Startseite The Replacement of Direct Objects and Directly Linked Gerunds by Prepositional ones after shirk, refrain and lack in Modern English, with Special Reference to Clause Negation
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The Replacement of Direct Objects and Directly Linked Gerunds by Prepositional ones after shirk, refrain and lack in Modern English, with Special Reference to Clause Negation

  • Günter Rohdenburg EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 13. November 2020
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Aus der Zeitschrift Anglia Band 138 Heft 4

Abstract

In most Eastern European languages, clause negation typically triggers the replacement of a “direct” case such as the accusative by a less direct one like the genitive. In English, the contrast is – with several verbs – partially paralleled by that between directly linked complements and their prepositional counterparts. This corpus-based paper explores the relevant behaviour of three verbs which possess an intrinsic negative semantics: shirk, refrain (in earlier stages of Modern English), and lack. It is found that negated clauses definitely promote a) prepositional objects with all three verbs and b) prepositional gerunds after shirk. In the case of refrain, the historical British database displays only a weak tendency for negated clauses to favour the increasingly common prepositional gerund. The prepositional variant turns out to be virtually absent from the passive of shirk, a fact assumed to be due to the general avoidance of preposition stranding in favour of available transitive structures. With lack, the rivalry between the two object variants is additionally constrained by two prosodic tendencies, the preference for phrasal upbeats and sentence end-weight. Throughout, American English displays a distinctly greater sensitivity to clause negation than British English.

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Published Online: 2020-11-13
Published in Print: 2020-11-11

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Frontmatter
  3. Articles
  4. The Replacement of Direct Objects and Directly Linked Gerunds by Prepositional ones after shirk, refrain and lack in Modern English, with Special Reference to Clause Negation
  5. Tamar, Widowhood, and the Old English Prose Translation of Genesis
  6. Solomon and Saturn I, 89 a, “prologa prim”: An Exercise in Monastic Reading Practice
  7. Non-Wycliffite Bible Translation in Oxford, Trinity College, 29 and Universal History Writing in Late Medieval England
  8. Models and/as/of Literature
  9. Reviews
  10. Geoffrey Russom. 2017. The Evolution of Verse Structure in Old and Middle English Poetry: From the Earliest Alliterative Poems to Iambic Pentameter. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 98. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, xi + 319 pp., 42 tables, £ 67.99.
  11. Daniel McCann. 2018. Soul-Health: Therapeutic Reading in Later Medieval England. Religion and Culture in the Middle Ages. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, xv + 194 pp., 1 figure, £ 70.00.
  12. Ad Putter and Judith Jefferson (eds.). 2018. The Transmission of Medieval Romance: Metres, Manuscripts and Early Prints. Studies in Medieval Romance 21. Cambridge: Brewer, xiv + 241 pp., 28 illustr., £ 60.00/$ 99.00.
  13. Elly McCausland. 2019. Malory’s Magic Book: King Arthur and the Child, 1862–1980. Arthurian Studies 86. Cambridge: Brewer, xi + 234 pp., 12 illustr., £ 60.00/$ 99.00.
  14. Ingo Berensmeyer (ed.). 2019. Handbook of English Renaissance Literature. Handbooks of English and American Studies 10. Berlin/Boston, MA: De Gruyter, ix + 739 pp., 25 illustr., € 199.95.
  15. Samuel Fallon. 2019. Paper Monsters: Persona and Literary Culture in Elizabethan England. Material Texts. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 232 pp., 6 figures, £ 52.00.
  16. Martin Garrett. 2019. The Palgrave Literary Dictionary of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Palgrave Literary Dictionaries. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 336 pp., € 117.96/£ 95.00/$ 58.00.
  17. Sandra Dinter. 2019. Childhood in the Contemporary English Novel. Studies in Childhood, 1700 to the Present. London: Routledge, 222 pp., £ 115.00.
  18. Lena Linne. 2019. Unlived Lives in English Literature: A Typological Study. Anglistische Forschungen 467. Heidelberg: Winter, 287 pp., € 48.00/£ 43.00.
  19. Stefan Horlacher and Kevin Floyd (eds.). 2017. Contemporary Masculinities in the UK and the US: Between Bodies and Systems. Global Masculinities. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 243 pp., € 103.99.
  20. Julius Greve. 2018. Shreds of Matter: Cormac McCarthy and the Concept of Nature. Re-Mapping the Transnational: A Dartmouth Series in American Studies. Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College Press, 360 pp., $ 95.00.
  21. Books Reviewed: Anglia 138 (2020)
https://doi.org/10.1515/ang-2020-0049

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Frontmatter
  3. Articles
  4. The Replacement of Direct Objects and Directly Linked Gerunds by Prepositional ones after shirk, refrain and lack in Modern English, with Special Reference to Clause Negation
  5. Tamar, Widowhood, and the Old English Prose Translation of Genesis
  6. Solomon and Saturn I, 89 a, “prologa prim”: An Exercise in Monastic Reading Practice
  7. Non-Wycliffite Bible Translation in Oxford, Trinity College, 29 and Universal History Writing in Late Medieval England
  8. Models and/as/of Literature
  9. Reviews
  10. Geoffrey Russom. 2017. The Evolution of Verse Structure in Old and Middle English Poetry: From the Earliest Alliterative Poems to Iambic Pentameter. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature 98. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, xi + 319 pp., 42 tables, £ 67.99.
  11. Daniel McCann. 2018. Soul-Health: Therapeutic Reading in Later Medieval England. Religion and Culture in the Middle Ages. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, xv + 194 pp., 1 figure, £ 70.00.
  12. Ad Putter and Judith Jefferson (eds.). 2018. The Transmission of Medieval Romance: Metres, Manuscripts and Early Prints. Studies in Medieval Romance 21. Cambridge: Brewer, xiv + 241 pp., 28 illustr., £ 60.00/$ 99.00.
  13. Elly McCausland. 2019. Malory’s Magic Book: King Arthur and the Child, 1862–1980. Arthurian Studies 86. Cambridge: Brewer, xi + 234 pp., 12 illustr., £ 60.00/$ 99.00.
  14. Ingo Berensmeyer (ed.). 2019. Handbook of English Renaissance Literature. Handbooks of English and American Studies 10. Berlin/Boston, MA: De Gruyter, ix + 739 pp., 25 illustr., € 199.95.
  15. Samuel Fallon. 2019. Paper Monsters: Persona and Literary Culture in Elizabethan England. Material Texts. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 232 pp., 6 figures, £ 52.00.
  16. Martin Garrett. 2019. The Palgrave Literary Dictionary of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Palgrave Literary Dictionaries. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 336 pp., € 117.96/£ 95.00/$ 58.00.
  17. Sandra Dinter. 2019. Childhood in the Contemporary English Novel. Studies in Childhood, 1700 to the Present. London: Routledge, 222 pp., £ 115.00.
  18. Lena Linne. 2019. Unlived Lives in English Literature: A Typological Study. Anglistische Forschungen 467. Heidelberg: Winter, 287 pp., € 48.00/£ 43.00.
  19. Stefan Horlacher and Kevin Floyd (eds.). 2017. Contemporary Masculinities in the UK and the US: Between Bodies and Systems. Global Masculinities. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 243 pp., € 103.99.
  20. Julius Greve. 2018. Shreds of Matter: Cormac McCarthy and the Concept of Nature. Re-Mapping the Transnational: A Dartmouth Series in American Studies. Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College Press, 360 pp., $ 95.00.
  21. Books Reviewed: Anglia 138 (2020)
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