Grammaticalization and deflexion in progress. The past participle in the Old English passive (original) (raw)
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The rise and fall of the passive auxiliary weorðan (WERDEN) in the history of English is investigated. We provide a new structural analysis of why and in what languages the passive diathesis can / cannot use the copula BE as auxiliary. We will do so in a comparative perspective within Germanic and Romance. We provide 1. language internal structural variation in BE and WERDEN as passive auxiliaries in relation with Verb-Second, 2. cross-linguistic i.e. comparative data of this variation 3. diachronic data on Old English weorðan that ties the need of a separate passive auxiliary to the Verb second constraint. It turns out that Old English displays a temporary rise and fall of strict-V2 around 1000, as well as a rise and fall of weorðan, which developments can be related because they comply to Kroch's Constant Rate Hypothesis (CRH). Finally, we sketch the first contours of a grammatical model that umbrellas tense/aspect, V2, and the passive diathesis, which predicts this correlatio...
Previous work has unearthed much about how grammaticalisation proceeds, but little to how it starts. This paper focuses on the development of passive auxiliaries from copula verbs, offering a model of the initial steps in the grammaticalisation process towards passive. The model emphasises the role of semantic factors in the compositional structure of the relevant copula constructions. We present evidence and a theoretical foundation for why atypical – " misfit " – constellations of constructions may begin the grammaticalisation path by prompting reanalysis. The data come from Old and Middle English and Old and Middle High German. We investigated the aktionsart combinations of copula constructions with 'become' (OHG werdan, OE weorðan) from Old English and Old High German to Middle English and Middle High German. The crucial difference between English and German is that combinations of 'become' and activity/semelfactive verbs become more frequent in German, which is what our theoretical model predicts.
Chapter 10. The rise and fall of the passive auxiliary weorðan in the history of English
Word Order Change in Acquisition and Language Contact, 2017
This paper investigates the decline of the passive auxiliary weorðan in the history of English. We provide a new structural analysis of why and in what languages the passive diathesis can or cannot use the copula BE as an auxiliary. We will do so in a comparative perspective within Germanic and Romance. Our point of departure is not why weorðan WERDEN declines, but why the copular verb BE is incapable of functioning as a passive auxiliary in some languages, incidentally in some tenses, while it can be used in other languages/tenses. We provide 1. language internal structural variation in BE and WERDEN, 2. cross-linguistic i.e. comparative data of this variation, 3. diachronic data on Old English weorðan that ties the need of a separate passive auxiliary to the verb second (V2) constraint. It turns out that Old English displays a temporary rise and fall of strict-V2 around 1000, as well as a rise and fall of weorðan, and these developments can be related because they comply with Kroch's Constant Rate Hypothesis (CRH). Finally, we sketch the first contours of a grammatical model that umbrellas tense/aspect, V2, and the passive diathesis, which predicts this correlation. By modifying Giorgi's projection of the Reichenbachian event indexes S, E, and R onto the syntax, we show that the (in)equality of these indexes is not ruled by structural templates stored in the lexicon, but are dynamically ruled by the syntax. The interpretation of tense (past, present and perfect) makes use of indexical heads in the extended domain of VP. In V2 languages, the C head participates in the Reichenbachian calculus of tenses, while this is not the case in non-V2 languages. The (in)equality of the Reichenbachian indexes S, E, R are subject to the binding domains of the Binding Theory. The passive diathesis interacts with binding domains, because subject absorption lifts a domain border, and gives rise to the obviation of E and S. 2.1 Aspect sensitivity in Dutch (dialects) 2.1.1 Standard Dutch Standard Dutch is a language that has a specific passive auxiliary worden, the cognate of German werden. However, while German uses werden in all tenses and aspects, Dutch only uses werden in present (10b) and the simple past (11b). (10) a. Jan kust Marie present, active John kisses Mary 'John kisses Mary' b. Marie wordt door Jan gekust present, passive Mary WERDEN.pres by John kissed 'Mary is kissed/being kissed by John' (11) a. Jan kuste Marie past, active John kissed Mary 'John kissed/was kissing Mary' b. Marie werd door Jan gekust past, passive Mary WERDEN.past by John kissed 'Mary was (bing) kissed by John' In perfect tenses Dutch uses BE, as shown in (12a). This verb BE is a convolute of the perfect auxiliary and the passive auxiliary into one verbal form. Traditional grammarians have assumed that there is a deleted worden in these constructions, as this is the overt form in some (Northern) dialects (12b). (12) a. Marie is door Jan gekust perfect, passive (Standard) Mary AUX.perf.pass by John kissed 'Mary has been kissed by John' b. Marie is gisteren door Jan gekust geworden perfect, passive (dialectal) Mary AUX.perf yesterday by John kissed AUX.pass 'Mary was kissed by John yesterday' However, there is no need for this assumption of a deleted WERDEN, as all unaccusative verbs display the same property. (13) a. Marie gaat naar Amsterdam Mary goes to amsterdam b. Marie is naar Amsterdam gegaan perfect Mary AUX.pass.perf to Amsterdam gone Dutch shows auxiliary selection in perfect tenses, i.e. it uses HAVE with unergative verbs and BE with unaccusatives. So, the AUX in (13b) does not only encode perfect tense, but also passive argumental licensing: AUX.passive.perf. This has apparently be generalized in the standard language to agentive passive constructions. Notice that the Dutch AUX + ptc cannot only be used with a perfect tense reading but also with a past tense reading, i.e. it is a punctual past that is combinable with a past adverbials like gisteren 'yesterday', illustrated in (14a). The same is true for the passive past (14b). This implies that (14b) is not a static passive, as it would be combinable with present Petre_P_2014_Constructions_and_environments_OUP_Appendix_3_WAES_APPEND.xls Petre_P_2014_Constructions_and_environments_OUP_Appendix_3_GEWIERTH.xls These files are available at the CD-ROM that accompanies Petree's 2014 book.