The development from a synthetic to an analytic language is one of the most important topics in English historical syntax. This development is reflected in the gradual decrease of case-forms and the replacement of their functions with equivalent prepositional constructions. Focussing on the Old English period, when case-forms and prepositional constructions overlapped in various functions, this book aims to answer an unresolved question: was there a significant change in the use of case-forms and, alternatively, in the use of prepositions plus case-forms in contexts where both types were possible? The author makes a statistical comparison between prose texts written in the early Old English period and texts of the later Old English period; she also takes into account stylistic features of individual texts. Thus, this book addresses this Old English syntactic issue both from a historical and a stylistic perspective and shows the stages of development during the Old English period.
ISBN: | 9783039117635 |
Publication date: | 10th February 2009 |
Author: | Kiriko Sato |
Publisher: | Verlag Peter Lang |
Format: | Paperback |
Pagination: | 231 pages |
Series: | Linguistic Insights |
Genres: |
Grammar, syntax and morphology Dialect, slang and jargon |