Diachronic Grammar: History of Old and Middle English Subjectless Constructions (Linguistische Arbeiten)

Over the past few decades, the book series Linguistische Arbeiten [Linguistic Studies], comprising over 500 volumes, has made a significant contribution to the development of linguistic theory both in Germany and internationally. The series will continue to deliver new impulses for research and maintain the central insight of linguistics that progress can only be made in acquiring new knowledge about human languages both synchronically and diachronically by closely combining empirical and theoretical analyses. To this end, we invite submission of high-quality linguistic studies from all the central areas of general linguistics and the linguistics of individual languages which address topical questions, discuss new data and advance the development of linguistic theory. Abbreviations PART ONE. The grammar of Old English subjectless predicates Introduction 1. Aim 2. Subjectless constructions 2.1 Previous research 2.2 The data base for the present study 2.3 The theoretical status of the data base 3. The methodological and theoretical framework 3.1 A first grammatical characterization 3.2 Goals, methods, and data 3.3 An outline of the descriptive framework 3.4 List of texts CHAPTER I. Subjectless constructions with sentential complements 1. The OE paradigm 2. The basic form of the construction 2.1 Word order 2.2 Constituent structure 3. Grammatical relations and semantic roles 3.1 The syntactic functions of the animate-NP 3.2 Semantic role properties of the animate-NP 4. The OE RUE class 4.1 Semantic NP roles associated with RUE verbs 4.2 Syntactic occurrence properties of RUE verbs 4.3 Operational tests and paraphrase evidence for semantic roles 5. The OE PLEASE/DESIRE class 5.1 Semantic NP roles associated with PLEASE/DESIRE verbs 5.2 Syntactic occurrence properties of PLEASE/DESIRE verbs 6. The OE BEHOVE class 6.1 Semantic NP roles associated with BEHOVE verbs 6.2 Syntactic occurrence properties of BEHOVE verbs 7. The OE HAPPEN class 7.1 Semantic NP roles associated with HAPPEN verbs 7.2 Syntactic occurrence properties of HAPPEN verbs 8. The OE SEEM class 8.1 Semantic NP roles associated with þyncan 8.2 Syntactic occurrence properties of þyncan 9. Summary 9.1 The complete occurrence paradigm 9.2 The functional aspect 10. Towards an integrated basic structure 11. A dynamic view of OE subjectless grammar CHAPTER II. Subjectless constructions with nominal complements 1. Preliminary remarks 2. Type N 2.1 The semantic framework 2.2 The syntax of type N 2.3 The occurrence of subjectless predicates in type N 2.4 A synopsis of type N 3. Two variant constructions entered by subjectless predicates 3.1 Variant type I 3.2 Variant type II 4. Summary PART TWO. The development of subjectless grammar Introduction 1. Aim 2. Theoretical aspects CHAPTER III. The history of subjectless predicates until the Early Modern English period 1. The RUE class 1.1 RUE verbs in construction with sentential complements 1.2 RUE verbs in construction with nominal complements 2. The PLEASE/DESIRE class 2.1 liken 2.2 listen (OE lystan) 2.3 longen (OE langian) 3. The BEHOVE class 3.1 BEHOVE verbs in construction with sentential complements 3.2 BEHOVE verbs in construction with nominal complements 4. The HAPPEN class 4.1 HAPPEN verbs in construction with sentential complements 4.2 HAPPEN verbs in construction with nominal complements 5. The SEEM class 6. Summary CHAPTER IV. Linguistic change within a restrictive framework 1. Introduction 2. The 12th century 3. The 13th century 4. The 14th century 5. The 15th century 6. The 16th century Appendix: Translation of OE examples References Index The book series Linguistische Arbeiten (LA) publishes high-quality work in linguistics that addresses current issues in synchrony and diachrony, theoretically or empirically oriented. Willy Elmer. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 167-174.