A corpus-based study on the development of dare in Middle English and Early Modern English
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Sofia Bemposta-Rivas
Abstract
This study argues that the changes undergone by dare in late Middle English cannot be explained solely in terms of the phonological similarity between dare and tharf, but also by the relationship between tharf and the verb need, plus the influence that the latter exerted on dare. The aim of this study is to analyse the semantic and structural changes that the verbs dare, tharf and need undergo in the period between Middle English and Early Modern English. The data are drawn from The Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Middle English, The Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Early Modern English and The Penn Corpus of Early English Correspondence. The analysis confirms that the verbs dare and tharf were confused in Middle English in non-assertive and 'fear' contexts. With the obsolescence of tharf, dare begins to occur more frequently in assertive contexts, and also starts to exhibit lexical features due to the influence exerted by need.
Abstract
This study argues that the changes undergone by dare in late Middle English cannot be explained solely in terms of the phonological similarity between dare and tharf, but also by the relationship between tharf and the verb need, plus the influence that the latter exerted on dare. The aim of this study is to analyse the semantic and structural changes that the verbs dare, tharf and need undergo in the period between Middle English and Early Modern English. The data are drawn from The Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Middle English, The Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Early Modern English and The Penn Corpus of Early English Correspondence. The analysis confirms that the verbs dare and tharf were confused in Middle English in non-assertive and 'fear' contexts. With the obsolescence of tharf, dare begins to occur more frequently in assertive contexts, and also starts to exhibit lexical features due to the influence exerted by need.
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
