scholarly journals The Semantics of Morphological Conversion in Old English

2021 ◽  
pp. 33-52
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Kalaga
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Old English ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Main Part ◽  
English Language ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Quantitative Characteristics ◽  
The Way

The present article is an empirical, data-oriented study which focuses on the problem of morphological conversion and the way this mechanism was employed in Old English as a way of deriving new lexemes. The article briefly discusses the quantitative characteristics of the attested types, presents patterns of directionality and estimates the degree of availability of conversion in Old English grammar. The main part and purpose of the study, however, concerns the semantic characteristics of conversions sampled in the corpus. Drawing on the framework of semantic categories formulated by Clark and Clark (1979) and Plag (2003), the study aims to demonstrate semantic effects of the so-called zero-affix in Old English by looking into the relation that holds between the motivating base and the resultant derivative. Despite the fact that the availability of conversion was still quite limited in the Old English period, possibly due to numerous inflections that may have inhibited the transparency of this process, the study allows us to see how this process emerged and subsequently developed into one of the most productive word-formational techniques in the English language.

Linguistics and the Teaching of English in Schools

1960 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-138
Author(s):  
M. H. Scargill
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Studies ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
English Grammar

It is unfortunate that in the field of English studies the science of linguistics has been largely neglected in many Canadian universities. The reasons for this neglect are varied. But the results are always the same: students lamentably ignorant of the most elementary facts about the English language. I have heard an English honors graduate from one of our universities describe Chaucer as “the best of Old English authors.” I have met teachers of English in our schools who complained that, in spite of all their courses, they did not feel equipped to teach English grammar and composition and “hated’ the school “language periods.”

Lightfoot Noch Einmal

Diachronica ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 123-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Scott Allan
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Old English ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Historische Entwicklung ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Syntactic Change

SUMMARY Since the publication of Lightfoot's work on the historical development of the English modal verbs (Lightfoot 1974, 1979:81-120), there have been several replies to his analysis. This article is another contribution to that debate and concentrates on three areas. Firstly, the time scale of the changes is scrutinized to see if it is as uniform as Lightfoot appears to think, and whether or not it supports his claim that a major reanalysis of the base of the grammar occurred in the 16th century. Secondly, the autonomy thesis, i.e., the claim that syntactic change proceeds independently of semantic and phonetic factors, is examined, and lastly Lightfoot's fragment of Old English grammar is assessed for its accuracy. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Seit der Veröffentlichung von Lightfoots Schriften über die historische Entwicklung der englischen Modalverben (Lightfoot 1974, 1979:81-120) gab es verschiedene Reaktionen auf seine Analyse. Dieser Artikel ist ein weiterer Beitrag zu dieser Debatte und beschäftigt sich mit drei Bereichen. Erstens wird die Chronologie der Veranderungen genau untersucht, urn zu sehen, ob sie tatsachlich so einheitlich vonstatten gegangen ist wie Lightfoot anzunehmen scheint und ob diese seine Behauptung unterstiitzt, daft es im 16. Jahrhundert eine umwälzende syntaktische Neustrukturierung gab. Zweitens wird die Autonomie-These untersucht, d.h. der Anspruch, daft sich syntaktische Veranderungen vollziehen, unabhangig von semantischen und phonetischen Faktoren. Schlieftlich wird Lightfoots Fragment einer Altenglischen Grammatik auf seine Genauigkeit überpruft. RÉSUMÉ Depuis la publication des travaux de D. Lightfoot sur le developpment historique des verbes modaux de 1'anglais (Lightfoot 1974, 1979:81-120) il y avait plusieurs reactions a son analyse. Le present article est une autre contribution a ce debat; il traîte des trois sujets particuliers. D'abord on examine la chronologie des changements afin de verifier l'uniformité maintenue par Lightfoot et sa these d'une restructuration profonde du systéme syntaxique de 1'anglais au XVIe siécle. Ensuit on examine la these (maintenue par Lightfoot) selon laquelle les changements syntaxique procedent independamment des facteurs phonetiques et sémantiques. Finalement on fait une evaluation de l'exactitude de son fragment d'un grammaire du vieux anglais.

scholarly journals Changing Definitions of Climate in Polish and English Dictionaries

2020 ◽  
pp. 160-169
Author(s):  
Marta Kwaśniewska
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
English Language ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
The Way

The present article sets out to examine the dictionary definition entries concerning the concept of climate. Both Polish and English dictionaries are included, as well as historical and contemporary entries. The data is composed of thirteen dictionary entries, published in the last two hundred years. The material is examined qualitatively. The results are presented in the form of a table, where one may find all the aspects of meanings identified in the definitions. A supplement data extracted from the English historical corpus is also provided. The results have revealed that semantic change did occur in both the Polish and the English language. However, the change is more visible in the Polish dictionaries. The subsidiary differences could influence the way the word is employed in certain contexts and thus, differentiate the employment of the same concept in the two languages. Nevertheless, the contemporary definitions are almost identical in both languages, in contrast to the historical ones.

scholarly journals A construction of independent means: the history of the Way construction revisited

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 671-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
TERESA FANEGO
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Front Door ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Form ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Way

The emergence and development of the Way construction was famously examined by Israel (1996) in a study which traced the modern form of the construction to three senses or subschemas, namely manner of motion (He stumbled his way to the front door), means of motion (He dug his way out of the prison) and incidental activity (He whistled his way out of the room). The present article moves beyond the late Middle English period – the starting point of Israel's research – and looks at the precursors of the Way construction since Old English times, as well as its interaction with the Intransitive Motion construction (IMC) (He walked into the room). By approaching the data in terms of Goldberg's typology (1997) of verb-construction relationships, which is finer-grained than Israel's tripartite division, the analysis identifies the areas of conceptual and constructional overlap that have existed between the Way construction and the IMC in the course of history, and shows that the Way construction has gradually specialised in the expression of those relations which could not be readily coded in the IMC, such as means of motion and incidental activity. The study thus seeks to contribute to a better understanding of how the constructicon, the repertory of constructions making up the grammar of a language, may change over time.

Un Dieu sadique : le rôle de l’image blasphématoire de Dieu dans Dolce agonia de Nancy Huston

2013 ◽  
pp. 160-166
Author(s):  
Izabela Front
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Character Of God ◽  
Double Character ◽  
The Way

The present article seeks to analyze the way in which the blasphemous figure of God in Dolce agonia by Nancy Huston allows the author to describe the sacred element in human life, seen as deprived of transcendental character. This is possible thanks to the three aspects of the text dependent on the type of God’s figure, which are: the contrast between passages marked by the cynical God’s voice and passages focused on man’s life filled with suffering; the tone and the appropriation of time var-iations and, finally, the double character of God who, at the same time, is indifferent to man’s lot while touched by his capacity of love.

The Well-Mannered Auditor

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Deaville
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
English Language ◽  
The Self ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Social Events ◽  
Drawing Room ◽  
The Way

The chapter explores the way English-language etiquette books from the nineteenth century prescribe accepted behavior for upwardly mobile members of the bourgeoisie. This advice extended to social events known today as “salons” that were conducted in the domestic drawing room or parlor, where guests would perform musical selections for the enjoyment of other guests. The audience for such informal music making was expected to listen attentively, in keeping with the (self-) disciplining of the bourgeois body that such regulations represented in the nineteenth century. Yet even as the modern world became noisier and aurally more confusing, so, too, did contemporary social events, which led authors to become stricter in their disciplining of the audience at these drawing room performances. Nevertheless, hosts and guests could not avoid the growing “crisis of attention” pervading this mode of entertainment, which would lead to the modern habit of inattentive listening.

Habemus Corpora: Reapproaching Philological Problems in the Age of ‘Big’ Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-127
Author(s):  
Mark Faulkner
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Old English ◽  
English Language ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
British Library ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Major Task ◽  
New Methodologies ◽  
Primary Focus

Abstract This paper demonstrates the potential of new methodologies for using existing corpora of medieval English to better contextualise linguistic variants, a major task of philology and a key underpinning of our ability to answer major literary-historical questions, such as when, where and to what purpose medieval texts and manuscripts were produced. The primary focus of the article is the assistance these methods can offer in dating the composition of texts, which it illustrates with a case study of the “Old” English Life of St Neot, uniquely preserved in the mid-twelfth-century South-Eastern homiliary, London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian D.xiv, fols. 4–169. While the Life has recently been dated around 1100, examining its orthography, lexis, syntax and style alongside that of all other English-language texts surviving from before 1150 using new techniques for searching the Dictionary of Old English Corpus suggests it is very unlikely to be this late. The article closes with some reflections on what book-historical research should prioritise as it further evolves into the digital age.

Migrant Voices in the Polish Classroom: Canadian Literature on the Tertiary Level of Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-427
Author(s):  
Dagmara Drewniak
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
English Language ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Teaching English ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Canadian Literature ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
English Language Literature ◽  
Language Literature

Abstract This paper explores the possibilities of introducing contemporary Canadian texts into a Polish university classroom. It contextualizes teaching English language literature in Poland as well as seeks options for promoting values such as openness and tolerance while facilitating global reading and raising students’ awareness on global conflicts and their meaning in the contemporaneous world. The paper aims at demonstrating that Canadian literature courses composed of texts concerned with immigration and multiculturalism turn out to have an enormous potential in creating valuable debates on the problem of embracing otherness, seeking bridges in mutual understanding, and promoting openness towards different identities. On the basis of close readings of three texts, M. Ondaatje’s The English Patient, A.J. Borkowski’s Copernicus Avenue, and E. Stachniak’s Necessary Lies, the present article also demonstrates how Canadian literature enriches and rescales students’ perception of cultural heterogeneity and responsibility of reading, thus offering new perspectives on the rapidly changing world.

Western Countries: Future of Multiculturalism in Context of Employment

2012 ◽  
pp. 16-25
Author(s):  
M. Klupt
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Statistical Information ◽  
Western World ◽  
The West ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
The World

Will immigrant minorities change the Western world? Two decades ago this question seemed irrelevant as it was expected that the West will change the world in its image. Today, the same question is perceived as rhetorical. The answer is obvious, and the dispute is merely over directions, extent and possible consequences of future changes. The center of this dispute is the multiculturalism – the concept, policy and praxis praising diversity of cultures and denying any of them a vested right to dominate not only in the world at large, but even in a particular country. The assessment of its perspectives presupposes a variety of research approaches in view of its complexity. In the present article only one of them is be used for the analysis focused on the employment of immigrant minorities from the world's South. The viability of such approach is based on two circumstances. Firstly, the employment indexes considered in ethnical context belong to the most important characteristics of ethno-social structure of a society. Secondly, the availability of broad statistical information about employment allows for resting upon empirical data, possibly avoiding a needless bias toward purely theoretical constructions.

How Gaming Applications of CALL influence inputs of English Grammar: كيف تؤثر تطبيقات ألعاب الكمبيوتر المساعدة في تعليم اللغة على مدخلات قواعد اللغة الإنجليزية

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (47) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atif Obaid M Alsuhaymi
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Computer Assisted Language Learning ◽  
English Language Education ◽  
Full Sample ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Post Test

The present study aims to research the influences of games through Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) compared to Teacher-Centered Instruction (TCI) on teenagers' achievement in English language education in Saudi Arabia. Two groups of students tested, before and after instruction, so to determine success of the application of pedagogies. The full sample consisted of 22 teenagers, divided randomly, into two equal groups. The first group was the control (TDI) group, which used a school textbook. The second group was the experimental group (CALL), which given a CALL application, based on the game ‘Kahoot.’ Two types of tests were conducted, a pre-test and a post-test, at each of two periods for each group. The pre-test administered before instruction, and the post-test taken after the instructional period. Findings indicate that both groups increased their proficiencies with English object pronouns. However, performance on the post-test by the experimental (CALL) group significantly exceeded that of the control (TCI) group.

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