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The syntax and semantics of the temporal anaphor “then” in Old and Middle English
... More precisely, both patterns are used to indicate temporal succession of events and [1] This is the cognate of OE þa which also regularly triggers subject-verb inversion in OE (cf. Kemenade 1987;Fuss 2003;Fuss & Trips 2009). progress in narration. ...
This volume presents papers from the International Workshop on Indo-European Syntax held at the University of Georgia in Athens,Georgia in May 2009. The workshop was a cooperative effort between the Pragmatic Resources in Old Indo-European Languages (PROIEL) project at the University of Oslo and the University of Georgia. The papers in the volume study the interaction between syntax and discourse structure in various old Indo-European languages, in most cases with an explicitly contrastive focus.
... More precisely, both patterns are used to indicate temporal succession of events and [1] This is the cognate of OE þa which also regularly triggers subject-verb inversion in OE (cf. Kemenade 1987;Fuss 2003;Fuss & Trips 2009). progress in narration. ...
In Old High German, verb-initial matrix declarative clauses display a variety of functions which are broadly related to discourse structure. However, the tho-V2 construction also correlates with the factors triggering verb-initial placement. The paper shows that the preference of the one pattern over the other cannot be explained in terms of a single, straightforward criterion. Rather, several factors influencing the choice process are recognized in the literature. The paper tests the effect of these factors by using methods and tools developed to capture variability in sociolinguistics.
This book examines second position effects in syntax, the V2 order in Germanic and second position cliticization in Slavic. These are unique syntactic mechanisms, which seem to be constrained only by the requirement that an element, a finite verb or a clitic, occurs after a category-neutral, clause-initial constituent, with few restrictions as to what this constituent might be. The main aim of this work is to establish a parametric property that triggers V2 and second position clitic placement.
Both effects were hypothesized to be related phenomena already in their first analysis due to Wackernagel (1892), but so far they have not been examined in a comparative way in detail, especially in a diachronic perspective. This work shows that neither of them is a uniform syntactic operation, and it is necessary distinguish between Force-related and generalized second position placement. What unifies them is Tense dependency: V2 structures are restricted to tensed environments, whereas the development of second position cliticization in Slavic is shown to have been contemporaneous with the decline of morphological tense marking on the verb, analyzed as the loss of TP.
The book can be ordered from the publisher: http://ebooki.wuwr.pl/category/628 (e-book, pdf format); http://www.wuwr.com.pl/products/1855.html (paper version)
This study explores the typological regularity of semantic change in grammaticalization and lexicalization in Chinese and Germanic languages. Earlier studies, mostly done on Indo-European languages (e.g. Heine et al. 1991, Traugott & Dasher 2002), suggest that semantic change follows the cline A>A, B>B. Based on numerous case studies of semantic change in grammaticalization and lexicalization in Chinese, this paper provides evidence that semantic change in Chinese follows a somewhat different pattern: A>A, B>A,B,C. The key factors responsible for this, as it will be argued, are twofold: Chinese grammar is typologically structured without inflections and Chinese words have become increasingly disyllabic. Indo-European languages, which exhibit quite different grammatical and morphological structures and diachronic evolution, therefore show a different tendency.
The paper presents a theory of the semantics und the discourse effects of German temporal dann in its sentence-initial and its sentence-internal position. The theory provides an algorithmic reconstruction of these differences on the basis of a single specification of the semantics of dann, which interacts with other semantic elements at sentence and discourse level in ways that vary with its position. The requirement which dann imposes is that the time it denotes is separated from the time which the narration had reached by a change in some contextually salient property of a topical discourse referent. What is available as contextually salient property depends on whether dann occurs at the beginning of a sentence or in the middle of it. Integration of this insight into a general account of semantic processing entails a shift of perspective in current semantic theory. Semantic processing must now be treated as incremental not only sentence by sentence but word by word. The paper also shows how the requirements which dann imposes on context in the different positions it can occupy interact with interpretation principles involving causation, initiated action and planned action. In this connection we introduce the distinction between ,continuous' and ,discontinuous' descriptions of event sequence.
In this article I present an outline of a theory of phrase structure that incorporates a series of functional projections forming the basis for the interpretation of tense. Most previous theories of tense have relied on an idiosyncratic set of semantic rules to account for the distribution and interpretation of particular tense forms. The theory that I develop here seeks to derive most of the semantics of tense from independently motivated principles of syntactic theory. To this end, I introduce a minimum of new theoretical machinery, though a more complex syntactic structure is required, involving an additional functional projection dominating the verb phrase and various phonetically null elements. In this respect, the theory is in the spirit of work in the Principles and Parameters framework associated with the interpretation of argument structure, thematic roles, and pronominal reference.
When one form replaces another over time in a changing language, the new form does not occur equally often in all linguistic contexts. Linguists have generally assumed that those contexts in which the new form is more common are those in which the form first appears and in which it advances most rapidly. However, evidence from several linguistic changes (most importantly the rise of the periphrastic auxiliary do in late Middle English) shows that the general assumption is false. Instead, at least for syntactic cases, change seems to proceed at the same rate in all contexts. Contexts change together because they are merely surface manifestations of a single underlying change in grammar. Differences in frequency of use of a new form across contexts reflect functional and stylistic factors, which are constant across time and independent of grammar.
This paper focuses on the origin of the V2 property in the history of Germanic. Considering data from Gothic and Old English (OE), it is suggested that the historical core of the V2 phenomenon reduces to V-to-C movement that is triggered in operator contexts. Therefore, the historical system shares basic properties with limited V2 in Modern English. It is shown that apparent deviations from this pattern that can be observed in Gothic can be attributed to the influence of Greek word order. Concerning the apparently more elaborate V2 properties of OE, it is claimed that a large part of them in fact do not involve a Spec-head relation, but rather result from linear adjacency between the clause-initial element and a finite verb located in T0. Special attention is paid to the placement of pronominal subjects in OE, which are claimed to occupy SpecTP. This contrasts with a lower position of full subjects due to the absence of an EPP in OE. Finally, the loss of superficial V2 orders in the Middle English period is attributed to the development of an EPP feature in T.
Based on spontaneous speech data from adults and children in an acquisition corpus, this paper discusses ‘optional’ verb-second
(V2) word order in wh-questions in present-day Norwegian dialects, arguing that the variation is due to a diachronic change in progress. The argument
is based on the nature of the variation and the frequencies with which the different wh-questions are attested in typical child-directed speech. The paper takes a microparametric approach to V2 which assumes the
existence of many V2 grammars, differing from each other with respect to information structure and the status of the various
wh-elements. These grammars are learnable because children are sensitive to minor but linguistically relevant distinctions in
the acquisition process. Nevertheless, certain distinctions are vulnerable to change if the corresponding cues are expressed
in the children’s input with a very low frequency. On this perspective, gradual historical development may be considered to
be the result of many small I-language changes in succession.
The lexical layer, headed by the verb, the structural layer in which theta assignment takes place.
this paper is to show that the northern and southern dialects
We argue in this paper that many common adverbial phrases generally taken to signal a discourse relation between syntactically connected units within discourse structure, instead work anaphorically to contribute relational meaning, with only indirect dependence on discourse structure. This allows a simpler discourse structure to provide scaffolding for compositional semantics, and reveals multiple ways in which the relational meaning conveyed by adverbial connectives can interact with that associated with discourse structure. We conclude by sketching out a lexicalised grammar for discourse that facilitates discourse interpretation as a product of compositional rules, anaphor resolution and inference.
In this paper I examine the relation between temporal adverbs and T°, a functional head, which is uncontroversially argued for to be present in the extended projection of the verb. I argue that temporal adverbs are verbal arguments and that their relation with T is one of agreement, parallel to the relation between subjects and Agr.
This paper presents a discourse-functional account of English inversion, based on an examination of a large corpus of naturally-occurring tokens. It is argued that inversion serves an information-packaging function, and that felicitous inversion depends on the relative discourse-familiarity of the information represented by the preposed and postposed constituents. The data moreover indicate that evoked elements and inferrable elements are treated alike with respect to inversion; both are treated as discourse-old information. Finally, it is suggested that discourse-familiarity correlates not with subjecthood, but rather with relative sentence position.
Like many temporal markers, then has anaphoric as well as deictic uses. An analysis of then in everyday discourse shows that two anaphoric uses (viewed in Reichenbach's terms, as shifting or continuing reference time from prior text) are differentiated by clause position and have systematic effects on the aspectual meaning of predicates. Textual uses of then (in narratives and lists) and epistemic uses of then (in conditionals and initiation response (evaluation sequences) follow the same pattern as the temporal uses.
In this article, evidence is presented to contradict some hypotheses of verb seconding as verb movement to Comp analysis for Old English : it is demonstrated that in general case, verb seconding in Old English main clauses involves verb mouvement to clause-medial Infl rather than to Comp, and that verb seconding to Infl applies not only in main clauses burt also in subordinate clauses
This dissertation investigates variation and change in Old English word order from the ninth century to the beginning of the twelfth century, with special emphasis on the position of the verb. It is demonstrated that variation in surface word order is primarily a reflex of synchronic variation in underlying phrase structure.^ A structural analysis of Old English syntax is presented, and it is argued that variation in the surface position of the inflected verb is best explained by the hypothesis of alternating INFL-medial and INFL-final phrase structure, with obligatory transformational movement of the verb to INFL. This variation in underlying structure exists not only at the level of the speech community, but also within the usage of individuals. It is shown that in the general case, the verb-second phenomenon in Old English reflects verb movement to clause-medial INFL in both matrix and subordinate clauses, rather than verb movement to COMP limited to matrix clauses, as in Modern German and Dutch. In addition, evidence is provided for alternating OV and VO phrase structure during the Old English period. Verb movement to INFL, together with processes of postposition, syntactic cliticization of both pronouns and adverbs, verb (projection) raising, and further verb movement from INFL to COMP in a restricted set of exceptional matrix clause types, derives the attested word order patterns of Old English. The results of a quantitative study of the underlying position of INFL demonstrate that the frequency of INFL-medial phrase structure increases during the Old English period at the same rate in both matrix and subordinate clauses, supporting the hypothesis of identical structures and processes in the two clause types. Finally, the above analysis of Old English is used as a basis for suggesting the nature of the syntactic changes that occur during the Middle English period.
The paper presents a theory of the semantics and the discourse effects of Ger-man temporal dann and English then in their sentence-initial, –internal and –final positions. The theory provides an algorithmic reconstruction of these differences on the basis of a single specification of the semantics of dann/then, which interacts with other semantic elements at sentence and discourse level in ways that vary with its position. The requirement which dann/then imposes is that the time it denotes is separated from the time which the narration had reached by a change in some contextually salient property of a topical discourse referent. What is available as contextually salient property depends on where dann/then occurs in the sentence. Integration of this insight into a general account of semantic processing entails a shift of perspective in current semantic theory. Semantic processing must now be treated as incremental following the left to right order not only sentence by sentence but also word by word.
An investigation into the behavior of sentence-final then suggests the need to distinguish between two uses:1.
As a temporal anaphor referring back to a previously established explicit temporal referent (ETR).
2.
As a way of expressing relations between states/events, where no ETR is required.
A means of making this distinction in Discourse Representation Theory (DRT) (Kamp and Reyle (forthcoming)) is proposed. This involves restricting the introduction of temporal referents into the universe of discourse to cases where certain types of temporal adverbials are present. In other cases, event or state referents but not temporal referents may be introduced. This contrasts with previous DRT accounts of temporal phenomena, which employ no such distinction.
This paper presents an analysis of the discourse representation of tense. I argue that temporal interpretation across sentences in discourse is subject to the same principles as temporal interpretation within sentences, and that there is thus no need to posit independent principles to account for the discourse behavior of tense. This approach makes possible an analysis of the temporal adverb then. The semantic dependency that then induces between sentences in discourse is argued to be identical to the dependency that holds within sentences in temporal adjunct clause constructions. In order to explain how the meaning of then differs depending on its position, I claim that then associates different times in tense structure depending on its syntactic position, resulting in different interpretations. This analysis accounts for interpretive parallels between discourse sequences with then and temporal adjunct clauses, and it predicts the interaction of temporal then with perfect tenses, future readings of present tense, and infinitival clause constructions.
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