Complexity and genre conventions
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Anu Lehto
Abstract
This study analyzes complexity in Early Modern English proclamations from 1500 to 1707 in the Corpus of Early Modern English Statutes (1491–1707). The complexity features chosen for analysis are coordination and textual structure. The study shows that text structure and layout are important in signaling dependencies between sentences in legal writing.Coordination can link clauses and lexical items, and clausal coordination in the data is most frequent before 1550, while phrasal coordination is more numerous in the seventeenth century. The frequencies are affected by extralinguistic changes such as the beginning of printing of legal documents. Further, the genre of proclamations is systematic in the Early Modern period, and the various coordinating clauses have specific functions.
Abstract
This study analyzes complexity in Early Modern English proclamations from 1500 to 1707 in the Corpus of Early Modern English Statutes (1491–1707). The complexity features chosen for analysis are coordination and textual structure. The study shows that text structure and layout are important in signaling dependencies between sentences in legal writing.Coordination can link clauses and lexical items, and clausal coordination in the data is most frequent before 1550, while phrasal coordination is more numerous in the seventeenth century. The frequencies are affected by extralinguistic changes such as the beginning of printing of legal documents. Further, the genre of proclamations is systematic in the Early Modern period, and the various coordinating clauses have specific functions.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Uncovering layers of meaning in the history of the English language 1
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Part I. Graphemics and phonology
- Layers of reading in the Old English Bede 19
- Unlikely-looking Old English verb forms 39
- On the importance of noting uncertainty in etymological research 63
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Part II. Lexicology and semantics
- “A Wiltshire word, according to Kennett” 81
- Enforcing or effacing useful distinctions? 99
- The role of context in the meaning specification of cant and slang words in eighteenth-century English 129
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Part III. Syntax
- Let’s talk about uton 157
- Exploring part-of-speech profiles and authorship attribution in Early Modern medical texts 185
- The positioning of adverbial clauses in the Paston letters 211
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Part IV. Genres
- Complexity and genre conventions 233
- Formulaic discourse across Early Modern English medical genres 257
- “Treasure of pore men”, “countrymans friend” or “gentlewomans companion”? 301
- “I saw ye Child burning in ye fire” 319
- Name index 343
- Subject index 345
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Uncovering layers of meaning in the history of the English language 1
-
Part I. Graphemics and phonology
- Layers of reading in the Old English Bede 19
- Unlikely-looking Old English verb forms 39
- On the importance of noting uncertainty in etymological research 63
-
Part II. Lexicology and semantics
- “A Wiltshire word, according to Kennett” 81
- Enforcing or effacing useful distinctions? 99
- The role of context in the meaning specification of cant and slang words in eighteenth-century English 129
-
Part III. Syntax
- Let’s talk about uton 157
- Exploring part-of-speech profiles and authorship attribution in Early Modern medical texts 185
- The positioning of adverbial clauses in the Paston letters 211
-
Part IV. Genres
- Complexity and genre conventions 233
- Formulaic discourse across Early Modern English medical genres 257
- “Treasure of pore men”, “countrymans friend” or “gentlewomans companion”? 301
- “I saw ye Child burning in ye fire” 319
- Name index 343
- Subject index 345
