Module 11 development of the syntactic system in middle english and early new english

Outline

1. General remarks

2. The sentence structure

3. Word order

4. The phrase: noun, adjective and verb patterns

5. Secondary predication constructions

6. Conclusions

1. General remarks

The most obvious difference between OE syntax and the syntax of the ME and NE periods is that the word order became more strict and the use of prepositions more extensive. The growth of the literary forms of the language, the literary flourishing in Late ME and especially in the age of the Renaissance, the differentiation of literary styles and the efforts made by 18^th c. scholars to develop a logical, elegant style – all contributed to the improvement and perfection of English syntax.

The structure of the sentence and the word phrase became more complicated; on the other hand, it became more stabilized and standard.

2. The sentence structure

The structure of the sentence in many respects became more orderly and more uniform. Yet, at the same time it grew complicated as the sentence came to include more extended and complex parts: longer attributive groups, diverse subjects and predicates and numerous predicative constructions.

In OE the ties between the words in the sentence were shown mainly by means of government and agreement, with the help of numerous inflections. In ME and Early NE, with most of the inflectional endings levelled or dropped, the relationships between the parts of the sentence were shown by their relative position, environment, semantic ties, prepositions, and by a more rigid syntactic structure.

Every place in the sentence came to be associated with a certain syntactic function: in the new structure of the sentence syntactic functions were determined by position, and no position could remain vacant. This is evidenced by the obligatory use of the subject. For instance, in OE the formal subject, expressed by the pronoun hit, was used only in some types of impersonal sentences, namely those indicating weather phenomena. In ME the subject it occurs in all types of impersonal sentences, e.g. For it reynyd almost euery other day (Brut) ‘For it rained almost every other day’. Of his falshede it dulleth me to ryme. (Chaucer) ‘Of his falsehood it annoys me to speak.’

The use of the verb-substitute do, as well as the use of auxiliary and modal verbs without the notional verb proves that the position of the predicate could not be vacant either. This can be seen in the following examples with the notional verb left out, e.g.: Helpeth me now, as I dyde yow whileer. (Chaucer) ‘Help me now as I did (help) you formerly.’

As compared with OE the subject of the sentence became more varied in meaning, as well as in the forms of expression. Due to the growth of new verb forms the subject could now denote not only the agent or a thing characterized by a certain property, but also the recipient of an action or the “passive” subject of a state and feeling.

The predicate had likewise become more varied in form and meaning. The simple predicate could be expressed by compound forms which indicated multiple new meanings and subtle semantic distinctions, lacking in OE verb forms or expressed formerly by contextual means.

Though some types of compound predicates had turned into simple – as the verb phrases developed into analytical forms – the compound predicate could express a variety of meanings with the help of numerous new link-verbs and more extended and complex predicatives. In ME link-verbs remarkably increased in number. In a way the new link-verbs made up for the loss of some OE prefixes and compound verbs which denoted the growth of a quality or the transition into a state, e.g.

And tho it drewe nere Cristenesse (Brut) ‘And though it drew near Christmas’, ‘Christmas was coming’

as me best thinketh (Chaucer) ‘as it seems best to me’

The rose looks fair… (Shakespeare)

The structure of the predicative became more complex: it could include various prepositional phrases and diverse attributes, e.g. Of twenty yeer of age he was, I gesse. (Chaucer) ‘He was twenty years old, I guess.’

One of the peculiar features of the OE sentence was multiple negation. The use of several negative particles and forms continued throughout the ME period, e.g. Ne bring nat every man into thyn hous. (Chaucer) ‘Don’t bring every man into your house.’

In Shakespeare’s time the use of negations is variable: the sentence could contain one or more means of expressing negation. Cf.: So it is not with me as with that Muse… Good madam, hear me speak, and let no quarrel, nor no brawl to come… (Shakespeare)

Gradually multiple negation went out of use. In the age of Correctness – the normalizing 18^th c. – when the scholars tried to improve and perfect the language, multiple negation was banned as illogical. These logical restrictions on the use of negations became a strict rule of English grammar.