A corpus-based approach to the lemmatisation of Old English superlative adverbs

This article aims to discuss the lemmatisation process of Old English adverbs inflected for the superlative from a corpus-based perspective. This study has been conducted on the basis of a semi-automatic methodology through which the inflectional forms have been automatically extracted from The York-Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Old English Prose and The York Toronto-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Old English Poetry whereas the task of assigning a lemma has been completed manually. The list of adverbial lemmas amounts to 1,755 and has been provided by the lexical database of Old English Nerthus. Additionally, the resulting lemmatised list has been checked against the lemmatised forms compiled by the Dictionary of Old English and Seelig’s (1930) work on Old English comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs. Through this comparison, it has been possible to verify doubtful forms and incorporate new ones that are unattested by the YCOE. This pilot study has implemented for the first time a methodology for the lemmatisation of a non-verbal class and can be further applied to those categories that are still unlemmatised, namely nouns and adjectives.

Introduction: Early Medieval Earth Consciousness

The existential threat of environmental collapse loomed large in the early medieval English imagination. In particular, the work of Wulfstan, Archbishop of York and Ælfric of Eynsham pointed to the imminence of the apocalypse. Wulfstan explicitly attributed environmental collapse to human sin, while Ælfric urged the faithful to look hopefully to the post-apocalyptic establishment of a new Earth. The broad audience and didactic intent of these prolific and well-connected theologians makes their work a useful representation of English theology at the turn of the millennium. Similarly, the 10th-century manuscript called the Exeter Book—the largest, most diverse extant collection of Old English poetry, including religious lyrics, obscene riddles, and elegies—may serve as a representative of the contemporaneous poetic corpus.

Old English Power Structure in the Warlike Nature in Riddles no. 3, no, 29, no. 50 from the Exeter Book

This study focuses on Old English nature-themed riddle texts from the Exeter Book, analyzing the natural imageries that are significant in investigating how the literary content of Old English riddles, as accepted forms of poetry, reveals the Anglo-Saxon culture of their original authors. I focus on the power structure in Anglo-Saxon society revealed in the riddles, by analyzing the topic of warlike nature in them, focusing on the riddles no. 3, “Storm”, no. 29 “Sun and Moon,” and no. 50, “Fire.” Natural experience described in these riddles is rendered by the Anglo-Saxons to reflect power hierarchy between male and female, servant and master, and human with God. The Anglo-Saxon riddles identify and assign the potent warlike attributes and actions of nature, and assign them to the more powerful factions (God, Master, Male) over the weaker factions (Humans, Servants, Female). This is done by the authors as an acceptable cultural interpretation of these natural phenomena, put in the riddles to make it possible for the riddles’ intended Anglo-Saxon audience as clues to arrive at a culturally agreeable answer. Keywords: old English, old English riddles, natural imagery, old English poetry, war imagery Abstrak: Studi ini berfokus pada teks teka-teki (Riddles) Inggris Kuno (Old English) bertema alam dari the Exeter Book, dengan menganalisa imaji alam yang signifikan, untuk mengetahui bagaimana teka-teki Inggris Kuno, sebagai salah satu karya sastra berbentuk puisi, mengungkapkan budaya Anglo-Saxon dari penulis aslinya. Saya berfokus pada struktur kekuasaan (power structure) dalam masyarakat Anglo-Saxon yang terungkap dalam teks teka-teki, dengan menganalisis topik sifat suka perang di pada teka-teki no. 3, "Badai", no. 29 “Matahari dan Bulan,” dan no. 50, "Api." Pengalaman hidup mengenai alam digambarkan dalam teka-teki ini oleh para penulis Anglo-Saxon dengan mencerminkan hierarki kekuasaan antara laki-laki dan perempuan, hamba dan tuan, dan manusia dengan Tuhan. Teka-teki Anglo-Saxon mengidentifikasi dan menetapkan atribut dan tindakan alam yang suka berperang (warlike) kepada faksi yang lebih kuat (Dewa, Tuan, Laki-Laki) di atas faksi yang lebih lemah (Manusia, Pelayan, Wanita). Hal ini dilakukan oleh para penulis sebagai interpretasi budaya atas fenomena alam yang mereka lihat, dan dimasukkan ke dalam teka-teki untuk memungkinkan pembaca Anglo-Saxon sebagai petunjuk untuk sampai pada jawaban yang dapat diterima secara budaya. Kata kunci: old English, Inggris kuno, teka-teki Inggris kuno, imaji alam, puisi Inggris kuno, imaji perang