The order and schedule of nominal plural formation transfer in three Southern dialects of Early Middle English
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Ryuichi Hotta
Abstract
The general history of the nominal plural formations in English has been widely known, but there has been little investigation about how the spread of the s-plural during the Early Middle English period proceeded in dialects of England. The way that the spread of -s was late and slow in the southern dialects is particularly interesting in terms of the contrast they make with the northern dialects as well as in terms of the theory of lexical diffusion. Based on a large number of examples collected from texts for quantification, the present paper makes an enquiry into the order and schedule along which the s-plural spread at the expense of other plural formations in the southern dialects. It also attempts to propose a fresh view of lexical diffusion as a bundle of overlapping S-curves.
Abstract
The general history of the nominal plural formations in English has been widely known, but there has been little investigation about how the spread of the s-plural during the Early Middle English period proceeded in dialects of England. The way that the spread of -s was late and slow in the southern dialects is particularly interesting in terms of the contrast they make with the northern dialects as well as in terms of the theory of lexical diffusion. Based on a large number of examples collected from texts for quantification, the present paper makes an enquiry into the order and schedule along which the s-plural spread at the expense of other plural formations in the southern dialects. It also attempts to propose a fresh view of lexical diffusion as a bundle of overlapping S-curves.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Norse influence on English in the light of general contact linguistics 15
- The Germanic roots of the Old English sound system 43
- Monetary policy and Old English dialects 73
- The order and schedule of nominal plural formation transfer in three Southern dialects of Early Middle English 95
- The temporal and regional contexts of the numeral ‘two’ in Middle English 115
- Grammaticalisation, contact and corpora 131
- Discourse organization and the rise of final then in the history of English 153
- The origins of how come and what…for 177
- “Providing/provided that” 197
- Prefer 215
- The 400 million word Corpus of Historical American English (1810–2009) 231
- Gender change from Old to Middle English 263
- “Please tilt me-ward by return of post” 289
- Multilingualism in the vocabulary of dress and textiles in late medieval Britain 313
- “No man entreth in or out” 327
- Beyond questions and answers 349
- The demise of gog and cock and their phraseologies in dramatic discourse 369
- Index 383
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & Acknowledgements vii
- Introduction 1
- Norse influence on English in the light of general contact linguistics 15
- The Germanic roots of the Old English sound system 43
- Monetary policy and Old English dialects 73
- The order and schedule of nominal plural formation transfer in three Southern dialects of Early Middle English 95
- The temporal and regional contexts of the numeral ‘two’ in Middle English 115
- Grammaticalisation, contact and corpora 131
- Discourse organization and the rise of final then in the history of English 153
- The origins of how come and what…for 177
- “Providing/provided that” 197
- Prefer 215
- The 400 million word Corpus of Historical American English (1810–2009) 231
- Gender change from Old to Middle English 263
- “Please tilt me-ward by return of post” 289
- Multilingualism in the vocabulary of dress and textiles in late medieval Britain 313
- “No man entreth in or out” 327
- Beyond questions and answers 349
- The demise of gog and cock and their phraseologies in dramatic discourse 369
- Index 383
