The Split Infinitive in Middle English

Martín, Javier Calle

doi:10.1075/nowele.68.2.05cal

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 26 publications

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“…It occurred sporadically in Early Middle English, and the element that split the infinitive was normally a negative adverb or a personal pronoun (Fischer 1992:329), the latter being ungrammatical today. As the Middle English period drew on, adverbs of manner and degree could split the infinitive as well, but it is not until Reginald Pecock's writings in the fifteenth century that other types of adverbials were used as splitters (Fischer 1992:329, but see the chronology in Calle-Martin (2015), who finds that manner and degree adverbs occurred earlier than negative adverbs in this construction). However, Mustanoja (1960:515) comments that Pecock was the ONLY writer who used the split infinitive to any extent, so the development of this construction may not be so unstable after all, because split infinitives are rare in the Early Modern English period as well, and did not gain ground until the end of the eighteenth century (Rissanen 1999:290).…”

Section: Exemption Of the Preposition From Sluicingmentioning

confidence: 99%

English is (still) a West Germanic language

Bech¹,

Walkden²

2015

Nord J Linguist

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In their recent book,English: The Language of the Vikings, Joseph Embley Emonds and Jan Terje Faarlund attempt to make the case that from its Middle period onwards, English is a North Germanic language, descended from the Norse varieties spoken in Medieval England, rather than a West Germanic language, as traditionally assumed. In this review article we critique Emonds & Faarlund's proposal, focusing particularly on the syntactic evidence that forms the basis of their argumentation. A closer look at a number of constructions for which the authors suggest a Norse origin reveals that the situation is not as they present it: in many cases, the syntactic properties of Old and Middle English are not given careful enough consideration, and/or the chronology of the developments is not compatible with a Norse origin. Moreover, the authors do not engage with the large body of sound changes that constitute the strongest evidence for a West Germanic origin. We conclude that Emonds & Faarlund fail to make a convincing case either for a North Germanic origin or against a West Germanic origin.

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Section: Exemption Of the Preposition From Sluicingmentioning

confidence: 99%

English is (still) a West Germanic language

Bech¹,

Walkden²

2015

Nord J Linguist

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“To boldly go where no man has gone before”: how iconic is the Star Trek split infinitive?

Ronan,

Schneider

2023

Linguistics Vanguard

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“To boldly go where no man has gone before”, popularized by the science fiction series Star Trek, has provided an iconic example for the use of split infinitives. From its introduction, the series may have paved the way for the broader use of split infinitives in contemporary, informal English in spite of prescriptive grammars shunning the structure. The current qualitative and quantitative study is based on the general diachronic Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) and a specific telecinematic corpus (TV Corpus). It aims to trace genre influence in the use of split infinitives in sci-fi and television discourses. It asks whether the use of split infinitives in informal genres can be correlated with its prominent use in the Star Trek series. The current study finds that both raw and relative frequencies increase in the wake of Star Trek, as well as the probability of choice. Yet the clearest influence from Star Trek stems from the spread of the iconic to boldly go phrase.

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Semantics of the Constructions With Split Infinitive

Фролова¹

2021

BHJ

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Objective of this article is to define the exact number of split infinitives and the most common splitters in the construction, identify groups of studied constructions united by an integral feature and to determine the semantic features of constructions with a split infinitive. Applied methods. For the purpose of this research language material is collected on the basis of the corpora of texts such as the British National Corpus and the Corpus of Contemporary American English. The examples of the phenomenon are selected to conduct a semantic experiment using the method of expert assessments, which will reveal the semantic features of constructions with a split infinitive. The informants (native speakers) are asked to grade the sentences with the reference to the norm of standard English and leave their personal comments on the use of split infinitive constructions. Results The acquired data is analyzed from the viewpoint of semantics. As a result of the research the semantic features of split infinitives are described and the difference in semantics of split and usual infinitives is established. Conclusion. The construction with a split infinitive in comparison with the usual infinitive introduces different information to the sentence. Putting an adverb directly before a verb allows to clarify the statement, gives a narrow focus and establishes a semantic connection with a specific verb.

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The Split Infinitive in Middle English

Cited by 4 publications

References 26 publications

English is (still) a West Germanic language

English is (still) a West Germanic language

“To boldly go where no man has gone before”: how iconic is the Star Trek split infinitive?

Semantics of the Constructions With Split Infinitive

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