Leveraging grammaticalization
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Rebecca Colleran
Abstract
For a long time, the striking similarities between OFris (Old Frisian) and Old English (OE) were attributed to an exclusive shared ancestor (Anglo-Frisian), but in the late 20th century that view was ousted in favor of a dialect continuum model. Recent developments in genetics, textual analysis, and archaeology, however, suggest that the earlier model is more accurate. This paper explores a series of diagnostics to distinguish between shared grammaticalizations caused by linguistic relatedness and those caused by geographical proximity. Those diagnostics are then applied to two developments exclusive to OFris and OE: the grammaticalization of aga(n) ‘have’ into auxiliary ‘have to’, and the development of a verb complement based on the OE/OFris present participle. In both cases, the diagnostics indicate that the changes occurred due to a shared ancestor, supporting the Anglo-Frisian hypothesis.
Abstract
For a long time, the striking similarities between OFris (Old Frisian) and Old English (OE) were attributed to an exclusive shared ancestor (Anglo-Frisian), but in the late 20th century that view was ousted in favor of a dialect continuum model. Recent developments in genetics, textual analysis, and archaeology, however, suggest that the earlier model is more accurate. This paper explores a series of diagnostics to distinguish between shared grammaticalizations caused by linguistic relatedness and those caused by geographical proximity. Those diagnostics are then applied to two developments exclusive to OFris and OE: the grammaticalization of aga(n) ‘have’ into auxiliary ‘have to’, and the development of a verb complement based on the OE/OFris present participle. In both cases, the diagnostics indicate that the changes occurred due to a shared ancestor, supporting the Anglo-Frisian hypothesis.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- The dynamics of changes in the early English inflection 9
- “Subsumed under the dative”? 35
- ‘Thone vpon thother’ 57
- Leveraging grammaticalization 77
- Old English wolde and sceolde 111
- A corpus-based study on the development of dare in Middle English and Early Modern English 129
- Counterfactuality and aktionsart 149
- Conservatism or the influence of the semantics of motion situation in the choice of perfect auxiliaries in Jane Austen’s letters and novels 175
- Signs of grammaticalization 199
- From time-before-place to place-before-time in the history of English 223
- Variation and change at the interface of syntax and semantics 247
- Further explorations in the grammar of intensifier marking in Modern English 269
- The rivalry between far from being + predicative item and its counterpart omitting the copula in Modern English 287
- Index 309
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- The dynamics of changes in the early English inflection 9
- “Subsumed under the dative”? 35
- ‘Thone vpon thother’ 57
- Leveraging grammaticalization 77
- Old English wolde and sceolde 111
- A corpus-based study on the development of dare in Middle English and Early Modern English 129
- Counterfactuality and aktionsart 149
- Conservatism or the influence of the semantics of motion situation in the choice of perfect auxiliaries in Jane Austen’s letters and novels 175
- Signs of grammaticalization 199
- From time-before-place to place-before-time in the history of English 223
- Variation and change at the interface of syntax and semantics 247
- Further explorations in the grammar of intensifier marking in Modern English 269
- The rivalry between far from being + predicative item and its counterpart omitting the copula in Modern English 287
- Index 309
