Bettelou Los

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The consequences of the loss of verb-second in English

English syntax used to have a version of the verb-second rule, by which the finite verb moves to ... more English syntax used to have a version of the verb-second rule, by which the finite verb moves to second position in main clauses. This rule was lost in Middle English, and this article argues that its loss had serious consequences for the information structure of the clause. In the new, rigid subject-verb-object syntax, the function of preposed constituents changed, and the function of encoding 'old' or 'given' information in a pragmatically neutral way was increasingly reserved for subjects. Pressure from information structure to repair this situation subsequently led to the rise of new passive constructions in order to satisfy the need for more subjects; the change in the informational status of preposed constituents triggered the rise of clefts. If information structure can be compromised by syntactic change in this way, this suggests that it represents a separate linguistic level outside the syntax.

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The decline of local anchoring: a quantitative investigation

English Language and Linguistics, Apr 12, 2023

This article presents a quantitative study of the referential status of PPs in clause-initial pos... more This article presents a quantitative study of the referential status of PPs in clause-initial position in the history of English. Earlier work (Los 2009; Dreschler 2015) proposed that main-clause-initial PPs in Old English primarily function as 'local anchors', linking a new clause to the immediately preceding discourse. As this function was an integral part of the verb-second (V2) constraint, the decline of local anchors was attributed to the loss of V2 in the fifteenth century, so that only the contrasting and frame-setting functions of these PPs remain in PDE. This article tests these hypotheses in the syntactically parsed corpora of OE, ME, EModE and LModE texts, using the Pentaset-categories (New, Inert, Assumed, Inferred or Identity; Komen 2011), based on Prince's categories (Prince 1981). The finding is that Identity clause-initial PPs decline steeply from early ME onwards, which means the decline pre-dates the loss of V2. A likely trigger is the loss of the OE paradigm of demonstrative, which functioned as standalone demonstrative pronouns as well as demonstrative determiners, and the loss of gender marking more generally. From EModE onwards, main-clause-initial PPs that still link to the preceding discourse do so much more indirectly, by an Inferred link.

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Syntax and the morphology of deixis

De Gruyter eBooks, Aug 21, 2018

The decline of local anchoring: a quantitative investigation

English Language and Linguistics

This article presents a quantitative study of the referential status of PPs in clause-initial pos... more This article presents a quantitative study of the referential status of PPs in clause-initial position in the history of English. Earlier work (Los 2009; Dreschler 2015) proposed that main-clause-initial PPs in Old English primarily function as ‘local anchors’, linking a new clause to the immediately preceding discourse. As this function was an integral part of the verb-second (V2) constraint, the decline of local anchors was attributed to the loss of V2 in the fifteenth century, so that only the contrasting and frame-setting functions of these PPs remain in PDE. This article tests these hypotheses in the syntactically parsed corpora of OE, ME, EModE and LModE texts, using the Pentaset-categories (New, Inert, Assumed, Inferred or Identity; Komen 2011), based on Prince's categories (Prince 1981). The finding is that Identity clause-initial PPs decline steeply from early ME onwards, which means the decline pre-dates the loss of V2. A likely trigger is the loss of the OE paradigm o...

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Syntax and the morphology of deixis. The loss of demonstratives in the history of English

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Appendix: Useful Corpora for Research in English Historical Linguistics

Blackwell Publishing Ltd eBooks, Jan 21, 2008

A typological switch in early Modern English – and the beginning of one in Dutch?

Leuvense Bijdragen - Leuven Contributions in Linguistics and Philology, 2012

Recent psycholinguistic studies by e.g. Carroll & Lambert (2003), von Stutterheim & Carroll (2005... more Recent psycholinguistic studies by e.g. Carroll & Lambert (2003), von Stutterheim & Carroll (2005), and von Stutterheim & Rossdeutscher (2005) have uncovered a typological distinction between English and German at the level of macrostructural planning ("deciding what to say and how to say it") which influences the ways in which events are narrated and scenes are described. This distinction is closely linked to the grammatical options of each language. English is not verb-second but very subject-oriented, and it has a progressive, while German is verb-second, not very subject-oriented and does not have a progressive. Dutch, however, has a progressive of sorts (aan het), and claims have been made about Dutch becoming more subject-oriented (eg. Cornelis 2000), although it is still solidly verb-second. Old English sides with German and Dutch in being verb-second, not subject-oriented and not having a progressive of the type of Modern English. This suggests that there was a typological switch, and also that diachronic phenomena which are normally regarded as independent developments-the loss of verb-second and the rise of a progressive-are in fact connected at a deeper level. Dutch presents an interesting case study here, sandwiched as it is between German and English. 1. Introduction: Bounded versus Unbounded Systems Recent psycholinguistic studies by e.g. Carroll & Lambert (2003), von Stutterheim & Carroll (2005), and von Stutterheim & Rossdeutscher (2005) claim to have uncovered a typological distinction between English and German at the level of macrostructural planning ("deciding what to say and how to say it") which influences the ways in which events are narrated and scenes are described, and how information is segmented in propositional units. Some of the differences that have to do with temporal segmentation are found in online narratives in the present tense, and depend on the presence (in English) or absence (in German) of a grammaticalized progressive, and the presence (in German) or absence (in English) of a Vorfeld created by the verb-second rule. When German and English speakers participating in these studies are asked to describe a narrative sequence (when watching, for instance, a short animation film), German speakers divide the narrative action up into a sequence of temporal segments, each requiring an explicit temporal marker, like Auf einmal, dann in (1a) below, typically using the first position before the finite verb (the Vorfeld). The English sample of a retelling of the same events from the film shows that the English informants tend to do without such overt temporal sequencers. The event itself is described in open-ended and temporally-unbounded terms by means of expressions for progressive aspect (cf. hearing, digging, caving in in (1b)). (1)a. German: b. English: Auf einmal hört der Lehmmann Wasser tropfen The man is hearing the sound of dripping water Und dann gräbt er nach dem Wasser and he is digging for the water Bis der Sand dann unter ihm nachgibt and the sand is caving in under him (von Stutterheim 2002: 25) The German conceptualization can be visualized as in (2), with no temporal overlapping, and each subevent being closed off before the next subevent begins:

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Research Methods in Linguistics

Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2014

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Morphosyntactic Change: A Comparative Study of Particles and Prefixes

* Special thanks go to Ann Taylor, Heather Oumounabidji, James A. Elwood and the two anonymous re... more

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Using historical texts

Towards a grapho-phonologically parsed corpus of medieval Scots: database design and technical solutions

Corpora, Aug 1, 2018

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The loss of the indefinite pronoun man: syntactic change and information structure

Clefts as resolution strategies after the loss of a multifunctional first position

Oxford University Press eBooks, Nov 6, 2012

Until the fifteenth century, English was considered a V2 (verb-second) language. The loss of a mu... more Until the fifteenth century, English was considered a V2 (verb-second) language. The loss of a multifunctional first position that could host adverbials and objects as well as subjects, along with unmarked topics and focused material, paved the way for new constructions (clefts) and a redefinition of old positions (with the presubject position increasingly reserved for a subset of contrastive topics). This article explores the interaction between syntax and information structure and argues that the loss of V2 resulted in the loss of a first position capable of hosting contrastive constituents. It suggests that the cleft evolves as a resolution strategy and maneuvers contrastive constituents in a position that fits the new, rigid SVO order while retaining their information-structural status. The article also considers another area where clefts partly stepped in after syntactic loss related to V2 compromised the expression of contrast: Contrastive Left Dislocation (CLD).

The loss of local anchoring: From adverbial local anchors to permissive subjects

Oxford University Press eBooks, Nov 6, 2012

Until about the fifteenth century, main clause word order in English was to a large extent subjec... more Until about the fifteenth century, main clause word order in English was to a large extent subject to the verb-second (V2) constraint; this order was achieved by (i) movement of the finite verb into second position and (ii) topicalization of a constituent from the clause into first position. The loss of V2 syntax led to a change in the function of first constituent adverbial phrases, which had mostly been used as local anchors in Old English, i.e. links to the immediately preceding discourse. In Early Modern English, the system of local anchoring by adverbials was largely lost; links to the previous discourse came to be expressed primarily by the subject. This added to the functional load of the subject, and led to subjects being able to encode a wider range of semantic roles. The emergence of such "permissive” subjects in PDE, then, developed as a response to the loss of V2.

The rise of theto-infinitive as verb complement

English Language and Linguistics, May 1, 1998

In Old English we find considerable variation in the infinitival complementation patterns of verb... more In Old English we find considerable variation in the infinitival complementation patterns of verbs: some verbs take a bare infinitival complement, some verbs take a to-infinitival complement and some verbs can be complemented by either infinitive. This article evaluates two previous attempts to account for the distribution of the two infinitives and offers an alternative account; it also argues that the increase in the use of the to-infinitive occurred mostly at the expense of the finite complement clause rather than at the expense of the bare infinitive, which is the traditional view.

Particles and prefixes in Dutch and English

Yearbook of morphology, 2003

Discourse Adverbs and Clausal Syntax in Old and Middle English

Blackwell Publishing Ltd eBooks, Jan 21, 2008

In this chapter, we discuss the syntactic and discourse properties of a number of adverbs in Old ... more In this chapter, we discuss the syntactic and discourse properties of a number of adverbs in Old and Middle English, concentrating on þa and þonne, which both have ‘then’ as their literal meaning. This may seem like a small topic, but in fact, we will show that the syntactic and discourse properties of these adverbs reveal a good deal about the changing organisation of clause structure and discourse during the Old English period and the transition to Middle English. Building our argument around the properties of these adverbs, we will address a number of core issues in the analysis of Old English clause structure, such as the shift from parataxis to hypotaxis, the underlying motivation for the Verb Second constraint, and the changing position of various types of subject. An important implication of our discussion will turn out to be that the syntactic organization of the clause, at least in Old English, is interwoven with discourse organization much more closely than has been thought so far, and that the transition to Middle English is one that results in a more strictly syntactic organization of the clause.

The consequences of the loss of verb-second in English: information structure and syntax in interaction

English Language and Linguistics, Mar 1, 2009

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English Historical Linguistics: Change in Structure and Meaning

John Benjamins, May 1, 2021

Historical dialectology then and now

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