Abstract
This article surveys possible factors affecting particle alternation in British English between 1650 and 1990. When particle verbs are transitive, the speaker is presented with two possible choices: verb-particle-object (VPO) or verb-object-particle (VOP). Research has shown that there are a number of phonological, morphological, semantic and discourse-functional variables which may affect the speaker’s choice. The present article focuses on the influence of six morpho-syntactic variables, namely the noun phrase (NP) type of the direct object (DO), the length of the object, the complexity of the DO, the presence of a directional prepositional phrase (PPdir), the type of determiner of the object NP and the type of particle. The data show that, although the VPO order tends to be the predominant one, some of these variables can determine the type of arrangement selected by the speaker. The results are also compared with previous research on Middle English, Early Modern English and Present-day English, showing that the tendencies observed have changed over time.
Funding statement: For generous financial support, thanks are due to the European Regional Development Fund and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grants FFI2014-52188-P and FFI2014-51873-REDT).
References
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©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Reading the intentions of be going to. On the subjectification of future markers
- Third-person singular zero in Norfolk English: An addendum
- Q is for WHAT, WHEN, WHERE?: The ‘q’ spellings for OE hw-
- The Romanian alternating gender in diachrony and synchrony
- Particle placement in Late Modern English and Twentieth-century English: Morpho-syntactic variables
- Language norms and language use: Hypercorrections in the Independence period of Chilean Spanish
- Basic valency orientation in Homeric Greek
- Why English is not dead: A rejoinder to Emonds and Faarlund
- Daily jottings: Preposition placement in English diaries and travel journals from 1500 to 1900
- Reviews
- James N. Adams: Social variation and the Latin language
- Emanuel J. Drechsel: Language contact in the early colonial Pacific: Maritime Polynesian Pidgin before Pidgin English
- Lucien Tesnière: Elements of structural syntax
- Carlotta Viti, ed.: Perspectives on historical syntax
- Buschfeld, Sarah, Thomas Hoffmann, Magnus Huber & Alexander Kautzsch: The evolution of Englishes. The dynamic model and beyond
- 2016. IE2.com. Online lexica for ancient Indo-European languages
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Reading the intentions of be going to. On the subjectification of future markers
- Third-person singular zero in Norfolk English: An addendum
- Q is for WHAT, WHEN, WHERE?: The ‘q’ spellings for OE hw-
- The Romanian alternating gender in diachrony and synchrony
- Particle placement in Late Modern English and Twentieth-century English: Morpho-syntactic variables
- Language norms and language use: Hypercorrections in the Independence period of Chilean Spanish
- Basic valency orientation in Homeric Greek
- Why English is not dead: A rejoinder to Emonds and Faarlund
- Daily jottings: Preposition placement in English diaries and travel journals from 1500 to 1900
- Reviews
- James N. Adams: Social variation and the Latin language
- Emanuel J. Drechsel: Language contact in the early colonial Pacific: Maritime Polynesian Pidgin before Pidgin English
- Lucien Tesnière: Elements of structural syntax
- Carlotta Viti, ed.: Perspectives on historical syntax
- Buschfeld, Sarah, Thomas Hoffmann, Magnus Huber & Alexander Kautzsch: The evolution of Englishes. The dynamic model and beyond
- 2016. IE2.com. Online lexica for ancient Indo-European languages