Title: Word order and linear modification in English
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2009, vol. 35, iss. 2, pp. [17]-28
Extent
[17]-28
-
ISSN0524-6881 (print)1805-0867 (online)
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/105143
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
The paper examines the role of linear modification in shaping the syntactic structure of an English sentence. Linear modification – the principle of presenting ideas in an order of gradual rise in importance – co-determines word order in all Indo-European languages, though it is less powerful in languages with fixed word order than in languages with flexible word order. English syntax changed quite significantly on the way from Old English to Modern English. The shift from flexible word order to fixed word order, which was closely related to certain phonological and morphological features of English, was accompanied by a reduction of the power of linear modification as a word-order principle. The paper tests this reduction by an analysis of written Old English and Modern English texts.
References
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[28] Vachek, Josef (1994) A Functional Syntax of Modern English. Brno: Masaryk University
[2] Bean, Marian C. (1983) The Development of Word Order Patterns in Old English. London: Croom Helm
[3] Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad, and Edward Finegan (1999) Longman Grammar Spoken and Written English. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
[4] Bolinger, Dwight L. (1952) 'Linear modification'. Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 67, 1117–1144. | DOI 10.2307/459963
[5] Breivik, Leif E. (1983) Existential THERE. Bergen: University of Bergen.
[6] Breivik, Leif E. (1991) 'On the typological status of Old English'. In Kastovsky, Dieter (ed.) Historical English Syntax – Topics in English Linguistics 2. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 31–50.
[7] Chamonikolasová, Jana (2005) 'Dynamic semantic scales in the theory of functional sentence perspective'. In: Panevová, Jarmila and Barbora Vidová-Hladká (eds.) Aleg(r)ace pro Evu. Papers in Honour of Eva Hajičová. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, 61–67.
[8] Chamonikolasová, Jana (2007) Intonation in English and Czech Dialogues. Brno: Masaryk University.
[9] Chamonikolasová, Jana (2009) 'Initial syntatic elements in Old English and Modern English sentences'. In Loudová, Kateřina, Marie Žáková (eds.) Early European Languages in the Eyes of Modern Linguistics. Brno: Masaryk University, 99-110.
[10] Čermák, Jan (2000) 'A Typological note on the category of gender in Old English'. In: Čermák, Jan and Aleš Klégr (eds.) The Tongue is An Eye. Studies Presented to Libuše Dušková. Praha: Ústav anglistiky a amerikanistiky FFUK a Kruh moderních filologů, 15–20.
[11] Dušková, Libuše (1985) 'The position of the rheme in English and Czech sentences as constituents of a text'. Philologica Pragensia 67, 128–135.
[12] Dušková, Libuše (2002) 'Constancy of syntactic function across languages'. In Hladký, Josef (ed.) Language and Function. To the Memory of Jan Firbas. Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 49. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 135–53.
[13] Firbas, Jan (1957) 'Some thoughts on the function of word order in Old English and Modern English'. Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty Brněnské univerzity A5, 72–98.
[14] Firbas, Jan (1979) 'A functional view of "ordo naturalis"'. Brno Studies in English 13, 29–59.
[15] Firbas, Jan (1989) 'Degrees of communicative dynamism and degrees of prosodic prominence'. Brno studies in English 18, 21–66.
[16] Firbas, Jan (1992) Functional sentence perspective in written and spoken communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[17] Fischer, Olga and Wim van der Wurff (2006) 'Syntax'. In: Hogg, Richard and David Denison (eds.) A History of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 109–198.
[18] Haiman, John (1974) Targets and Syntactic Change. Janua Linguarum Series Minor 186. The Hague and Paris: Mouton.
[19] Jucker, Andreas H. (ed.) (1995) Historical Pragmatics: Pragmatic Developments in the History of English. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
[20] Mathesius, Vilém (1975) A Functional Analysis of Present-Day English on a General Linguistic Basis. transl. Libuše Dušková, ed. Josef Vachek. Prague: Academia.
[21] Pintzuk, Susan, and Taylor, Ann (2006) 'The loss of OV order in the history of English'. In: Kamenade, Ans van and Los Bettelou (eds.) The Handbook of the History of English. Maldon/Oxford/ Carlton: Blackwell Publishing, 249–274.
[22] Quirk Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. New York: Longman.
[23] Sauer, Hans (1995) 'Das gegenwärtige Englisch und seine historischen Hintergründe' [Present-Day English and its Historical Background]. In: Ahrens, R. et al. (eds.) Handbuch English als Fremdsprache. Berlin: Erich Schmidt, 17–23.
[24] Seoane, Elena (2006) 'Information structure and word order change: The passive as an information-rearranging strategy in the history of English'. In: Kamenade, Ans van and Los Bettelou (eds.) The Handbook of the History of English. Maldon/Oxford/Carlton: Blackwell Publishing, 360–391.
[25] Shannon, Ann (1964) A descriptive syntax of the Parker manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle from 734 to 891. The Hague: Mouton.
[26] Svoboda, Aleš (1981) Diatheme. Brno: Masaryk University.
[27] Svoboda, Aleš (1989) Kapitoly z funkční syntaxe [Topics in functional syntax]. Prague: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství.
[28] Vachek, Josef (1994) A Functional Syntax of Modern English. Brno: Masaryk University