1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910154329803321

Autore

Petré Peter

Titolo

Constructions and environments : copular, passive, and related constructions in Old and Middle English

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : Oxford University Press, , 2014

ISBN

0-19-937341-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)

Collana

Oxford Studies in the History of English. Constructions and environments

Disciplina

427/.02

Soggetti

Grammar, Comparative and general - Copula - Middle English, 1100-1500

Grammar, Comparative and general - Coordinate constructions - Old English, ca. 450-1100

English language - Grammar

Construction grammar

Languages & Literatures

Philology & Linguistics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Sommario/riassunto

This monograph presents the first comprehensive diachronic account of copular and passive verb constructions in Old and Middle English. Loss of the high-frequency verb weorðan 'become' is explained as a result of changing word order in narrative during Middle English. The merger of is 'is' and bið 'shall be, is generally' into a single suppletive verb is related to the development of a general analytic future shall benally, the co-occurrence of multiple changes led to become and wax crossing a threshold of similarity with existing copulas, from which they analogically adopted full productivity.