Cynthia L. Allen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199216680
- eISBN:
- 9780191711893
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199216680.003.0004
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, English Language
By the end of the Middle English period, the -s genitive in Middle English had changed its character. This chapter documents the evidence for the nature of this possessive marker in Early and Late ...
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By the end of the Middle English period, the -s genitive in Middle English had changed its character. This chapter documents the evidence for the nature of this possessive marker in Early and Late Middle English as well as the rise of the group genitive.Less
By the end of the Middle English period, the -s genitive in Middle English had changed its character. This chapter documents the evidence for the nature of this possessive marker in Early and Late Middle English as well as the rise of the group genitive.
Robert Truswell, Rhona Alcorn, James Donaldson, and Joel Wallenberg
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474430531
- eISBN:
- 9781474460163
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474430531.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
This chapter reports on the construction of a new resource, the Parsed Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English (PLAEME). Prose is underrepresented in the period 1250-1350, which is why this period ...
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This chapter reports on the construction of a new resource, the Parsed Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English (PLAEME). Prose is underrepresented in the period 1250-1350, which is why this period is also underrepresented in the Penn Parsed Corpora of Historical English (PPCHE). This data gap is unfortunate, as we know that the period is important for morphosyntactic change. PLAEME addresses that data gap by transforming material from the Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English (LAEME) into the same format as the PPCHE. The chapter present a detailed account of its construction, as well as three case studies replicating three recent studies of Middle English syntax: the establishment of not as the expression of sentential negation (Ecay and Tamminga 2017), the fixing of the syntax of the dative alternation (Bacovcin 2017), and the introduction of argumental headed wh-relative clauses (Gisborne and Truswell 2017). These case studies show that PLAEME allows these changes to be charted in much greater detail, and hence demonstrates how PLAEME fills an important data gap.Less
This chapter reports on the construction of a new resource, the Parsed Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English (PLAEME). Prose is underrepresented in the period 1250-1350, which is why this period is also underrepresented in the Penn Parsed Corpora of Historical English (PPCHE). This data gap is unfortunate, as we know that the period is important for morphosyntactic change. PLAEME addresses that data gap by transforming material from the Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English (LAEME) into the same format as the PPCHE. The chapter present a detailed account of its construction, as well as three case studies replicating three recent studies of Middle English syntax: the establishment of not as the expression of sentential negation (Ecay and Tamminga 2017), the fixing of the syntax of the dative alternation (Bacovcin 2017), and the introduction of argumental headed wh-relative clauses (Gisborne and Truswell 2017). These case studies show that PLAEME allows these changes to be charted in much greater detail, and hence demonstrates how PLAEME fills an important data gap.
D. Gary Miller
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199583423
- eISBN:
- 9780191723438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199583423.003.0011
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics
The old hypotheses of teleology and equilibrium are illusions. Shifts do not fill holes to create symmetrical systems. Rather, sounds shift by phonetically and perceptually motivated mechanisms, and ...
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The old hypotheses of teleology and equilibrium are illusions. Shifts do not fill holes to create symmetrical systems. Rather, sounds shift by phonetically and perceptually motivated mechanisms, and the selection of those changes is constrained (at least) by prototype perception. Perceptual space accounts for chain shifts better than system dependence or the idea that all vowel changes are independent. Tensed vowels are instrumentally more peripheral than non‐tensed and can rhyme with them. This provides a valuable clue to the Early Middle English vowels. The Ormulum [c12], which contextually writes VC for long vowels and VCC for short, rarely distinguishes the Old English long vowels from short vowels in open syllables. Instrumental evidence invites the hypothesis that open syllable lengthening had begun and that the old and new long vowels rhymed, so could be written the same way.Less
The old hypotheses of teleology and equilibrium are illusions. Shifts do not fill holes to create symmetrical systems. Rather, sounds shift by phonetically and perceptually motivated mechanisms, and the selection of those changes is constrained (at least) by prototype perception. Perceptual space accounts for chain shifts better than system dependence or the idea that all vowel changes are independent. Tensed vowels are instrumentally more peripheral than non‐tensed and can rhyme with them. This provides a valuable clue to the Early Middle English vowels. The Ormulum [c12], which contextually writes VC for long vowels and VCC for short, rarely distinguishes the Old English long vowels from short vowels in open syllables. Instrumental evidence invites the hypothesis that open syllable lengthening had begun and that the old and new long vowels rhymed, so could be written the same way.
Cynthia L. Allen
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- November 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198832263
- eISBN:
- 9780191870927
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198832263.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This book presents the results of a corpus-based case study of diachronic English syntax. Present Day English is in a minority of European languages in not having a productive dative external ...
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This book presents the results of a corpus-based case study of diachronic English syntax. Present Day English is in a minority of European languages in not having a productive dative external possessor construction. This construction, in which the possessor is in the dative case and behaves like an element of the sentence rather than part of the possessive phrase, was in variation with internal possessors in the genitive case in Old English, especially in expressions of inalienable possession. In Middle English, internal possessors became the only productive possibility. Previous studies of this development are not systematic enough to provide an empirical base for the hypotheses that have been put forward to explain the loss of external possessors in English, and these earlier studies do not make a crucial distinction among possessa in different grammatical relations. This book traces the use of dative external possessors in the texts of the Old and Early Middle English periods and explores how well the facts fit the major proposed explanations. A key finding is that the decline of the dative construction is visible within the Old English period and seems to have begun even before we have written records. Explanations that rely completely on developments in the Early Middle English period, such as the loss of case-marking distinctions, cannot account for this early decline. It does not appear that Celtic learners of Old English failed to learn the external possessor construction, but they may have precipitated the decrease in frequency in its use.Less
This book presents the results of a corpus-based case study of diachronic English syntax. Present Day English is in a minority of European languages in not having a productive dative external possessor construction. This construction, in which the possessor is in the dative case and behaves like an element of the sentence rather than part of the possessive phrase, was in variation with internal possessors in the genitive case in Old English, especially in expressions of inalienable possession. In Middle English, internal possessors became the only productive possibility. Previous studies of this development are not systematic enough to provide an empirical base for the hypotheses that have been put forward to explain the loss of external possessors in English, and these earlier studies do not make a crucial distinction among possessa in different grammatical relations. This book traces the use of dative external possessors in the texts of the Old and Early Middle English periods and explores how well the facts fit the major proposed explanations. A key finding is that the decline of the dative construction is visible within the Old English period and seems to have begun even before we have written records. Explanations that rely completely on developments in the Early Middle English period, such as the loss of case-marking distinctions, cannot account for this early decline. It does not appear that Celtic learners of Old English failed to learn the external possessor construction, but they may have precipitated the decrease in frequency in its use.
Rhona Alcorn, Joanna Kopaczyk, Bettelou Los, and Benjamin Molineaux (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474430531
- eISBN:
- 9781474460163
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474430531.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
Drawing on the resources created by the Institute of Historical Dialectology at the University of Edinburgh (now the Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics), such as eLALME (the electronic ...
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Drawing on the resources created by the Institute of Historical Dialectology at the University of Edinburgh (now the Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics), such as eLALME (the electronic version A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English), LAEME (A Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English) and LAOS (A Linguistic Atlas of Older Scots), this volume illustrates how traditional methods of historical dialectology can benefit from new methods of corpus data-collection to test out theoretical and empirical claims. In showcasing the results that these digital text resources can yield, the book highlights novel methods for presenting, mapping and analysing the quantitative data of historical dialects, and sets the research agenda for future work in this field. Bringing together a range of distinguished researchers, the book sets out the key corpus-building strategies for working with regional manuscript data at different levels of linguistic analysis including syntax, morphology, phonetics and phonology. The chapters also show the ways in which the geographical spread of phonological, morphological and lexical features of a language can be used to improve our assessment of the geographical provenance of historical texts.Less
Drawing on the resources created by the Institute of Historical Dialectology at the University of Edinburgh (now the Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics), such as eLALME (the electronic version A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English), LAEME (A Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English) and LAOS (A Linguistic Atlas of Older Scots), this volume illustrates how traditional methods of historical dialectology can benefit from new methods of corpus data-collection to test out theoretical and empirical claims. In showcasing the results that these digital text resources can yield, the book highlights novel methods for presenting, mapping and analysing the quantitative data of historical dialects, and sets the research agenda for future work in this field. Bringing together a range of distinguished researchers, the book sets out the key corpus-building strategies for working with regional manuscript data at different levels of linguistic analysis including syntax, morphology, phonetics and phonology. The chapters also show the ways in which the geographical spread of phonological, morphological and lexical features of a language can be used to improve our assessment of the geographical provenance of historical texts.
