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One's death, another's bread:

One's death, another's bread:. did case loss enable the functional expansion of the English absolute construction? Nikki van de Pol KU Leuven FWO - Flanders. Structure of the talk. Theoretical background The absolute construction

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One's death, another's bread:

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  1. One's death, another's bread: did case loss enable the functional expansion of the English absolute construction? Nikki van de PolKU LeuvenFWO - Flanders

  2. Structure of the talk • Theoretical background • The absolute construction • Ruppel’sinvestigation of case loss influenceon the Latin, Greek and Sanskrit AC • Data – Methodology • Research questions • Data • Methodology • The development of AC semantics and augmentation • Conclusion • References

  3. Theoretical background

  4. The Absolute Construction (AC) (1) Nam moxredeuntibusdomumnuntiis, exercitum ... colligitcopiosum,… (Bede,HistoriaEcclesiastica, 2.12)For soon while the ambassadors were returning home, he raised a mighty army... (2)KῡroVἀnέbhἐpὶtὰὂrhoὐdenὸVkwlύontoV(Xenophon, Anab. 1.2.22: Holland 1986: 163)Cyrus went up over the mountains with no one hindering him. (3) Ðassoðliceðe he ðencendeðacuomhenoengeldrihtnes in slepeætdeaude him cueðBut after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, • non-finiteconstruction • typically in oblique case • predicate + (pro)nominal subject • wide range of (typicallyadverbial) semantic relations

  5. Ruppel 2013 Indo-European AC Indo-European AC Sanskrit AC Latin AC Greek AC

  6. The Indo-European AC (Ruppel 2013) • Indo-Europeanprobably had a locative AC, sincethis is the case most typicallyused to express ‘time at which’ in PIE. • The use of the AC was veryspecific and semanticallylimited to the expression of natural time. = points in or units of time that mark the regular passing of the seasons, of the years, of the interchangebetweennight and day. (Ruppel 2013: 207-208) e.g. When the moon was rising….

  7. Ruppel 2013 Indo-European AC Indo-European AC Sanskrit AC Sanskrit AC Latin AC Greek AC

  8. PIE Sanskrit AC (Ruppel 2013) • All Indo-European cases are retained • The locative AC from PIE remains a locative AC • The locative case semanticallyrestricts the possible AC uses • As a result, the AC’sfunctionremainslimited to the expression of natural time Indo-European Loca-tive Instru-mental Abla- tive Loca-tive Instru-mental Abla- tive Sanskrit (4) yátadyásΰryeudyatípríyakṣatrāḥṛtámdadhá(Ruppel 2013: 127)Whenyou, belovedrulers, appoint the rite at sunrisetoday

  9. Ruppel 2013 Indo-European AC Indo-European AC Sanskrit AC Latin AC Latin AC Greek AC

  10. PIE  Latin AC (Ruppel 2013) Indo-European • The PIE locative, ablative and instrumentalmergedtogether • Thisenables the Latin AC to express functionstypical of the PIE ablative and instrumental case, whichitpreviouslycouldnot express. • Italso made the development of AdjPpredicate and NP predicateACs (of partlylocatival, partlyinstrumentalorigin) possible Loca-tive Abla- tive Instru-mental Abla- tive Latin (5) Id [oppidum]…paucisdependentibusexpugnare non potuit.(Ruppel 2013: 84) He was notable to takeit [the town] by storm, even thoughtherewere few men to defend it. (6) Profecto in aedismeasme absente neminemvolo intro mitti. (Ruppel 2013: 84)In short, I don’t want anybody to be let intomy house in my absence. (7) Non sino, nequeequidemillumme vivocorrumpisinam. (Ruppel 2013: 85)No, I won’t, and I won’t let himbecorruptedwhileI’malive.

  11. Ruppel 2013 Indo-European AC Indo-European AC Sanskrit AC Greek AC Latin AC Greek AC

  12. PIE  Greek AC (Ruppel 2013) • Since the genitive is a grammatical case, ratherthan a semantic case (as are locative, instrumental and ablative), the Greek AC was lesssemanticallyrestricted and coulddevelopfurtheruseswhichwerepreviouslyimpossible • In Greek, bothdative and genitive had temporal usesinheritedfrom the locative, whichmakesthembothcapable of expressing the standard AC semantics • Other features of the dativewouldmake a dative AC difficult to distinguishfromotheruses of the dative (e.g. the ethicdative ‘for the sake of’)  Switch to the genitive case Indo-European Instru-mental Dative Abla- tive Loca-tive Geni-tive Blurredboundarybecause of sharedtemporaluse Dative Geni-ive Greek (8) ὣV ἔjaJ’, oἳ d’ἐcάrhsanἐῢknήmideVἈcaioὶmῆninἀpeipόntoVmegaJύmouPhleΐwnoV. Sohespoke, and the well-greavedAchaeansrejoicedsince the great-heartedson of Peleus had swornoffhiswrath. (Ruppel 2013: 48)

  13. Data – Methodology

  14. Research Questions • Present-dayEnglishACs have a functionnot present in the EarlyIndo-Europeandaughterlanguages: elaborationuses • Elaborationuses are notstrictlyadverbialin nature and simplyaddadditionalinformation to an NP or to anentireclause • Instead of alwaysbeingsubordinate in nature, someelaborationACs are of a quasi-coordinate nature, i.e. replacablebyanand + finiteverbparaphrase (9) For many of you, school was 12 or more years of teachers and administrators deciding what was best for you, dictating exactly how you spent every minute of every day -- the result being that you absolutely hated each and every one of those minutes. (http://www.cracked.com/article_20321_5-things-it-turns-out-you-were-right-to-hate-about-school.html#ixzz2vyp83RE4, access 14-03-2014) = AND the result was that…. (10) If you're wondering why you don't see more newborns cosplaying as Batman villains, it's because the disorder is completely benign, with the blisters and freckles fading altogether within three to 12 weeks.(http://www.cracked.com/article_20646_6-horrifying-things-that-happen-before-you-leave-womb_p2.html#ixzz2tCODALDD, access 13-02-2014) = AND the blisters and freckles fade ….

  15. Research Questions • Ruppel has shownthat the merger of cases, and thus the broadening of possibleuses of a single case form, enabled the expansion of AC use in Latin and Greek  perhaps the loss of the English case system may have enabled/been a prerequisitefor the formation of these previouslyunavailablequasi-coordinate AC uses.

  16. Methodology • Corpus-based research • OE + ME (… - 1500) : ca. 750 ACs • YCOE corpus • EModE + LModE (1500-1914): ca. 5,500 ACs • most registers: PENN parsed corpora of English • poetry: personalselection of poems • near spoken language (LModEonly): direct speech taggedfragmentsfrom the Old Bailey Corpus • PDE (1968-1994): ca. 4,000 ACs • most registers: BNC • Drama: Leuven drama corpus • Search methods • For YCOE and Penn: used the corpus’sparsing system; searchedforAC-tags and filtered out wrong codingsmanually • For the others: read the entire subcorpus and filtered out ACsmanually

  17. Results

  18. Early Old English • Only dative/ instrumental ACs were found • These were all subordinate and adverbial in nature, often with a temporal meaning, in keeping with the standard use of the dative case (11) 7 hi druncennesse 7 oferhydo 7 geciideondgeflite 7 æfeste 7 oðrummannumþyssesgemeteswæronheoraswiranunderþeoddende, onwegaworpenumCristesgeoceþamleohtan & þamswetan. (YCOE, OEBede)And they bowed their necks to drunkenness, pride, strife, contention, envy and other sins of the same kind, the light and pleasant yoke of Christ having been cast off . (anteriority) (12)ÐætMercnamægð, ofslegenumPendanhyracyninge, Cristesgeleafanonfengon. (YCOE, OEBede) The Mercians received Christ’s faith, when their king Pendan was slain. (anteriority)

  19. Early Old English (13) Þyssummonnumþonebysceophadþeniendumwæs on seonoþegeseted & gedemed, þætSuðseaxnamægðsceoldehabbanagennebysceop & bysceopsetl on heoraleodum. (YCOE, OE Bede) While these men were discharging episcopal duties, it was determined and decreed in a synod, that the province of the South Saxons should have a bishop of their own, and an episcopal seat among their people. (accompanying circumstance) (14) Seostowneowangemonigfealdedumgeleafsumumfolcumin setlebisceopstoleswæstoæteced, ondwæsþærestowe se ærestabisceop. (YCOE, OE Bede) This place lately owing to the multiplication of believers was added on as the seat of a bishop's see, and he was the first bishop of the place. (reason)

  20. Late Old English • Development of ‘secondaryabsolutes’ (Bauer 2000) in the accusative and nominative cases. (15) Ðashinesprecende to himðæmheonualdormonnangeneolecde & gewordadehinecueðende: … (Lindisfarneglosses) While he was saying this to them, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said: …. (16) Ðonne ic soðliceoferflowendlicesorgigendeweop, and ic heardlice mine breostcnyssende, þonnegeseah ic leohtgehwanon me ymbutanscinende (YCOE, Mary of Egypt) Then indeed I wept, sorrowing excessively; and, I severely beating my breast, I then beheld light shining all around me

  21. Late Old English • Importantly, only 2 (verysimilar) ACsfrom the dataset invitedanunambiguousquasi-coordinate reading, both of themnominativeACs. (17a) Se ðerixaðonecnyssemidþamælmihtiganfæder & þamhalgan gastehiðryonanregodcundnyssewunigendebutananginne & endeHe then ruled in eternity with the almighty father and the holy ghost, the three of them dwelling in divine nature, without beginning or end. = AND the three of them dwelled (Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I) (17b) ache is God ælmihtig, and se Halga Gast is onðamheofonlicanþrymmeæfreælmihtig God onanreGodcundnyssemidþamhalganFæder and þamHælendeCriste, hiðryanælmihtig God æfrerixiende, and he is God almighty and the Holy Ghost is in the heavenly glory always the almighty God in a single Divinity with the holy Father and Christ, the saviour, these three always reigning as an almighty God = AND these three always reign ….

  22. MiddleEnglish • The OE case system is gradually lost. The AC comes to beexpressedby the nominative, althoughobliqueACsremainpossible in the margins (unidentifyableforms are normallyinterpreted as nominatives)

  23. MiddleEnglish • As the case system is breaking down, indeed more quasi-coordinatereadings show up (18) Jon þeEuangelist, his broþir, was exiled to Pathmos, wher he mad þeApocalips, but he deied in Ephese, noþingfounde in his graue but manna. (Capgrave's Chronicle, 1420-1500) (19) In þesedayes was Arthures body founde in þecherchȝerd at Glaskinbury in a holhok, a crosse of led leyd to a ston, and þeletteres hid betwyxþeston and þe led. (Capgrave's Chronicle, 1420-1500) (20) The whycheyere of hysraygne be ganne the fyrstedaye of Septembyr, … , and the age of the Kyng Harry the vjnought fully xijmonythyswhenne he begannehysraygne. (Gregory's Chronicle, 1420-1500) (21)Ande that yere was the Counselle of Aras of alleCrystynnacyons … , there beyngeiijcardynallys; … (Gregory's Chronicle, 1420-1500) (22) And the LordeBonevyle was be-heddyd, the comynsayynge that hyslongagecausydhym to dye. (Gregory's Chronicle, 1420-1500)

  24. MiddleEnglish • We alsosee a rise in possibleaugmentation types (Visser 1973) (prepositions and conjunctionsthat serve as introductory word to the AC) and the relativefrequency of augmentation (more data required) • The loss of cases probablyencouraged the use of anintroductory marker of subordination, because the case nolonger made thisclear • The range of possibleaugmentors was notlimitedanymore to prepositionswithdative cases • When a languageshiftsfromsynthetic to analytic, indication of grammaticalfunctionsusingprepositionsbecomes a more commongrammatical feature (23) Aftirþisdoo, Kyng Richard sat at mete at Westminster, … (YCOE, 1420-1500) (24) … þinkyng may not goodly be getynwiþ-outynreding or heryngcomyng before. (YCOE, 1350-1420) (25) … an horrybullfyreschallaryseatþe sonnegoyngdowne… (YCOE, 1350-1420) (26) Thorwsumme of þe parischenysdesyryng to make þe chapelyslych to þe paryschcherch,… felgretple & gretheuynes be-twenþe Priowrwhech was her person & curat & þe forseydparyschenys(YCOE 1420-1500)

  25. Modern to Present-dayEnglish • Uninhibitedby the limitsimposedby case usage, elaborationuses, includingquasi-coordinateuses, continue to increase up to the PDE period

  26. Modern to Present-dayEnglish • While most augmentation types disappearagain (the ‘real’ prepositionsbecomelimited to usewith the now frequent gerund) ‘with’ developsinto a semanticallyempty absolute marker and keepsincreasingease of processing byindicating the AC’ssubordinate and/orbackgroundedsyntactic status as the dative case used to do in the past, but without limiting the AC to strictlysubordinateuses

  27. Modern to Present-dayEnglish • It is no wonder then, as with is used to increaseease of processing, bymaking the AC’sbackgrounded nature explicit, thatit is especiallycommon in (near) spoken language

  28. Conclusion

  29. Conclusion • Case syncretism in the developmentfrom PIE to Latin and Greekcoincidedwith a broadening of the AC’ssemantic and syntacticuse • This does notnecessarilymeanthat case syncretism CAUSES change, butitremoves a factor thatpreviouslypreventedcertainchangesfrompossibly happening • Similarly, we seethat in ME, as the English case system is lost, the subordinate/adverbialmeaning of the AC, previouslyrestrictedby the dative case, becomesbroadened to includequasi-coordinateelaborationuses • The factthatthisuse surfaces first in the newernominativeACssupports the claim that case loss was a necessaryprerequisitefor the development

  30. Conclusion (2) • The loss of the case system probablyalsoprompted the temporarilyincreaseduse of augmentors to makeexplicit the adverbialsubordinatedconnection to the matrix previouslyexpressedby the dative case • Over time withdevelopedintoanoptionalAC-markerovertlysignalling the AC’sbackgrounded nature, butnotrestrictingitanymore to subordinateuses as the dative had done in the past.

  31. References • Bauer, Brigitte. 2000. Archaic Syntax in Indo-European • Berent, G. P. 1975. 'English absolutes in functional perspective'. In R.E. Grossman et al. eds. Papers from the parasession on functionalism: A paravolume to CLS 20, 10-33. • BNC: The British National Corpus, later part 20th century, 100 m words. Department of Linguistics, University of Oxford. (http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/corpus/index.xml? ID=intro). • Callaway, M. Jr. 1889. 'The absolute participle in Anglo-Saxon'. AJP 10.3. 316-345. • Costello, J. R. 1982. 'The absolute construction in Indo-European: a syntagmemic reconstruction'. JIES 10.3-4. 235-252. • Helsinki Corpus of English Texts: Diachronic and Dialectal, 750-1700, 1.5 m words. Department of English, University of Helsinki. Third edition, (http://icame.uib.no/ hc/). • Holland, G. B. 1986. ‘Nominal sentences and the origin of absolute constructions in Indo-European’. Zeitschrift für vergleichende sprachforschung 99.2. 163-193. • Huber, Magnus; Nissel, Magnus; Maiwald, Patrick; Widlitzki, Bianca. 2012. The Old Bailey Corpus. Spoken English in the 18th and 19th centuries. www.uni-giessen.de/oldbaileycorpus, (access 04-06-2013). • Killie, K. & T. Swan. 2009. 'The grammaticalization and subjectification of adverbial –ing clauses (converb clauses) in English'. ELL 13. 337-363. • Kortmann, B. 1991. Free adjuncts and absolutes in English: problems of control and interpretation. London & New York: Routledge. • Kortmann, B. 1995. 'Adverbial participial clauses in English'. In M. Haspelmath & E. König eds. 1995. Converbs in a cross-linguistic perspective. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 189-237.

  32. References (2) • PPCEME: The Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Early Modern English, 1500-1710, 1.7 m words. Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania. CD-ROM, first edition, (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/hist-corpora/). • PPCMBE: The Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Modern British English, 1700-1914, 1 m words. Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania. CD-ROM, first edition, (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/hist-corpora/). • Ruppel, Antonia. 2013. Absolute constructions in Early Indo-European. Cambridge Classical Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Stump, G. T. 1985. The semantic variability of absolute constructions. Dordrecht: Reidel. • Timofeeva, Olga. 2008. ‘Absolute Constructions in Functional Sentence Perspective: A Study of Old English Translations and their Latin Originals’. ICEHL: Workshop on Information Structure and Syntactic Change 15. 1-20; • Timofeeva, Olga. 2010. ‘Non-finite Constructions in Old English With Special Reference to Syntactic Borrowing from Latin’. In JuhaniHärmä, JarmoKorhonen and TerttuNevalainen. 2010. Mémoires de la SociétéNéophilologique de Helsinki 80. Jyväskylä: WS BookwellOy; • Timofeeva, Olga. 2008. ‘Translating the Texts where et verborumordomysteriumest: Late Old English Idiom vs. ablatives absolutus’. The Journal of Medieval Latin 18. 217-229; • Visser, FrederikusTheodorus. 1973. An Historical Syntax of the English Language. Leiden: Brill. • van de Pol, Nikki and Cuyckens, Hubert. 2011. Present-day English absolutes: a multiple-source construction? Presentation at the International workshop on Gradualness in change and its relation to synchronic variation and use. Pavia, 30-31 May 2011. • Visser, FrederikusTheodorus. 1973. An historical syntax of the English language. Leiden: Brill.

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