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Chapter 9. Why Scotsmen will drown and shall not be saved

The historical development of will and shall in Older Scots

Abstract

The divergent use of the modal auxiliaries will and shall in Scots and Standard English was noticed as early as the eighteenth century. The Scottish National Dictionary states that in Scots, first-person will instead of shall is used for predictions without denoting volition, which, in turn, is said to be often expressed by shall. In the second and third person, will may express obligation. This study investigates the use of will and shall in the Helsinki Corpus of Older Scots (HCOS) with a special focus on the interplay of modal meaning and grammatical person. The corpus data confirm the observations of the Scottish National Dictionary for Modern Scots, with a significant drop in first-person volitional will in the seventeenth century and fairly high counts for first-person volitional shall throughout Older Scots. The prediction uses of both first-person will and shall, however, remain low throughout the period. In addition, several instances of second- and third-person will were found that impose an obligation through an indirect speech act.

Abstract

The divergent use of the modal auxiliaries will and shall in Scots and Standard English was noticed as early as the eighteenth century. The Scottish National Dictionary states that in Scots, first-person will instead of shall is used for predictions without denoting volition, which, in turn, is said to be often expressed by shall. In the second and third person, will may express obligation. This study investigates the use of will and shall in the Helsinki Corpus of Older Scots (HCOS) with a special focus on the interplay of modal meaning and grammatical person. The corpus data confirm the observations of the Scottish National Dictionary for Modern Scots, with a significant drop in first-person volitional will in the seventeenth century and fairly high counts for first-person volitional shall throughout Older Scots. The prediction uses of both first-person will and shall, however, remain low throughout the period. In addition, several instances of second- and third-person will were found that impose an obligation through an indirect speech act.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword vii
  4. Introduction. Exploring English historical syntax 1
  5. Chapter 1. “Permissive” subjects and the decline of adverbial linking in the history of English 23
  6. Chapter 2. Cognate noun constructions in Early Modern English 51
  7. Chapter 3. On the differential evolution of simple and complex object constructions in English 77
  8. Chapter 4. Finite causative complements in Middle English 105
  9. Chapter 5. Causative make and its infinitival complements in Early Modern English 139
  10. Chapter 6. Semantic and lexical shifts with the “ into -causative” construction in American English 159
  11. Chapter 7. Free adjuncts in Late Modern English 179
  12. Chapter 8. Complexity and genre distribution of left-dislocated strings after the fixation of SVO syntax 203
  13. Chapter 9. Why Scotsmen will drown and shall not be saved 235
  14. Chapter 10. A study of Old English dugan 259
  15. Chapter 11. Sequentiality and the emergence of new constructions 283
  16. Index 307
Explorations in English Historical Syntax
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Explorations in English Historical Syntax
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.198.10els

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword vii
  4. Introduction. Exploring English historical syntax 1
  5. Chapter 1. “Permissive” subjects and the decline of adverbial linking in the history of English 23
  6. Chapter 2. Cognate noun constructions in Early Modern English 51
  7. Chapter 3. On the differential evolution of simple and complex object constructions in English 77
  8. Chapter 4. Finite causative complements in Middle English 105
  9. Chapter 5. Causative make and its infinitival complements in Early Modern English 139
  10. Chapter 6. Semantic and lexical shifts with the “ into -causative” construction in American English 159
  11. Chapter 7. Free adjuncts in Late Modern English 179
  12. Chapter 8. Complexity and genre distribution of left-dislocated strings after the fixation of SVO syntax 203
  13. Chapter 9. Why Scotsmen will drown and shall not be saved 235
  14. Chapter 10. A study of Old English dugan 259
  15. Chapter 11. Sequentiality and the emergence of new constructions 283
  16. Index 307
Heruntergeladen am 13.4.2026 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/slcs.198.10els/html
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