The Linguistic Cycle in the Early History of English, and clauses in particular

1
The Linguistic Cycle in the Early History of
English, and clauses in particular

• Elly van Gelderen
• ellyvangelderen_at_asu.edu
• 14 April 2007, GLAC 13
• www.public.asu.edu/gelderen/GLAC13

2
Aims

• To present a description of some recurring
  changes in the history of English
• To understand some of these cycles within a
  Minimalist Program
• Outline
• Examples of Cycles
• Economy Principles
• Recycling in Clause Markers

3
Cycles

• Negative (neg)
• neg adverb gt neg particle gt (neg particle) neg
  indefinite/adverb gt neg particle
• Definiteness
• demonstrative gt definite article gt
  Case/non-generic gt class marker
• Agreement
• emphatic gt pronoun gt agreement
• Auxiliary
• A/P gt M gt T gt C
• Clausal
• pronoun gt complementizer
• PP/Adv gt Topic gt C

4
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 gt clitic gt affix gt 0
• (from Hopper Traugott 2003)

5
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 acquisition
• A string is a word with lexical content.
• UG Principles guidance to the child (in
  acquisition) and the adult (in the derivation)

6
The Linguistic Cycle, e.g. the Negative Cycle

• HPP
• XP
• Spec X'
• na wiht X YP
• not gt nt
• Late Merge

7
Negative Cycle

• (1)a. no/ne eOE
• b. ne (na wiht/not) OE, especially Southern
• c. (ne) not ME, especially Southern
• d. not LME
• -not/-nt 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).

8
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

9
DP Cycle

• a. DP b. DP
• dem D' ? D' (HPP)
• D NP D NP
• art N
• ? ?
• c. DP
• D'
• D NP
• N
• renewal

10
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

11
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?

12
Feature Economy uF as perfection

• Economy of Features
• Minimize the interpretable features in the
  derivation
• a. Spec gt Head gt zero
• b. semantic gt interpretable gt uninterpretable (p
  hi on N) (uphi on T)

13
From V gt AUX

• VP TP
• V DP gt T VP
• wolde uCASE would V DP
• ACC phi uphi
• uphi

14
From P gt C

• PP CP
• P DP gt C TP
• after after
• u-phi 3S (u-phi)
• ACC uACC
• In English, no phi, but Germanic C-agreement.

15
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.

16
New specifiers

• - Emphatic pronouns
• - Demonstrative pronouns
• - VP adverbs
• New heads
• - Verbs
• - Adverbs

17
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').

18
Clause markers

• 1. WH gt Yes/No marker
• 2. Relative gt Conjunction
• 3. Preposition gt Complementizer/Conjunction
• 4. VP adverb gt Clausal adverb

19
Creation of new Clause boundaries
20
Whether WH-pronoun to Yes/No and C

• (1)Hwæðer þara twe3ra dyde þæs fæder willan?
  Who of-the two did the fathers will WS Gosp.
  Matt. xxi. 31
• (2)Hwæðer wæs iohannes fulluht þe of heofonum þe
  of mannum
• Whether 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).

21
Same is true in other languages

• (1) kya ram jata he Hindi/Urdu
• Q Ram go-3S is
• Is Ram going'?
• (2) Ap kya keruge Hindi/Urdu
• you what do-FUT.2P
• What are you going to do'.

22
Account

• CP CP
• whether C ? whether C LMP
• C C
• Or Feature Grammaticalization
• whether gt whether
• i-wh u-wh

23
English relatives in OE and ME

• OE se þe gt þe or þæt
• (1) scyldwiga se þe wel þenceþ
• shield-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)

24
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 ...

25
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).

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Preposition gt Complementizer/ConjunctionAfter
from P gt 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).

27

• (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 lt PP 900 (Chronicle A) present
• PP (that) 950 (Lindisfarne) - 1600 (OED 1587)
• P that 1220 (Lambeth) - 1600 (OED 1611)
• C 1360 (Wycliff) - present

28
Percentages of demonstrative objects (Dem) with
after and fronting

• Beowulf Chronicle Chronicle A
• lt892 gt892
• Dem 2/653 2/26 8 17/22 77
• Fronting 2/653 7/26 27 12/22 55

29
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).

30

• Beowulf PC
• Dem objects/
• forðan 16/54 30 67/150 45
• Fronting 18/54 33 80/150 53
• _________________________________
• for(ðan) as PP 54 150
• C 0 16
• _________________________________
• Total for(ðan) 54 166

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From lexical to grammatical category
32
From P gt C

• PP CP
• P DP gt C TP
• after after
• u-phi 3S (u-phi)
• ACC uACC

33
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)

34
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 --

35
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)

36
VP adverb gt 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)

37
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 razbiram
• Frankly spoken nothing not
  understand-1S.PRES
• 'Frankly, I don't understand anything.' (Mariana
  Bahtchevanova p.c.)
• (3) Shihua shuo zhezi shi ni zuo le
• Honest 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 moeilijk
• honestly, I have it now very difficult
• huizekeytsman.telenet.be/groen20plus20senioren/
  WVDStappenAsbest.pdf

38
Late Merge or Features

• Late Merge cases that can be seen as Feature
  Economy whether, who, after, for, etc
• VP gt CP adverbial are harder to see in terms of
  features.

39
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)

40
Data

• Old English Dictionary Texts (all of OE)
• Helsinki Corpus (OE through eModE)
• Oxford English Dictionary
• http//dictionary.oed.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/ent
  rance.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