1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910454807903321

Autore

Fischer Olga

Titolo

The syntax of early English / / Olga Fischer [and others] [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2000

ISBN

1-107-11292-3

0-511-15105-5

1-280-41697-1

0-511-30317-3

0-511-61231-1

0-511-05334-7

0-511-17242-7

0-521-55410-1

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xviii, 341 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Cambridge syntax guides

Disciplina

429/.5

Soggetti

English language - Syntax

English language - Old English, ca. 450-1100 - Syntax

English language - Middle English, 1100-1500 - Syntax

English language - Grammar, Historical

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 322-335) and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Language change and grammar change -- 2. An outline of Old English syntax -- 3. An outline of Middle English syntax -- 4. The Verb-Second constraint and its loss -- 5. The loss of object-verb word order -- 6. Verb-particles in Old and Middle English -- 7. Changes in infinitival constructions -- 8. The history of the 'easy-to-please' construction -- 9. Grammaticalization and grammar change.

Sommario/riassunto

This book is a guide to the development of English syntax between the Old and Modern periods. Beginning with an overview of the main features of early English syntax, it gives a unified account of the grammatical changes occurring in the language during this period. Written by four leading experts in English historical syntax, the book demonstrates the ways in which syntactic change takes place and how



these changes can be explained in terms of grammatical theory and language acquisition. The authors draw upon a wealth of empirical data and through a series of well-selected case studies they cover a wide range of topics including changes in word order, infinitival constructions and grammaticalization processes. This invaluable introduction to the significant changes in early English syntax will appeal to students and researchers in historical linguistics, theoretical linguistics and the history of English.