Details

Subject(s)

• English language—History [Browse]
• English language—Old English, ca. 450-1100—Verb [Browse]
• English language—Middle English, 1100-1500—Verb [Browse]
• Grammar, Comparative and general—Morphology [Browse]
• Language obsolescence [Browse]
• Corpora (Linguistics) [Browse]
• Historical linguistics [Browse]

Series

• Studies in English medieval language and literature ; Bd. 51. [More in this series]
• Studies in English Medieval Language and Literature ; vol. 51

Summary note

Based on four historical corpora, the book is a comprehensive study of the demise of five preterite-present verbs in English. It offers a detailed description of their distribution in Old and Middle English. The subsequent comparison of the forms and uses of the preterite-presents in the two periods allows the author to suggest the reasons for their elimination from the language. The discussion focuses on phonological and morphological changes the verbs underwent as well as on the syntactic structures they appeared in. Yet, the study does not ignore factors of extra-linguistic nature such as genres in which the verbs were frequently found and the potential rivalry with other items of native and foreign origin.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN

• 9783631729502 ((hardcover))
• 3631729502 ((hardcover))

LCCN

2017026535

OCLC

1003207314

Statement on language in description

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