Why and what in Early Modern English drama
-
Ursula Lutzky
Abstract
This study sheds new light on the nature of the discourse markers why and what in the Early Modern English (EModE) period. It attempts to fill a gap by providing a contrastive analysis of these two markers of similar origin in the drama samples of two EModE corpora – A Corpus of English Dialogues 1560–1760 and the Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Early Modern English – covering the time span 1500 to 1760. The discourse markers are approached from a quantitative and a qualitative perspective, so as to account for their frequency of attestation as well as their functions, with the aim of reaching a deeper understanding of the potential similarities and differences in their use and development in the course of the EModE period.
Abstract
This study sheds new light on the nature of the discourse markers why and what in the Early Modern English (EModE) period. It attempts to fill a gap by providing a contrastive analysis of these two markers of similar origin in the drama samples of two EModE corpora – A Corpus of English Dialogues 1560–1760 and the Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Early Modern English – covering the time span 1500 to 1760. The discourse markers are approached from a quantitative and a qualitative perspective, so as to account for their frequency of attestation as well as their functions, with the aim of reaching a deeper understanding of the potential similarities and differences in their use and development in the course of the EModE period.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of abbreviations vii
- Introduction 1
-
Corpus linguistics today and tomorrow
- Can’t see the wood for the trees? 13
- Spelling variation in Middle English manuscripts 31
-
Aspects of language change
- The development of compound numerals in English Biblical translations 49
- The complements of causative make in Late Middle English 59
- The pragmaticalization and intensification of verily , truly and really 75
- Concept-driven semasiology and onomasiology of CLERGY 93
- ANGER and TĒNE in Middle English 109
-
Middle and Modern English case studies
- The subjunctive vs. modal auxiliaries 127
- Some notes on the distribution of the quantifier all in Middle English 141
- Interjections in Middle English 157
- Why and what in Early Modern English drama 177
- Colloquialization and not -contraction in nineteenth-century English 191
-
Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary and thereafter
- The complexity and diversity of the words in Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary 209
- Etymology in the English Dialect Dictionary 225
- Towards an understanding of Joseph Wright’s sources 241
- The importance of being Janus 257
- ... ging uns der ganze alte Dialektbegriff in eine Illusion auf 269
- Index 285
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of abbreviations vii
- Introduction 1
-
Corpus linguistics today and tomorrow
- Can’t see the wood for the trees? 13
- Spelling variation in Middle English manuscripts 31
-
Aspects of language change
- The development of compound numerals in English Biblical translations 49
- The complements of causative make in Late Middle English 59
- The pragmaticalization and intensification of verily , truly and really 75
- Concept-driven semasiology and onomasiology of CLERGY 93
- ANGER and TĒNE in Middle English 109
-
Middle and Modern English case studies
- The subjunctive vs. modal auxiliaries 127
- Some notes on the distribution of the quantifier all in Middle English 141
- Interjections in Middle English 157
- Why and what in Early Modern English drama 177
- Colloquialization and not -contraction in nineteenth-century English 191
-
Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary and thereafter
- The complexity and diversity of the words in Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary 209
- Etymology in the English Dialect Dictionary 225
- Towards an understanding of Joseph Wright’s sources 241
- The importance of being Janus 257
- ... ging uns der ganze alte Dialektbegriff in eine Illusion auf 269
- Index 285
