Chapter 13: Periphrastic DO
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Anthony Warner
Abstract
In Early Modern English the modern use of auxiliary DO (Did you hear? I did not hear) largely replaced earlier full verb constructions (Heard you? I heard not). An affirmative without emphasis (I do hear = I hear) was also possible, as hardly today. This chapter discusses factors involved in the substantial variation characteristic of the period, possible motivations for the rise of DO, and the emergence of its modern profile. Variation corresponded to a wide range of parameters, including discourse and stylistic properties, the presence of particular lexemes and collocations, and the verb’s phonotactics. There were also major differences between clause types. These distributions may reveal motivations for the rise of DO, or simply reflect speakers’ choices during a more abstract change (the loss of V-to-I), proceeding at a shared “constant rate” across contexts. Many issues are unsettled, but electronic corpora provide a major opportunity for progress.
Abstract
In Early Modern English the modern use of auxiliary DO (Did you hear? I did not hear) largely replaced earlier full verb constructions (Heard you? I heard not). An affirmative without emphasis (I do hear = I hear) was also possible, as hardly today. This chapter discusses factors involved in the substantial variation characteristic of the period, possible motivations for the rise of DO, and the emergence of its modern profile. Variation corresponded to a wide range of parameters, including discourse and stylistic properties, the presence of particular lexemes and collocations, and the verb’s phonotactics. There were also major differences between clause types. These distributions may reveal motivations for the rise of DO, or simply reflect speakers’ choices during a more abstract change (the loss of V-to-I), proceeding at a shared “constant rate” across contexts. Many issues are unsettled, but electronic corpora provide a major opportunity for progress.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Chapter 1: Introduction 1
- Chapter 2: Early Modern English: Overview 8
- Chapter 3: Phonology 27
- Chapter 4: Morphology 47
- Chapter 5: Syntax 68
- Chapter 6: Lexicon and semantics 89
- Chapter 7: Pragmatics and discourse 108
- Chapter 8: Dialects 128
- Chapter 9: Language contact 150
- Chapter 10: Standardization 167
- Chapter 11: Sociolinguistics 188
- Chapter 12: Pronouns 209
- Chapter 13: Periphrastic DO 224
- Chapter 14: The Great Vowel Shift 241
- Chapter 15: Relativization 267
- Chapter 16: Literary language 287
- Chapter 17: The language of Shakespeare 309
- Index 333
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- Abbreviations VII
- Chapter 1: Introduction 1
- Chapter 2: Early Modern English: Overview 8
- Chapter 3: Phonology 27
- Chapter 4: Morphology 47
- Chapter 5: Syntax 68
- Chapter 6: Lexicon and semantics 89
- Chapter 7: Pragmatics and discourse 108
- Chapter 8: Dialects 128
- Chapter 9: Language contact 150
- Chapter 10: Standardization 167
- Chapter 11: Sociolinguistics 188
- Chapter 12: Pronouns 209
- Chapter 13: Periphrastic DO 224
- Chapter 14: The Great Vowel Shift 241
- Chapter 15: Relativization 267
- Chapter 16: Literary language 287
- Chapter 17: The language of Shakespeare 309
- Index 333
