Grammaticalising the perfect and explanations of language change : have- and be-perfects in the history and structure of English and Bulgarian

In this book, Bozhil Hristov investigates the verbal systems of two distantly related Indo-European languages, highlighting similarities as well as crucial differences between them and seeking a unified approach. Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations Transliteration from Cyrillic Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Theoretical Preliminaries 2.1 Evolutionary and Functionalist Models of Language Change 2.1.1 Evolutionary Linguistics 2.1.2 The Concepts of Function and Functional Load, the Invisible Hand and Teleology 2.1.3 Problems and Challenges 2.1.4 Interim Summary and Preview 2.2 Grammaticalisation and Reanalysis 2.2.1 Grammaticalisation 2.2.2 Reanalysis in the Context of Grammaticalisation 2.2.3 The Role of Frequency and Contact in Grammaticalisation 2.3 Other Preliminaries 2.3.1 Progress 2.3.2 Randomness 2.3.3 Justification 2.4 Conclusion Chapter 3 The Story of the English Perfect 3.1 Perfect with Have 3.1.1 Terminological and Etymological Preliminaries 3.1.2 The Have-Perfect in Old English: Morphological Marking, Ambiguity, and Reanalysis 3.1.3 Perfect with OE agan 3.1.4 Increased Use and Greater Degree of Grammaticalisation of the Have-Perfect in Middle and Modern English 3.2 The Origin and Status of the Be-Perfect 3.3 Competition between the Be- and the Have-Perfect 3.4 Traditional Accounts for the Decline of the Be-Perfect 3.4.1 Frequency 3.4.2 Functional Load and Ambiguity 3.4.3 Functional Load and the Disappearance of OE weorðan 3.4.4 Ambiguity in the Contexts of Coordination and Contraction 3.5 Problems for the Traditional View 3.5.1 Agreement and Perfect Readings 3.5.2 Proliferation of the Functions of Have 3.5.2.1 Passive Have 3.5.2.2 Causative Have 3.5.2.3 Modal Have 3.5.2.4 Summary 3.5.3 Development of Alternative Passives and Perfects 3.5.3.1 Passives with Get 3.5.3.2 Perfects and Causatives with Get 3.5.3.3 New Be-Perfects 3.5.4 Corpus Data and Statistics 3.5.5 Alternative Explanations 3.6 Conclusion Chapter 4 The Development of the Perfect in a Selection of Old English Texts 4.1 Objectives of the Study 4.2 Issues in Corpus Work and Compilation 4.3 Choice of Text Samples and Approach 4.4 The Perfect in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles 4.4.1 Introduction and Background 4.4.2 Analysis and Discussion 4.4.2.1 Manuscript A: Eighth Century 4.4.2.2 Some Notes on OE Agreement 4.4.2.3 Manuscript A: Ninth Century 4.4.2.4 Manuscript A: Late Ninth and Early Tenth Centuries 4.4.2.5 Manuscript E (Peterborough Chronicle): Late Tenth and Early Eleventh Centuries 4.5 Conclusion Chapter 5 Further Development of the Perfect Based on a Selection of Texts – from Middle into Modern English 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The Fourteenth Century: Chaucer 5.2.1 Introduction and Background 5.2.2 Analysis and Discussion 5.3 The Fifteenth Century: The Second Shepherds’ Play (Secunda Pastorum) 5.3.1 Introduction and Background 5.3.2 Analysis and Discussion 5.4 The Sixteenth Century: Shakespeare 5.4.1 Introduction and Background 5.4.2 Analysis and Discussion 5.5 The Seventeenth Century: Restoration Comedy 5.5.1 Introduction and Background 5.5.2 Analysis and Discussion 5.6 Late Middle English Correspondence: the Paston Letters 5.6.1 Introduction and Background 5.6.2 Analysis and Discussion 5.6.2.1 William Paston I 5.6.2.2 William Paston III 5.7 Seventeenth-Century Correspondence: Samuel Pepys 5.7.1 Introduction and Background 5.7.2 Analysis and Discussion 5.8 Epilogue 5.9 Conclusion Chapter 6 How Things Could Have Been: a Glance at German 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Analysis and Discussion of Eighteenth-Century German Drama 6.3 Conclusion Chapter 7 The Perfect in the History and Structure of Bulgarian 7.1 Overview of the Bulgarian Temporal and Aspectual System 7.2 The Bulgarian Be-Perfect 7.3 Have as an Auxiliary in the History of Bulgarian 7.4 The Have-Perfect in Bulgarian 7.4.1 Formation 7.4.2 Agreement 7.4.3 Status of the Have-Perfect 7.4.4 Functional Load as an Explanation for the Rise of the Have-Perfect in Bulgarian 7.4.5 The Have-Perfect in Macedonian 7.4.6 Agreement and Grammaticalisation Revisited 7.4.7 Mixing of Active and Passive Participles and Language Contact as Explanations for the Have-Perfect in Bulgarian and Macedonian 7.5 Conclusion Chapter 8 The Development of the Perfect in a Selection of Middle and Modern Bulgarian Texts 8.1 Introduction 8.2 The Tale of Troy (14th c.) 8.2.1 Introduction and Background 8.2.2 Analysis and Discussion 8.3 Damascenus Troianensis (17th c.) 8.3.1 Introduction and Background 8.3.2 Analysis and Discussion 8.4 A Slavonic-Bulgarian History (1762) 8.4.1 Introduction and Background 8.4.2 Analysis and Discussion 8.5 Epilogue: the Have-Perfect in Modern Bulgarian 8.6 Conclusion Chapter 9 Conclusions References Author Index (Modern Authors) Language Index Subject Index Index of Sources "In Grammaticalising the Perfect and Explanations of Language Change: Have- and Be-Perfects in the History and Structure of English and Bulgarian, Bozhil Hristov investigates key aspects of the verbal systems of two distantly related Indo-European languages, highlighting similarities as well as crucial differences between them and seeking a unified approach. The book reassesses some long-held notions and functionalist assumptions and shines the spotlight on certain areas that have received less attention, such as the role of ambiguity in actual usage. The detailed analysis of rich, contextualised material from a selection of texts dovetails with large-scale corpus studies, complementing their findings and enhancing our understanding of the phenomena. This monograph thus presents a happy marriage of traditional philological techniques and recent advances in theoretical linguistics and corpus work"-- Provided by publisher