Article Emergence in Old English: A Constructionalist Perspective

Lotte Sommerer

Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2018

Article Emergence in Old English

A Constructionalist Perspective

Lotte Sommerer

Volume 99 in the series Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL]

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110541052

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book investigates nominal determination in Old English and the emergence of the definite and the indefinite article. Analyzing Old English prose texts, it discusses the nature of linguistic categorization and argues that a usage-based, cognitive, constructionalist approach best explains when, how and why the article category developed. It is shown that the development of the OE demonstrative 'se' (that) and the OE numeral 'an' (one) should not be told as a story of two individual, grammaticalizing morphemes, but must be reconceptualized in constructional terms. The emergence of the morphological category ‘article’ follows from constructional changes in the linguistic networks of OE speakers and especially from ‘grammatical constructionalization’ (i.e. the emergence of a new, schematic, mostly procedural form-meaning pairing which previously did not exist in the constructicon). Next to other functional-cognitive reasons, the book especially highlights analogy and frequency effects as driving forces of linguistic change.

Author / Editor information

Lotte Sommerer, University of Vienna, Austria.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	VII
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	IX
Tables Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	XIV
Figures Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	XVI
List of Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	XVII
1. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. Nominal determination and the articles in Present Day English Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
3. Article emergence in Old English Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
4. Diachronic Construction Grammar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
5. Nominal determination in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
6. Nominal determination in Old English prose Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
7. Article emergence: a constructional scenario Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	258
8. Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
9. Appendix: manuscript and corpus information Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	317
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	327
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Audience: Researchers and Students Working in Historical Linguistics, Cognitive Linguistics, Theoretical Syntax, Medieval Studies
Pages
- Front matter: 17
- Main content: 357
Keywords: Articles; Definiteness; Constructionalization; Analogy; Nominal Determination

eBook

Published: May 22, 2018
ISBN: 9783110541052

Hardcover

Published: May 22, 2018
ISBN: 9783110539370