Analysing Older English

352 Pages·2012·1.84 MB·English

by  David Denison

AnalysingOlderEnglish
Ishistoricallinguisticsdifferentinprinciplefromotherlinguisticresearch?Thisbook
addressesproblemsencounteredingatheringandanalysingdatafromearlyEnglish,
includingtheincompletenatureoftheevidenceandthedangersofmisinterpretation
orover-interpretation.Evenso,gapsinthedatacansometimesbefilled.Thevolume
bringstogetherateamofleadingEnglishhistoricallinguistswhohaveencountered
suchissuesfirst-hand,todiscussandsuggestsolutionstoarangeofproblemsinthe
phonology,syntax,dialectologyandonomasticsofolderEnglish.Thetopicsextend
widelyover the history of English, chronologically and linguistically, and include
Anglo-Saxonnamingpractices,thephonologyofthealliterativeline,computational
measurementofdialectsimilarity,dialectlevellingandenregistermentinlateModern
English,stress-timinginEnglishphonologyandthesyntaxofOldandearlyModern
English.ThebookwillbeofparticularinteresttoresearchersandstudentsinEnglish
historicallinguistics.
DAVIDDENISONisSmithProfessorofEnglishLanguageandMedievalLiteraturein
theSchoolofLanguages,LinguisticsandCulturesattheUniversityofManchester.
RICARDO BERMÚDEZ-OTERO is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and English
LanguageintheSchoolofLanguages,LinguisticsandCulturesattheUniversityof
Manchester.
CHRISMCCULLYisManagingDirectoroftheGraduateSchoolfortheHumanities
attheRijksuniversiteitGroningen.
EMMA MOORE is Senior Lecturer in Sociolinguistics in the School of English
Literature,LanguageandLinguisticsattheUniversityofSheffield.
studiesinenglishlanguage
Generaleditor
MerjaKyto¨(UppsalaUniversity)
EditorialBoard
BasAarts(UniversityCollegeLondon)
JohnAlgeo(UniversityofGeorgia)
SusanFitzmaurice(UniversityofSheffield)
ChristianMair(UniversityofFreiburg)
CharlesF.Meyer(UniversityofMassachusetts)
TheaimofthisseriesistoprovideaframeworkfororiginalstudiesofEnglish,bothpresent-dayand
past.Allbooksarebasedsecurelyonempiricalresearch,andrepresenttheoreticalanddescriptive
contributionstoourknowledgeofnationalandinternationalvarietiesofEnglish,bothwrittenand
spoken.Theseriescoversabroadrangeoftopicsandapproaches,includingsyntax,phonology,
grammar,vocabulary,discourse,pragmaticsandsociolinguistics,andisaimedataninternational
readership.
Alreadypublishedinthisseries:
IrmaTaavitsainenandPäiviPahta(eds.):MedicalandScientificWritinginLateMedievalEnglish
ElizabethGordon,LyleCampbell,JenniferHay,MargaretMaclagan,AndreaSudburyand
PeterTrudgill:NewZealandEnglish:ItsOriginsandEvolution
RaymondHickey(ed.):LegaciesofColonialEnglish:StudiesinTransportedDialects
MerjaKyto¨,MatsRydénandErikSmitterberg(eds.):Nineteenth-CenturyEnglish:Stabilityand
Change
JohnAlgeo:BritishorAmericanEnglish?AHandbookofWordandGrammarPatterns
ChristianMair:Twentieth-CenturyEnglish:History,VariationandStandardization
EvelienKeizer:TheEnglishNounPhrase:TheNatureofLinguisticCategorization
RaymondHickey:IrishEnglish:HistoryandPresent-DayForms
GünterRohdenburgandJuliaSchlüter(eds.):OneLanguage,TwoGrammars?:Differencesbetween
BritishandAmericanEnglish
LaurelJ.Brinton:TheCommentClauseinEnglish:SyntacticOriginsandPragmaticDevelopment
LieselotteAnderwald:TheMorphologyofEnglishDialects:VerbFormationinNon-standardEnglish
GeoffreyLeech,MarianneHundt,ChristianMairandNicholasSmith:ChangeinContemporary
English:AGrammaticalStudy
JonathanCulpeperandMerjaKyto¨:EarlyModernEnglishDialogues:SpokenInteractionasWriting
DanielSchreier,PeterTrudgill,EdgarW.SchneiderandJeffreyP.Williams(eds.):TheLesser-
KnownVarietiesofEnglish:AnIntroduction
HildeHasselgård:AdjunctAdverbialsinEnglish
RaymondHickey(ed.):Eighteenth-CenturyEnglish:IdeologyandChange
CharlesBoberg:TheEnglishLanguageinCanada:Status,HistoryandComparativeAnalysis
ThomasHoffmann:PrepositionPlacementinEnglish:AUsage-basedApproach
ClaudiaClaridge:HyperboleinEnglish:ACorpus-basedStudyofExaggeration
PäiviPahtaandAndreasH.Jucker(eds.):CommunicatingEarlyEnglishManuscripts
IrmaTaavitsainenandPäiviPahta(eds.):MedicalWritinginEarlyModernEnglish
Earliertitlesnotlistedarealsoavailable
Analysing Older English
Editedby
DAVID DENISON
RICARDO BERMÚDEZ-OTERO
CHRIS MCCULLY
EMMA MOORE
withtheassistanceofAyumiMiura
cambridge university press
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©CambridgeUniversityPress2012
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
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noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
AnalysingolderEnglish/editedbyDavidDenison...[etal.];withtheassistanceof
AyumiMiura.
p. cm.–(StudiesinEnglishlanguage)
ISBN978-0-521-11246-8(hardback)
1. Englishlanguage–History. 2. Englishlanguage–OldEnglish,ca.450–1100–
Versification. 3. Englishlanguage–MiddleEnglish,1100–1500–
Versification. 4. Linguisticchange. 5. Historicallinguistics. I. Denison,
David,1950- II. Title. III. Series.
PE1075.A56 2011
427–dc22 2011015138
ISBN978-0-521-11246-8Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Listoffiguresandmaps page viii
Listoftables x
Listofcontributors xii
Generalintroduction 1
the editors,with donka minkova
PartI
MetricsandonomasticsinolderEnglish 5
1 IntroductiontoPartI 7
chris mccullyand david denison
2 Whatexplanatorymetricshastosayaboutthe
historyofEnglishfunctionwords 15
geoffrey russom
3 toþærefulanflóde.ófþærefulanflode:on
becominganameinEastonandWinchester,
Hampshire 28
richard coates
4 Notesonsomeinterfacesbetweenplace-name
materialandlinguistictheory 35
peter kitson
PartII
WritingpracticesinolderEnglish 57
5 IntroductiontoPartII 59
chris mccully
6 AnglianfeaturesinlateWestSaxonprose 63
r. d. fulk
v
vi Contents
7 ‘ea’inearlyMiddleEnglish:fromdiphthongto
digraph 75
roger lass and margaret laing
PartIII
DialectsinolderEnglish 119
8 IntroductiontoPartIII:ontheimpossibilityof
historicalsociolinguistics 121
emma moore
9 Levellingandenregistermentinnortherndialects
oflateModernEnglish 126
joan beal
10 Quantitativehistoricaldialectology 140
april mcmahon and warren
maguire
11 Reconstructingsyntacticcontinuityandchange
inearlyModernEnglishregionaldialects:the
caseofwho 159
terttu nevalainen
PartIV
SoundchangeinolderEnglish 185
12 IntroductiontoPartIV:whenaknowledgeof
historyisadangerousthing 187
ricardo berm dez-otero
Ú
13 Syllableweightandtheweak-verbparadigmsin
OldEnglish 194
donka minkova
14 Howtoweakenone’sconsonants,strengthen
one’svowelsandremainEnglishatthesametime 213
nikolaus ritt
15 DegeminationinEnglish,withspecialreference
totheMiddleEnglishperiod 232
derek britton
PartV
SyntaxinolderEnglish 245
16 IntroductiontoPartV 247
david denison
Contents vii
17 Thestatusofthepostposed‘and-adjective’
constructioninOldEnglish:attributiveor
predicative? 251
olga fischer
18 DOwithweakverbsinearlyModernEnglish 285
anthony warner
References 306
Index 331
Figures and maps
Figures
10.1 Commonancestralformasnode,allowing
slot-matching page 148
10.2 Modern‘Typical’varietiesofBritishEnglish;major
splitshowingrhoticity 150
10.3 ScottishandNorthumbrianvarieties 151
10.4 NeighborNet,historicaland‘Traditional’modern
varieties 154
10.5 ComparisonofNorthernMiddleEnglishwith
EdinburghTraditionalversusDevonTraditional 156
11.1a Subjectrelativemarkerswithhumananddeity
reference,1460–99(basedonNevalainenand
Raumolin-Brunberg2002:115) 166
11.1b Subjectrelativemarkerswithhumanreference,
1460–99(basedonNevalainenand
Raumolin-Brunberg2002:115) 167
11.2a Subjectrelativemarkerswithhumananddeity
reference,1560–99(basedonNevalainenand
Raumolin-Brunberg2002:118) 167
11.2b Subjectrelativemarkerswithhumanreference,
1560-99(basedonNevalainenandRaumolin-
Brunberg2002:118) 168
11.3 Relativefrequencies(%)oftherelativeadverbsthere
andwhereinMiddleEnglish(basedonÖsterman
2001:252) 170
11.4 Subjectrelativestrategieswithhumanreferencein
theCEECinthelatefifteenthandsixteenthcenturies
(WH=whoandwhich) 172
11.5 Subjectrelativeswithhumanreferenceinrestrictive
relativeclausesincorrespondence(CEEC1998and
theCEECExtension) 173
viii