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The Linguistic Cycle in the History of English
Elly van Gelderen
Berlin, 7 December 2006
Aims
• To present a description of some recurring changes in the history of English
• To understand some of these cycles
• Examine internal and external factors of linguistic change and their interaction
Outline
• Background on the Cycle/Spiral
• Examples of the Cycle in brief:– Negatives– Demonstratives– Aspect
• Study of recycling in clause markers– Prepositions– Adverbs
Background on the Cycle/Spiral
• de Condillac, Tooke, A.W. von Schlegel, von Humboldt, Bopp
• more recently: Tauli 1958 and Hodge 1970
• Grammaticalization literature:word > clitic > affix > 0
(from Hopper & Traugott 2003)
Internal and External Change
• Jespersen: "the correct inference can only be that the tendency towards ease may be at work in some cases, though not in all, because there are other forces which may at times neutralize it or prove stronger than it".
• Von der Gabelentz (1891/1901: 251/256): "Deutlichkeit" ('clarity') and "Bequemlichkeit" ('comfort').
Data
• Old English Dictionary Texts (all of OE)
• Helsinki Corpus (OE through eModE)
• Oxford English Dictionary– http://dictionary.oed.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/entrance.dtl
• Oxford Text Archive electronic-texts etc– http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/
• Modern corpora: British National Corpus, International Corpus of English– http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/lookup.html
Negative Cycle
(1)a. no/ne eOEb. ne (na wiht/not) OE, especially Southernc. (ne) not ME, especially Southernd. not LME-not/-n’t LME
Old English – South:(2)Næron 3e noht æmetti3e, ðeah ge wel ne dyden
not-were you not unoccupied. though you well not did`You were not unoccupied, though you did not do well'. (Pastoral Care, Cotton, Sweet, 206).
Matthew White’s map
www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/oe/oemap.html
Negative Concord Cycle
(1) ænig monn ne mæg tuæm hlaferdum hera
any man not may two lords serve (Northumbrian c950)
(2) ne mæg ænig twæm godum ðeowigan
not may any two gods serve (Mercian C10)
(3) Ne mæg nan man twam hlafordum þeowian not may no man two lords serve (Corpus c1000)
(4) Ne mayg nam man twam hlaferden þeowian not may no man two lords serve (Hatton c1150)
Matthew 6.24
Demonstratives
(1)demonstrative/adverb > definite article > Case/non-generic > class marker > 0
(2)a. min þæt ungesælige mod =OEmy that unhappy spirit
b. min ungesælige mod(Gregory's Dialogues, 4.9, from Wood, to appear: 15)
(3)gife to … þa munecas of þe mynstre =LOEgive to … the monks of the abbey (Peterborough Chron. 656)
(4)To frowne vpon th'enrag'd Northumberland =EModE(2Henry4, Shakespeare)
(5)Oh they used to be ever so funny houses you know and in them days … They used to have big windows, but they used to a all be them there little tiny ones like that. (BNC - FYD 72)
Perfective aspectCycle:(1)adverb > affix > 0
One stage:(2)a. Elizabeth's accession allowed him to receive back his wife
(BNC-GTB938)b. a husband who changed his mind to receive his wife back
without ceremony (BNC-HTX2122).
- Pattern (a) has become more frequent in the recent period (Davies 2005), even with definite nominals: In the 100-million British National Corpus, receive occurs nine times in constructions such as (2a) and four times in constructions such as (2b) (twice with a pronoun and twice with a DP)
- The use of pronominal objects, typical for the first order, with these verbs has gone down too.
Other such adverbs
• evaporate out boost up
• dissipate away issue out
• spend down order up (from the library)
• receive in offer up
Clause markers1. WH > Yes/No marker
2. Relative > Conjunction
3. Preposition > Complementizer/Conjunction
4. VP adverb > Clausal adverb
Creation of new Clause boundaries
Whether from WH-pronoun to Yes/No and C
(1) Hwæðer þara twe3ra dyde þæs fæder willan? Who of-the two did the father’s will Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 31
(2) þær se snotera bad hwæþer him alwalda æfre wille ... wyrpe gefremman. there the wise waited whether him almighty ever would ... change accomplish
`There the wise one waited whether the almighty would ever grant him change' (Beowulf 1313-5).
(3) Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge, ...
`Would you rather be a Faulconbridge' (Shakespeare, John I, i, 134).
Relative > Conjunction
(1) api rama vanam gacchati Sanskrit
Q Rama wood-ACC go-3S
`Is Rama going to the forest'?
(2) ratham ko nir avart aya Sanskrit
chariot-ACC who down rolled
`who rolled out the chariot' (from Kiparsky 1995: 154).
(3) kya ram jata he Hindi/Urdu
Q Ram go-3S is
`Is Ram going'?
English relatives in OE and ME
OE se þe > þe or þæt:
(1) scyldwiga … se þe wel þenceþshield-fighter … the that well thinks/judges
`(Every sharp) shield fighter, who judges well' (Beowulf 287-9).
(2) as theo the duden with Godd al thet ha walden.
`as those who did with God all that they wanted’.
(Ancr. R. III 492)
New relatives
(1) a laide de Dieu notre Seigneur, Qui vous douit bonne vie et longue.`With the help of God, our Lord, who gives us a good and long life' (Bekynton, from
Rydén, p. 131).
(2) be the grace of God, who haue yow in kepyng
`by the grace of God, who keeps you' (Paston Letters 410).
Preposition > Complementizer/ConjunctionAfter from P > C
(1) Ercenberht rixode æfter his fæder `E. ruled after/following his father' (Chron A, 640)
(2)a. [æfter him] Stephanus feng to rice. `after him (i.e. Pope Leo), Stephanus became pope'.(Chronicle A, anno 814 [816])
b. [æfter þissum gefeohte] cuom micel sumorlida. `after this fight, there came a large summer-force' (Chronicle A, anno 871)
(3)a. [Æfter þysan] com Thomas to Cantwarebyri `After this, Thomas came to Canterbury'. (Chronicle A, anno 1070)
b. [æfter ðon] uutedlice ic eftariso ic forlioro vel iowih in galileam
`after that, surely I arise-again I come before you in Galilee' (Lindisfarne Gospel, Matthew 26. 32).
Percentages of demonstrative objects (Dem) with after and fronting
800 <892 950 Northern >893
VPs Chron Lindisfarne Chron
Dem 4/52 = 8% 2/26= 8% 8/29= 28% 17/22= 77%
Fronting11/52= 21% 7/26= 27% 11/29= 38% 12/22= 55%
(1)After that the king hadde brent the volum (Wyclyf 1382, taken over in Coverdale 1535 and KJV 1611, from the OED).
(2)After that Raleigh had Intelligence that Cobham had accused him, he endeavour'd to have Intelligence from Cobham (HC, EModE2)
(3) Aftir he hadde take þe hooli Goost (c1360 Wyclif De Dot. Eccl. 22).
(4) After thei han slayn them (1366 Mandeville174).
Four stages:PP PP 900 (Chronicle A) – presentPP (that) 950 (Lindisfarne) - 1600 (OED 1587)P that 1220 (Lambeth) - 1600 (OED 1611)C 1360 (Wycliff) - present
For : P to C
(1) ouþer for untrumnisse ouþer for lauerdes neode ouþer for haueleste ouþer for hwilces cinnes oþer neod he ne muge þær cumon
`either from infirmity or from his lord's need or from lack of means or from need of any other kind he cannot go there' (Peterborough Chronicle, anno 675).
(2) forþam Trumbriht wæs adon of þam biscopdome`because T had been deprived of his biscopric' (Peterborough Chronicle, anno 685).
From lexical to grammatical category
VP adverb > Clausal adverb
(1) and he shulde goo frank and quite. (OED 1475)
(2) All other lawfull thinges..to do as liberally, frankelie, lawfully..as if they..had been naturally borne within this realme (OED, 1541)
(3) Therefore [with franke and with vncurbed plainnesse], Tell vs the {Dolphins} minde. (Henry V)
(4) She... Can you wonder that I'm disinclined for amusement? He.Frankly, I do (OED 1888)
(1) You wrote so probably that hyt put me in a feare of daungerys to come. (OED, 1535)
(2) A source, from whence those waters of bitterness..have..probably flowed (OED, 1647)
(3) for, tho very probably I shall not have occasion for them, yet it wou'd be very vexatious to want them shou'd ther be occasion. (1690, Letter by Charles Hatton, HC)
Conclusions
• description of some changes– Negative, Demonstrative, (Agreement), and
Perfective Cycles– Clause marking through
• wh• P• VP adverb
• Reason: semantic features are reanalyzed as grammatical
• internal (grammaticalization) vs external (renewal)
