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Loss and gain in grammar:
Aspect, case, and definiteness in
Early Middle English
Elly van Gelderen,
Loss and Gain PhD Seminar
21 May 2015, Kristiansand,
Norway
Outline
A. Why are loss/gain interesting?
B. What is lost and gained: some cycles
C. Actual study on case, aspect, and
definiteness
Main points: Loss of aspect; some renewal
Loss of object case; demonstrative > article
and more quantifiers
Loss of pro-drop; new personal and reflexive
pronouns
Model of language acquisition/change
(based on Andersen 1973)
Generation n
UG
+
experience
=
I-language n
Generation n+1
UG
+
experience n
=
I-language n+1
E-language n
+ innovations
E-language n+1
Internal Grammar
Reanalysis is crucial
Cycles tell us which features matter
Subject and Object Agreement (Givón)
demonstrative > third ps pronoun > agreement > zero
noun > first and second person > agreement > zero
noun > noun marker > agreement > zero
Copula Cycle (Katz)
demonstrative > copula > zero
third person > copula > zero
verb > aspect > copula
Noun Cycle (Greenberg)
demonstrative > definite article > ‘Case’ > zero
noun > number/gender > zero
And about processing/economy
Negative Cycle (Gardiner/Jespersen
see van der Auwera)
a negative argument > negative adverb > negative
particle > zero
b verb > aspect > negative > C
(negative polarity cycle: Willis)
CP Cycle
Adjunct AP/PP > ... > C
Future and Aspect Auxiliary
A/P > M > T (> C)
V > ASP
Semantic and formal overlap:
Chomsky (1995: 230; 381) suggests: "formal
features have semantic correlates and
reflect semantic properties (accusative
Case and transitivity, for example)."
I interpret this: If a language has nouns with
semantic phi-features, the learner will be
able to hypothesize uninterpretable
features on another F (and will be able to
bundle them there).
Radford (2000): in acquisition from + > -
If semantic features are innate,
we need:
Feature Economy
(a) Utilize semantic features: use them as
for functional categories, i.e. as formal
features (van Gelderen 2008; 2011).
(b) If a specific feature appears more than
once, one of these is interpretable and the
others are uninterpretable (Muysken
2008).
Features and grammaticalization
Grammaticalization is a change from
semantic to formal features.
For instance, a verb with semantic features,
such as Old English will with [volition,
expectation, future], can be reanalyzed as
having only the grammatical feature
[future].
Cycle is an old idea: Bopp
(1816) and von der Gabelentz
(1901)
The history of language moves in the
diagonal of two forces: the impulse toward
comfort, which leads to the wearing down
of sounds, and that toward clarity, which
disallows this erosion and the destruction of
the language.
ctd
The affixes grind themselves down, disappear
without a trace; their functions or similar ones,
however, require new expression. They acquire
this expression, by the method of isolating
languages, through word order or clarifying
words. The latter, in the course of time, undergo
agglutination, erosion, and in the mean time
renewal is prepared: periphrastic expressions
are preferred ... always the same: the
development curves back towards isolation, not
in the old way, but in a parallel fashion. That's
why I compare them to spirals.
The Subject Cycle
A. demonstrative > third person pronoun >
clitic > agreement
B. noun/oblique pronoun > first/second pron
> clitic > agreement
"agreement and pronominalization ... Are
fundamentally one and the same
phenomenon“ (Givón 1978: 151).
The Demonstrative Cycle
Demonstrative
[i-phi]/ [loc]
article
[u-phi]
Dem
C
copula
[i-phi]
[u/i-T]
[u-phi]
[loc]
[loc]
Also: degree adverb and tense marker (TibetoBurman) and noun class marker.
Around 1200: a reanalysis
(1) & gaddresst swa þe clene corn
`and so you gather the clear wheat.’ (Ormulum
1484-5, Holt edition)
(2) 3ho wass … Elysabæþ 3ehatenn
`She was called Elisabeth.’ (Ormulum 115)
(3) & swa þe33 leddenn heore lif Till þatt te33
wærenn alde
`and so they led their lives until they were old.’
(Ormulum 125-6)
(4) þin forrme win iss swiþe god, þin lattre win iss
bettre.
`Your earlier wine is very good, your later wine is
better.’ (Ormulum 15409)
Reduction of the article also in PC and
Ormulum, according to Nykiel
(5) 7
begæt thare priuileges, an of alle þe
And obtained their proviledges one of all the
lands of þabbotrice 7 oþer of þe lands ...
lands of the-abbey and other of the lands
‘and obtained their privileges, one for all the
lands of the abbey, and another for the lands
(that adjoin to the churchyard).’ (from Nykiel
2013 Peterborough Chron. an.1137)
What happens?
Externally: a `strengthening’ of the third
person features in the pronoun and a shift
in the relationship with the demonstrative.
This reinforcement through external
pronouns, she and they, brought about a
reanalysis of the features of the pronoun
as deictic.
Now I turn to aspect and definiteness on
the HO
Rest of the talk:
change around 1200
Loss of ge-; some new particles
Loss of object case
Loss of pro-drop
OE demonstrative > article
New personal pronouns
New reflexive pronouns
More quantifiers