Abstract
Middle English changes the realization of temporal subordinators from a th-form (then) to a wh-form (when). The innovation is quantified with data from four syntactically parsed corpora. The change may have had an antecedent cause in the loss of subject-verb inversion after clause-initial adverb then. This view is supported by the time course of the two developments, the loss of subject-verb inversion slightly preceding the rise of wh-based subordination, as well as by the fact that the presence of alternative subordinating strategies inhibit the presence of wh-subordinators. The paper thus provides quantitative, empirical evidence for language-internally motivated change.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1 |
Number of pages | 59 |
Journal | Journal of Historical Syntax |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 20 May 2020 |
Keywords
- diachronic syntax
- Middle English
- subordination
- causes of language change
- historical syntax