The Linguistic Cycle in the Early History of English,

and clauses in particular

Elly van Gelderen

ellyvangelderen@asu.edu

14 April 2007, GLAC 13www.public.asu.edu/~gelderen/GLAC13

AimsTo present a description of some recurring

changes in the history of English

To understand some of these cycles within a Minimalist Program

OutlineExamples of Cycles

Economy Principles

Recycling in Clause Markers

CyclesNegative (neg):

neg adverb > neg particle > (neg particle) neg indefinite/adverb > neg particle

Definitenessdemonstrative > definite article > Case/non-generic > class marker

Agreementemphatic > pronoun > agreement

AuxiliaryA/P > M > T > C

Clausalpronoun > complementizer PP/Adv > Topic > C

Background on the Cycle/Spiral

• de Condillac, Tooke, A.W. von Schlegel, von Humboldt, Bopp

• more recently: Tauli 1958 and Hodge 1970

• Grammaticalization literature:word > clitic > affix > 0

(from Hopper & Traugott 2003)

Economy Principles, e.g. van Gelderen 2004

Head Preference Principle (HPP):Be a head, rather than a phrase.Late Merge Principle (LMP): Merge as late as possible.Specifier Incorporation (SIP)Be incorporated if you are a phrase.Null hypothesis of language acquisitionA string is a word with lexical content.

UG Principles: guidance to the child (in acquisition) and the adult (in the derivation)

The Linguistic Cycle, e.g. the Negative Cycle

HPP

XP

Spec X'

na wiht X YP

not > n’t …

Late Merge

Negative Cycle

(1)a. no/ne eOEb. ne (na wiht/not) OE, especially Southernc. (ne) not ME, especially Southernd. not LME-not/-n’t LME

Old English – South:(2)Næron 3e noht æmetti3e, ðeah ge wel ne dyden

not-were you not unoccupied. though you well not did`You were not unoccupied, though you did not do well'. (Pastoral Care, Cotton, Sweet, 206).

Negative Concord Cycle

(1) ænig monn ne mæg tuæm hlaferdum hera

any man not may two lords serve (Northumbrian c950)

(2) ne mæg ænig twæm godum ðeowigan

not may any two gods serve (Mercian C10)

(3) Ne mæg nan man twam hlafordum þeowian not may no man two lords serve (Corpus c1000)

(4) Ne mayg nam man twam hlaferden þeowian not may no man two lords serve (Hatton c1150)

Matthew 6.24

DP Cycle

a. DP b. DPdem D' D' (=HPP)

D NP D NPart N

c. DP

D'D NP^ N

renewal

Subject Cycle

TP TP (=HPP)DP T’ DP T’pron T VP pron pron-T VP

Urdu/Hindi, Japanese Coll French, CVC

TP[DP] T’ (=LMP)[pron] pron-T VP

Navajo, Spanish, Arabic

Late Merge?

• Chomsky (1995: 348): Late Merge accounts for the presence of expletive subjects over raising; the principle is used by Fox (2002) to account for Antecedent Contained Deletion and by Bhatt & Pancheva (2004) for the scope of degree clauses. Both Roberts & Roussou (2003) and van Gelderen (2004) use it to account for grammaticalization.

• Chomsky post 1995: IM = EM, no difference• It still seems salvageable but is it better to see

things in terms of features?

Feature Economy: uF as perfection

Economy of Features

Minimize the interpretable features in the derivation

a.Spec > Head > zero

b.semantic > interpretable > uninterpretable(phi on N) (uphi on T)

From V > AUX

VP TP

V DP > T VP

wolde [uCASE] would V DP[ACC] [phi] [uphi]

[uphi]

From P > C

PP CP

P DP > CTP

after after[u-phi] [3S] (u-phi)

[ACC] [uACC]

In English, no phi, but Germanic C-agreement.

Renewal at the end of the cycle

• Newmeyer 2006 notes that some grammaticalizations from noun/verb to affix can take as little as 1000 years, and wonders how there can be anything left to grammaticalize if this is the right scenario.

• Late Merge (Feature Economy), however, provides an answer for what the source of the replenishments are, namely lexical elements from lower in the tree. There are also borrowings and creative inventions through SIP.

• The Economy Principles do not provide a reason why certain languages/societies are more conservative than others, e.g. why the split infinitive has encountered such opposition by prescriptivists, and has kept to from grammaticalizing more.

New specifiers:

- Emphatic pronouns

- Demonstrative pronouns

- VP adverbs

New heads- Verbs

- Adverbs

Internal and External Change

• Jespersen: "the correct inference can only be that the tendency towards ease may be at work in some cases, though not in all, because there are other forces which may at times neutralize it or prove stronger than it".

• Von der Gabelentz (1891/1901: 251/256): "Deutlichkeit" ('clarity') and "Bequemlichkeit" ('comfort').

Clause markers1. WH > Yes/No marker

2. Relative > Conjunction

3. Preposition > Complementizer/Conjunction

4. VP adverb > Clausal adverb

Creation of new Clause boundaries

Whether: WH-pronoun to Yes/No and C(1)Hwæðer þara twe3ra dyde þæs fæder willan?

Who of-the two did the father’s will WS Gosp. Matt. xxi. 31

(2)Hwæðer wæs iohannes fulluht þe of heofonum þe of mannumWhether was John's baptism that of heavens or of man`Was the baptism of John done by heaven or by man' (West Saxon Gospel, Corpus, Matthew 21.25).

(3)þær se snotera bad hwæþer him alwalda æfre wille ... wyrpe gefremman. there the wise waited whether him almighty ever would ... change accomplish`There the wise one waited whether the almighty would ever grant him change' (Beowulf 1313-5).

Same is true in other languages

(1) kya ram jata he Hindi/Urdu

Q Ram go-3S is

`Is Ram going'?

(2) Ap kya kerũge Hindi/Urdu

you what do-FUT.2P

`What are you going to do'.

Account

CP CP

whether C’ whether C’ =LMP

C … C

Or Feature Grammaticalization:

whether > whether

[i-wh] [u-wh]

English relatives in OE and ME

OE se þe > þe or þæt:

(1) scyldwiga … se þe wel þenceþshield-fighter … the that well thinks/judges

`(Every sharp) shield fighter, who judges well' (Beowulf 287-9).

(2) as theo the duden with Godd al thet ha walden.

`as those who did with God all that they wanted’.

(Ancr. R. III 492)

Wh-cycle

a. CP b. CP þat C' (=SIP) C’ (=HPP)

se/þam C TP C TP (þe/þat) that

c. CP

wh- C'C TP

renewal that ...

New relatives

(1) a laide de Dieu notre Seigneur, Qui vous douit bonne vie et longue.`With the help of God, our Lord, who gives us a good and long life' (Bekynton, from

Rydén, p. 131).

(2) be the grace of God, who haue yow in kepyng

`by the grace of God, who keeps you' (Paston Letters 410).

Preposition > Complementizer/ConjunctionAfter from P > C

(1) Ercenberht rixode æfter his fæder `E. ruled after/following his father' (Chronicle A, anno 640)

(2)a. [æfter him] Stephanus feng to rice. `after him (i.e. Pope Leo), Stephanus became pope'.(Chronicle A, anno 814 [816])

b. [æfter þissum gefeohte] cuom micel sumorlida. `after this fight, there came a large summer-force' (Chronicle A, anno 871)

(3)a. [Æfter þysan] com Thomas to Cantwarebyri `After this, Thomas came to Canterbury'. (Chronicle A, anno 1070)

b. [æfter ðon] uutedlice ic eftariso ic forlioro vel iowih in galileam

`after that, surely I arise-again I come before you in Galilee' (Lindisfarne Gospel, Matthew 26. 32).

(1)After that the king hadde brent the volum (Wyclyf 1382, taken over in Coverdale 1535 and KJV 1611, from the OED).

(2)After that Raleigh had Intelligence that Cobham had accused him, he endeavour'd to have Intelligence from Cobham (HC, EModE2)

(3) Aftir he hadde take þe hooli Goost (c1360 Wyclif De Dot. Eccl. 22).

(4) After thei han slayn them (1366 Mandeville174).

Four stages:PP < PP 900 (Chronicle A) – presentPP (that) 950 (Lindisfarne) - 1600 (OED 1587)P that 1220 (Lambeth) - 1600 (OED 1611)C 1360 (Wycliff) - present

Percentages of demonstrative objects (Dem) with after and fronting

Beowulf Chronicle Chronicle A

<892 >892

Dem 2/65=3% 2/26= 8% 17/22= 77%

Fronting 2/65=3% 7/26= 27% 12/22= 55%

For : P to C

(1) ouþer for untrumnisse ouþer for lauerdes neode ouþer for haueleste ouþer for hwilces cinnes oþer neod he ne muge þær cumon

`either from infirmity or from his lord's need or from lack of means or from need of any other kind he cannot go there' (Peterborough Chronicle, anno 675).

(2) forþam Trumbriht wæs adon of þam biscopdome`because T had been deprived of his biscopric' (Peterborough Chronicle, anno 685).

Beowulf PCDem objects/

forðan 16/54 =30% 67/150 =45%Fronting 18/54 =33% 80/150 =53%

_________________________________for(ðan) as PP 54 150C 0 16

_________________________________Total for(ðan) 54 166

From lexical to grammatical category

From P > C

PP CP

P DP > CTP

after after[u-phi] [3S] (u-phi)

[ACC] [uACC]

OE Clausal adverbs

(1)Witodlice [æfter þam þe ic of deaþe arise] ic cume to eow on galilee

Surely after that that I of death arise I come to you in Galilee (West Saxon Gospels, Matthew 26.32)

(2)Ne deþ witodlice nan man niwes claðes scyp on eald reaf.

Not does surely no man new cloth piece on old garment (West Saxon Gospels, Matthew 9.16)

Decline

OE I-II OE III OE IV ME1 ME2

witodlice 2 84 20 9 --

wærlice 5 10 5 5 --

soþlice 72 205 19 37 2

sicerlice -- -- -- 5 6

wiselice -- 6 3 9 --

New CP adverbs

(1) You wrote so probably that hyt put me in a feare of daungerys to come. (OED, 1535)

(2) A source, from whence those waters of bitterness..have..probably flowed (OED, 1647)

(3) for, tho very probably I shall not have occasion for them, yet it wou'd be very vexatious to want them shou'd ther be occasion. (1690, Letter by Charles Hatton, HC)

VP adverb > Clausal adverb

(1) and he shulde goo frank and quite. (OED 1475)

(2) All other lawfull thinges..to do as liberally, frankelie, lawfully..as if they..had been naturally borne within this realme (OED, 1541)

(3) Therefore [with franke and with vncurbed plainnesse], Tell vs the {Dolphins} minde. (Henry V)

(4) She... Can you wonder that I'm disinclined for amusement? He.Frankly, I do (OED 1888)

Dutch, Bulgarian, Chinese(1)Eerlijk gezegd voel ik daar niet zoveel voor

honestly spoken feel I there not so-much about`Honestly, I don't quite feel like doing that'.

(2)Chestno kazano nishto ne razbiramFrankly spoken nothing not understand-1S.PRES 'Frankly, I don't understand anything.' (Mariana Bahtchevanova p.c.)

(3)Shihua shuo zhezi shi ni zuo leHonest say this-time be you wrong LE`Honestly this time you were wrong'. (Ji 2006)

(4)nou eerlijk ik vind dit een mooi machien now honestly I think this a beautiful engine(www.motor-europe.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?t=899)

(5)Eerlijk, ik heb het nu zeer moeilijkhonestly, I have it now very difficult

huizekeytsman.telenet.be/groen%20plus%20senioren/WVDStappenAsbest.pdf

Late Merge or Features

• Late Merge cases that can be seen as Feature Economy: whether, who, after, for, etc

• VP > CP adverbial are harder to see in terms of features.

Conclusions

• description of some changes as Economy– Negative, Demonstrative, (Agreement), and

Perfective Cycles– Clause marking through

• wh• P• VP adverb

• Reason: semantic features are reanalyzed as grammatical

• internal (grammaticalization) vs external (renewal)

Data

• Old English Dictionary Texts (all of OE)

• Helsinki Corpus (OE through eModE)

• Oxford English Dictionary– http://dictionary.oed.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/entrance.dtl

• Oxford Text Archive electronic-texts etc– http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/

• Modern corpora: British National Corpus, International Corpus of English– http://sara.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/lookup.html