Negative contraction in Old English verse

Jack, George

doi:10.1093/res/50.198.133

Cited by 5 publications

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“…German is among the languages where many prepositions (though not all) tightly combine with following definite articles (though not in all forms). Such instances as in (20a), found in even the most formal of styles and written without apostrophe or other mark of separation, are usually analysed as encliticisation, where the prosodically subordinated enclitic definite article loses much of its segmental substance, with 17 To judge from specialist studies such as Levin (1958), Blockley (1988;1990), Jack (1999) for Old English. unter d-as N, in d-ie N, mit d-em N > unter¼s N, in¼ne N, mip¼m N under the N, in the-PL ⁄ FEM.SG.ACC N, with the N Diachronically speaking, this means the definite article in its new enclitic forms has lost the very part which was marking definiteness of old: the initial dental.…”

Section: Inflecting Prepositionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phonological phrasing in Germanic: the judgement of history, confirmed through experiment

Lahiri

Plank

2010

Transactions of the Philological Society

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There are contrary views on how phonological phrasing in Germanic is determined: either by surface syntax or by rhythmic principles (forming trochaic ⁄ dactylic or iambic ⁄ anapaestic groupings) or alternately by both depending on speech style (spontaneous ⁄ planned, casual ⁄ careful). It is shown in this paper that a host of historical developments in Germanic -having to do with cliticisation and the creation of new inflectional affixes from clitics, and with attendant changes of the forms involved -point to a default phonological phrasing of grammatical ⁄ function words which associates them leftwards regardless of morphosyntactic constituency and which does not respect morphological word integrity either. Thus, encliticisation predominates almost exclusively, and productive inflectional affixes innovated via cliticisation are all suffixes. Experimental evidence from contemporary Germanic (in this case Dutch) confirms that phonological words are crucial units in speech planning, with such units equally formed as trochees irrespective of the phrasal syntax of grammatical and lexical words. CONTRARY VIEWS ON HOW PHONOLOGICAL PHRASING IS DETERMINED Constructions and their parts: morphosyntax in relation to semanticsIf you want to think and express a thought, you will be guided not only by the laws and vagaries of thinking, but also by the lexicon and grammar of your language. Although our concern subsequently will chiefly be with the latter, it is an interesting question how a thought as such takes shape in real time in the mind of the thinker, especially if it is a complex thought -say, the thought (often thought and expressed, among many others, by Alexander Pope 1 ) that the sound must seem an echo to the sense. It is probably not unreasonable to assume that the parts which come first in the real-time construction of this thought, especially if embedded in a general train of thought about the relationship between form and meaning, are the concepts of sound and of sense and the concept of an asymmetric correspondence relation between them -for which the English lexicon provides the noun-or-verb words sound, sense and echo, respectively. The concepts of seeming (as opposed to being) and of deontic necessity, expressible in English through a verb seem and a modal auxiliary must, would seem secondary, in the sense of not normally being the primary topics when such a thought is being thought and expressed -unless they have gained importance and planning priority as a focus of contrast. The temporal embedding of the thought (something of a timeless directive) and the contextual embedding of its parts (sound and sense as contextually given) are an everpresent mould for thinking -at least when the thinking is being done by speakers of English. 1In his Essay on Criticism (1711) -which is in fact a poem. Its metre is supposed to be the iambic pentameter; but arguably a trochaic reading of this line, and many others, is preferable -as per (4b) below.

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Section: Inflecting Prepositionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…17 17 To judge from specialist studies such as Levin (1958), Blockley (1988; 1990), Jack (1999) for Old English. …”

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confidence: 99%

Phonological phrasing in Germanic: the judgement of history, confirmed through experiment

Lahiri

Plank

2010

Transactions of the Philological Society

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“…Recent studies of negative contraction, focusing mainly on syntax and meter in poetry, include Fulk 1992;Blockley 1988Blockley , 1990Jack 1999;and Iyeiri 2001. Certain verbs, namely witan 'know', willan 'want', beon 'be', habban 'have', and agan 'own', allow the negative particle to incorporate into the verb so that ne is (3rd pres.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, although it is apparent that, in present-day English, contraction occurs in more informal contexts and the full forms in formal situations, the reasons Old English and Early Middle English writers used these forms are not so clear. Recent studies of negative contraction, focusing mainly on syntax and meter in poetry, include Fulk 1992;Blockley 1988Blockley , 1990Jack 1999;and Iyeiri 2001. This discussion centers on the work of Levin (1958), who suggests that negative contraction in Old English and Early Middle English is a dialect feature. In Old English, West Saxon texts have more contraction than Mercian and Northumbrian texts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative Contraction, Dialect, and the AB Language: A Note on Levin 1958

Wood

2002

JGL

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Contemporary discussions of preverbal negative incorporation usually note Levin's 1958 claim that incorporation is a Western and Southern dialect feature in Old and Middle English. In his Middle English data, Levin reports only two unincorporated forms, both in AB texts. This note demonstrates that these two examples appear in the editions Levin used, but not in the manuscripts now thought to be closer to the original AB language. The conclusions are: 1. Levin's claim still has merit; 2. it would worthwhile to revisit his data with an improved understanding of scribal practices, access to facsimiles, and to electronic searches; and 3. researchers should consider editorial "interference" in manuscripts. * Introduction.In Old English and Early Middle English, the usual form of clausal negation is the preverbal particle ne. Certain verbs, namely witan 'know', willan 'want', beon 'be', habban 'have', and agan 'own', allow the negative particle to incorporate into the verb so that ne is (3rd pres. ind. singular of beon) is equivalent to nis. Similarly, ne habbe becomes nabbe and ne wulle becomes nulle. This is a process similar to the present-day English incorporation of contracted not in forms of auxiliary verbs such as isn't, won't, etc. However, although it is apparent that, in present-day English, contraction occurs in more informal contexts and the full forms in formal situations, the reasons Old English and Early Middle English writers used these forms are not so clear. Recent studies of negative contraction, focusing mainly on syntax and meter in poetry,

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2011

A Grammar of Old English

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Negative contraction in Old English verse

Cited by 5 publications

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Phonological phrasing in Germanic: the judgement of history, confirmed through experiment

Phonological phrasing in Germanic: the judgement of history, confirmed through experiment

Negative Contraction, Dialect, and the AB Language: A Note on Levin 1958

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