The Beginning of the End: The Decline of External Possessors in Old English (original) (raw)
Related papers
English Language and Linguistics, 2021
Reviewed by Rodrigo Pérez Lorido , University of Oviedo This monograph is the first large-scale corpus-based diachronic study of external possession (EP) constructions in the English language. The study focuses on structures like (1), in which an NP in the dative case (dem Kind / me, the possessor), which behaves as an external argument of the clause, establishes some semantic relationship of possession with another NP in that clause (die Haare / el dedo, the possessum). This kind of structure was available in the Old and Middle English periods, but is preserved in Present-day English only in a few set phrases and expressions of the type look someone in the eye, having overall been replaced by internal possession (IP) structures containing a premodifier in the genitive case, like those in the idiomatic translations in (1a, b). (1) (a) Die Mutter wäscht dem Kind die Haare The mother washes the DAT child the hair 'The mother is washing the child's hair.' (Example from van de Velde and Lamiroy 2016: 353) (b) Lucía me vendó el dedo Lucía me 1SG.DAT bandage 1SG.PAST the finger 'Lucía bandaged my finger.' A characteristic of dative external possessors (DEP henceforth) is that they systematically display a strict affectedness condition, i.e. they are necessarily associated with beneficial or negative effects on the possessor (Haspelmath 1999: 111). From a typological-areal perspective, DEPs are considered as prototypically European, and external possession structures of this type are found in languages such as French, Spanish, German, Greek or Russian, to name a few. Allen's study seriously challenges two widely accepted hypotheses concerning the history of DEP structures in English and their demise over time: the strict connection between the disappearance of DEPs in English and the loss of the dative/accusative distinction (Ahlgren 1946), and the impact of the contact with the Celtic linguistic substratum in accelerating (or actually triggering) the change after the Germanic invasions. Allen does so in a very convincing way, combining-as is usual in her-formal linguistic analysis, thorough corpus research and absolute philological rigour. In English Language and Linguistics, page 1 of 7.
Possessives and determiners in Old English
Studies in Language Companion Series, 2006
This paper investigates the properties of two constructions in Old English (OE) in which a possessive and a determiner co-occur. The Det Poss construction, in which the determiner precedes a possessive, is well known and is similar to constructions found in many other languages. The Poss Det construction, with the opposite order, is much less well documented and when discussed at all, has usually been treated as a variant of the Det Poss construction. However, a systematic examination of a large corpus shows that the two constructions had different properties and require different analyses. I argue that the typologically unusual Poss Det construction, found only with adjectives, was possible because adjective phrases could be complements to determiners in OE.
The development of [] strengthened'possessive pronouns in English
Language Sciences, 2002
This paper investigates the developments of 'strengthened' possessives such as hers and hern (earlier her) through a fresh examination of a substantial number of Middle English texts. These forms are first found in North Midlands and West Midlands texts of the thirteenth century, with the later-n forms of Southeastern dialects representing dative case rather than true 'strengthened' possessives. While the-s forms developed in rather different ways, both resulted in a processing advantage, as they signal to the hearer that no head NP is following. It is suggested that considerations of language processing have the potential to give more coherence to the traditional concept of 'analogy'.
Patterns of retention of the instrumental case in Old English [Qualifying Paper]
In addition to the Germanic nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive cases still present in modern German and Icelandic, Old English inherited a fifth case known as the instrumental. This case was marginal and not consistently distinguishable from the dative, with which it had merged by the beginning of the Middle English period. This article aims to establish the patterns of use of the instrumental and the mechanisms of its loss, through analysis of syntactically annotated corpora of Old English texts. It is found that the case survived primarily through probabilistic selection in highly restricted contexts which developed independently of each other, in some cases merging with the dative and in others solidifying into morphologically indecomposable constructions.
Why a Determiner? The Possessive + Determiner + Adjective Construction in Old English
Information Structure and Syntactic Change in the History of English, 2012
A corpus-based investigation into a construction in Old English in which a possessive and a determiner co-occur shows that when the order of these elements is Poss(essive) + Det(erminer), there is also always an adjective. This Poss Det Adj construction alternated with the determiner-less Poss Adj construction, and this paper reports some preliminary findings concerning this variation. The paper examines possible explanations in terms of purely structural features and concludes that Poss Det Adj is best analysed as a construction in which the adjective phrase has a determiner. While syntactic considerations will then explain the obligatory use of an adjective with the Poss + Det combination, we must look to aspects of information structure and discourse relations to understand the variation between Poss Det Adj and Poss Adj. The interaction of the factors controlling this variation was clearly complex and seems to have been different for individual speakers/writers. However, it is clear that the nature of the adjective played an important role, and a parallel can be drawn between the preference for the determiner with a restrictive adjective and some facts about the placement of restrictive adjectives in French and Spanish. Factors such as previous mention of the adjective in the discourse remain to be investigated. The disappearance of the Poss Det construction is essential to our understanding of the development of the determiner system in English. It is plausible that the loss of the determiner slot in the adjective phrase in Early Middle English resulted because no clear function crystalized around this determiner. A study of Poss Det Adj in those Scandinavian languages which have this combination can be expected to illuminate the use and loss of the construction in English.
This book is a revision of Carola Trips' dissertation, submitted to the University of Stuttgart in 2001. The goal of the study is to show Scandinavian influence on the syntax of English by detailed analysis of the Ormulum, a twelfth-century text written in the East Midlands. Given this goal, the title is somewhat misleading. Although Trips mentions that her hypothesis is that the shift from OV to VO in English is due to Scandinavian influence, she focuses on finding evidence of other cases of Scandinavian influence rather than the actual shift from OV to VO. Her assumption is that finding evidence of Scandinavian influence on Middle English syntax in general will prove that the shift in English from OV to VO is also due to this Scandinavian influence, but this of course may not necessarily be the case. Despite the fact that language contact plays an important role in Trips' hypothesis, the book is strikingly lacking in discussion of literature on this topic, such as , , and other works concerned with formulating general tendencies and principles of linguistic borrowing.