventually disappeared.

scholarly journals On the historical core of V2 in Germanic

2003 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Fuss
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Basic Properties ◽  
Initial Element ◽  
Lower Position ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical System ◽  
Finite Verb

This paper focuses on the origin of the V2 property in the history of Germanic. Considering data from Gothic and Old English (OE), it is suggested that the historical core of the V2 phenomenon reduces to V-to-C movement that is triggered in operator contexts. Therefore, the historical system shares basic properties with limited V2 in Modern English. It is shown that apparent deviations from this pattern that can be observed in Gothic can be attributed to the influence of Greek word order. Concerning the apparently more elaborate V2 properties of OE, it is claimed that a large part of them in fact do not involve a Spec-head relation, but rather result from linear adjacency between the clause-initial element and a finite verb located in T0. Special attention is paid to the placement of pronominal subjects in OE, which are claimed to occupy SpecTP. This contrasts with a lower position of full subjects due to the absence of an EPP in OE. Finally, the loss of superficial V2 orders in the Middle English period is attributed to the development of an EPP feature in T.

scholarly journals Diagnosing embedded V2 in Old English and Old French

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Meklenborg Salvesen ◽  
George Walkden
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Old French ◽  
Left Periphery ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Matrix Verb ◽  
Finite Verb

Old English (OE) and Old French (OF) both display verb-second (V2) word order in main declarative clauses. Different models may account for V2: (a) the finite verb must move to a head in the CP field; (b) it must remain in the IP field; or (c) it moves to the left periphery only when the preceding XP is not a subject. While the IP-model should allow free embedded V2, the two others would either exclude completely or strongly limit the possibilty of having embedded V2. We select embedded that-clauses and analyse the word order with respect to the matrix verb: embedded V2 is possible in both OE and OF, although the availability of this structure is restricted. OE has very few occurrences of embedded V2, whereas OF seems to permit this construction more freely. We link this difference to the site of first Merge of complementizers in the two languages.

scholarly journals Reassessing the historical evidence for embedded Verb Second

2020 ◽  
pp. 536-554
Author(s):  
George Walkden ◽  
Hannah Booth
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Verb Second ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Old Saxon ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Significant Question

This chapter revisits the significant question of embedded Verb Second in historical Germanic, in light of recent developments in research on present-day V2 languages. Drawing on novel corpus data for Old English, Old Saxon, historical Icelandic, and historical Yiddish, it shows that there is little support for an analysis which permits embedded V2 outside a narrow subset of contexts, or one which hosts both the verb and the preverbal constituent within the IP domain (‘IP-V2’). The chapter puts forward the tentative suggestion that there is only one type of V2 language, at least as regards word order in embedded clauses.

scholarly journals The Present and Past Participles in the Medieval English Translations of St. John’s Gospel from Latin

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-42
Author(s):  
Lidija Štrmelj ◽  
Milenko Lončar
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Past Participle ◽  
Verb Forms ◽  
English Translations ◽  
Present Participle ◽  
John's Gospel ◽  
Finite Verb

The present participle and past participle, together with the infinitive, have a long history in English; this is quite contrary to finite verb forms, which mostly developed during the Middle English period. Participles were already in use in the earliest stages of the language and performed functions similar to those of the present active participle and perfect passive participle in Latin. Therefore, one may assume that Latin participles are rendered into Old English and Middle English mostly by means of their English equivalents. It appears, however, that this was not the case. The data provided in our research lead us to the conclusion that the implementation of participles in English was rather difficult and slow, at least when it comes to the Gospel translations. This paper shows what was used instead – for example, various types of clauses; it also shows the reasons for this (such as ambiguity hidden sometimes in participles).

Talking about MOTION in Middle English

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Huber
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Language Contact ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The Other ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Anglo Norman ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
Analysis Of Motion

Chapter 6 begins with an overview of the language contact situation with (Anglo-) French and Latin, resulting in large-scale borrowing in the Middle English period. The analysis of 465 Middle English verbs used to express intransitive motion shows that there are far more French/Latin loans in the path verbs than in the other motion verbs. The range of (new) manner of motion verbs testifies to the manner salience of Middle English: caused motion verbs are also found in intransitive motion meanings, as are French loans which do not have motion uses in continental French. Their motion uses in Anglo-Norman are discussed in terms of contact influence of Middle English. The analysis of motion expression in different texts yields a picture similar to the situation in Old English, with path typically expressed in satellites, and neutral as well as manner of motion verbs being most frequent, depending on text type.

scholarly journals Norse against Old English: 20-0

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Holmberg
Keyword(s):  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
West Germanic

The conclusion seems inescapable, if the facts in Emonds & Faarlund are more or less right: Middle English would be the outcome of a shift from West Germanic grammar to an eccentric form of North Germanic grammar.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document