Some Notes on Left-Dislocation in the Homilies of Wulfstan

Abstract

In this paper, I show how pragmatics and syntax are interconnected in Old English by examining the left-dislocation system in Wulfstan’s homilies. Syntactically, this article argues that left-dislocation fits in nicely with the system found in other Old English texts, despite certain superficial structural differences. The unexpected high number of demonstrative resumptives is accounted for by the accumulation of formulaic structures in one homily. Pragmatically, LFD performs a number of discourse functions. The main function is a generalizing one, as LFD introduces new topics in the discourse. This case study also shows that other functions traditionally linked with LFD can be found in Wulfstan’s texts. For instance, demonstrative resumptives show some degree of topic shifting and can be accompanied by the contrastive function. By contrast, personal pronoun resumptives can mark topic continuity with specific referents. Since the corpus data are necessarily limited because only one file from the YCOE is examined, some claims are not verifiable. A good example is the assumption found in the literature that personal pronoun resumptives in LFD tend to land low in the clause.