The demise of a preterite-present verb
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Anna Wojtyś
Abstract
The group of Old English preterite-present verbs, originally comprising twelve items, was considerably reduced so that only six have survived to the present day. The present paper focuses on the fate of the verb unnan ‘grant’, with an attempt to account for its disappearance from the language. Because of its meaning, in Old English unnan was mainly employed in legal documents, especially wills. It was also attested in religious writings in the context of God. In Early Middle English, the lack of legal texts produced in the vernacular resulted in a considerable decrease in the verb frequency. In religious context unnan was still occasionally found, although the reference to God’s grants was more likely expressed with other verbs. Thus, the study shows that the drop in the frequency of unnan and its subsequent elimination was mainly due to the shortage of English legal texts and the competition with native synonyms.
Abstract
The group of Old English preterite-present verbs, originally comprising twelve items, was considerably reduced so that only six have survived to the present day. The present paper focuses on the fate of the verb unnan ‘grant’, with an attempt to account for its disappearance from the language. Because of its meaning, in Old English unnan was mainly employed in legal documents, especially wills. It was also attested in religious writings in the context of God. In Early Middle English, the lack of legal texts produced in the vernacular resulted in a considerable decrease in the verb frequency. In religious context unnan was still occasionally found, although the reference to God’s grants was more likely expressed with other verbs. Thus, the study shows that the drop in the frequency of unnan and its subsequent elimination was mainly due to the shortage of English legal texts and the competition with native synonyms.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- At the crossroads of language change, variation, and contact 1
-
PART I: Language change
- Knitting and splitting information 11
- The order of adverbials of time and place in Old English 39
- The demise of a preterite-present verb 61
- Gradience in an abrupt change 83
- Vowels before /r/ in the history of English 95
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PART II: Language variation
- “Pained the eye and stunned the ear” 113
- Watching as -clauses in Late Modern English 137
- Colloquialization and “decolloquialization” 163
- Letters of Artisans and the Labouring Poor (England, c . 1750–1835) 187
- New-dialect formation in medieval Ireland 213
- Tracing uses of will and would in Late Modern British and Irish English 239
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PART III: Variation and change in contact situations
- The subjunctive mood in Philippine English 259
- Revisiting a millennium of migrations 281
- <U> or <o>: A dilemma of the Middle English scribal practice 305
- Index 325
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- At the crossroads of language change, variation, and contact 1
-
PART I: Language change
- Knitting and splitting information 11
- The order of adverbials of time and place in Old English 39
- The demise of a preterite-present verb 61
- Gradience in an abrupt change 83
- Vowels before /r/ in the history of English 95
-
PART II: Language variation
- “Pained the eye and stunned the ear” 113
- Watching as -clauses in Late Modern English 137
- Colloquialization and “decolloquialization” 163
- Letters of Artisans and the Labouring Poor (England, c . 1750–1835) 187
- New-dialect formation in medieval Ireland 213
- Tracing uses of will and would in Late Modern British and Irish English 239
-
PART III: Variation and change in contact situations
- The subjunctive mood in Philippine English 259
- Revisiting a millennium of migrations 281
- <U> or <o>: A dilemma of the Middle English scribal practice 305
- Index 325
