The emergence of DP in the history of English
-
Fuyo Osawa
Abstract
I claim that the genitive case played a very important role in the emergence of a functional D system in English. I take up the rise of a group genitive, which puzzled Janda (1980), as an example since this is a change from morphology to syntax, going against the dictum that “today’s morphology is yesterday’s syntax” (Givón 1971). Against the accepted view that the genitive case is the only survivor of the morphological cases in English, I argue that the genitive case lost its original argumental function earlier than other morphological cases, which contributed to the emergence of DPs. I will show that the shift from morphology to syntax is not anomalous and that it triggers diachronic change. Today’s morphology will be tomorrow’s syntax. I also claim that the Old English thematically-motivated case system is the key to analysing what happened to nominal structures in the history of English.
Abstract
I claim that the genitive case played a very important role in the emergence of a functional D system in English. I take up the rise of a group genitive, which puzzled Janda (1980), as an example since this is a change from morphology to syntax, going against the dictum that “today’s morphology is yesterday’s syntax” (Givón 1971). Against the accepted view that the genitive case is the only survivor of the morphological cases in English, I argue that the genitive case lost its original argumental function earlier than other morphological cases, which contributed to the emergence of DPs. I will show that the shift from morphology to syntax is not anomalous and that it triggers diachronic change. Today’s morphology will be tomorrow’s syntax. I also claim that the Old English thematically-motivated case system is the key to analysing what happened to nominal structures in the history of English.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Phonology
- Middle English vowel length in French loanwords 9
- Dental fricatives and stops in Germanic 19
- Dialect variation and the Dutch diminutive 37
-
Part II. Morphology, syntax and semantics
- On the disappearance of genitive types in Middle English 49
- An asymmetric view on stage II in Jespersen’s cycle in the West Germanic languages 61
- Temporal reference and grammaticalization in the Spanish perfect(ive) 73
- (Un)-interpretable features and grammaticalization 83
- Imperative morphology in diachrony evidence from the Romance languages 99
- VO vs V(…)O en Français 109
- On the development of Recipient passives in DO languages 123
- The emergence of DP in the history of English 135
- A diachronic view of Psychological verbs with Dative Experiencers in Spanish and Romanian 149
- On the loss of the masculine genitive plural in Cypriot Greek 161
- The rise of peripheral modifiers in the noun phrase 175
- Wild variation, random patterns, and uncertain data* 185
-
Part III. Sociolinguistics and dialectology
- Le changement linguistique dans la langue orale selon deux recherches sur le terrain séparées d’un siècle 197
- Patrons sociolinguistiques chez trois générations de locuteurs acadiens 211
- Change of functions of the first person pronouns in Chinese 223
- Vinderup in real time 233
- Variation in real time 245
-
Part IV. Tools and methodology
- UNIDIA 259
- Visualization, validation and seriation 269
- Quantifying linguistic changes 285
- Historical core vocabulary: Spring and/or anchor 295
- Index of languages and terms 307
- Index of subjects and terms 309
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements ix
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Phonology
- Middle English vowel length in French loanwords 9
- Dental fricatives and stops in Germanic 19
- Dialect variation and the Dutch diminutive 37
-
Part II. Morphology, syntax and semantics
- On the disappearance of genitive types in Middle English 49
- An asymmetric view on stage II in Jespersen’s cycle in the West Germanic languages 61
- Temporal reference and grammaticalization in the Spanish perfect(ive) 73
- (Un)-interpretable features and grammaticalization 83
- Imperative morphology in diachrony evidence from the Romance languages 99
- VO vs V(…)O en Français 109
- On the development of Recipient passives in DO languages 123
- The emergence of DP in the history of English 135
- A diachronic view of Psychological verbs with Dative Experiencers in Spanish and Romanian 149
- On the loss of the masculine genitive plural in Cypriot Greek 161
- The rise of peripheral modifiers in the noun phrase 175
- Wild variation, random patterns, and uncertain data* 185
-
Part III. Sociolinguistics and dialectology
- Le changement linguistique dans la langue orale selon deux recherches sur le terrain séparées d’un siècle 197
- Patrons sociolinguistiques chez trois générations de locuteurs acadiens 211
- Change of functions of the first person pronouns in Chinese 223
- Vinderup in real time 233
- Variation in real time 245
-
Part IV. Tools and methodology
- UNIDIA 259
- Visualization, validation and seriation 269
- Quantifying linguistic changes 285
- Historical core vocabulary: Spring and/or anchor 295
- Index of languages and terms 307
- Index of subjects and terms 309
