Loss and gain in grammar:Aspect, case, and definiteness in

Early Middle English

Elly van Gelderen, Loss and Gain PhD Seminar21 May 2015, Kristiansand,

Norway

OutlineA. Why are loss/gain interesting?

B. What is lost and gained: some cycles

C. Actual study on case, aspect, and definiteness

Main points: Loss of aspect; some renewal

Loss of object case; demonstrative > article

and more quantifiers

Loss of pro-drop; new personal and reflexive pronouns

Model of language acquisition/change(based on Andersen 1973)

Generation n Generation n+1UG UG+ +experience experience n

= =I-language n I-language n+1

E-language n E-language n+1+ innovations

Internal Grammar

Reanalysis is crucial

Cycles tell us which features matterSubject and Object Agreement (Givón)demonstrative > third ps pronoun > agreement > zeronoun > first and second person > agreement > zeronoun > noun marker > agreement > zero

Copula Cycle (Katz)demonstrative > copula > zerothird person > copula > zeroverb > aspect > copula

Noun Cycle (Greenberg)demonstrative > definite article > ‘Case’ > zeronoun > number/gender > zero

And about processing/economyNegative Cycle (Gardiner/Jespersen

see van der Auwera)a negative argument > negative adverb > negative

particle > zerob verb > aspect > negative > C(negative polarity cycle: Willis)

CP CycleAdjunct AP/PP > ... > C

Future and Aspect Auxiliary A/P > M > T (> C)V > ASP

Semantic and formal overlap:Chomsky (1995: 230; 381) suggests: "formal

features have semantic correlates and reflect semantic properties (accusative Case and transitivity, for example)."

I interpret this: If a language has nouns with semantic phi-features, the learner will be able to hypothesize uninterpretable features on another F (and will be able to bundle them there).

Radford (2000): in acquisition from + > -

If semantic features are innate, we need:

Feature Economy

(a) Utilize semantic features: use them as for functional categories, i.e. as formal features (van Gelderen 2008; 2011).

(b) If a specific feature appears more than once, one of these is interpretable and the others are uninterpretable (Muysken 2008).

Features and grammaticalization

Grammaticalization is a change from semantic to formal features.

For instance, a verb with semantic features, such as Old English will with [volition, expectation, future], can be reanalyzed as having only the grammatical feature [future].

Cycle is an old idea: Bopp (1816) and von der Gabelentz

(1901)The history of language moves in the diagonal of two forces: the impulse toward comfort, which leads to the wearing down of sounds, and that toward clarity, which disallows this erosion and the destruction of the language.

ctd

The affixes grind themselves down, disappear without a trace; their functions or similar ones, however, require new expression. They acquire this expression, by the method of isolating languages, through word order or clarifying words. The latter, in the course of time, undergo agglutination, erosion, and in the mean time renewal is prepared: periphrastic expressions are preferred ... always the same: the development curves back towards isolation, not in the old way, but in a parallel fashion. That's why I compare them to spirals.

The Subject Cycle

A. demonstrative > third person pronoun > clitic > agreement

B. noun/oblique pronoun > first/second pron > clitic > agreement

"agreement and pronominalization ... Are fundamentally one and the same phenomenon“ (Givón 1978: 151).

The Demonstrative Cycle

Demonstrative

[i-phi]/ [loc]

 article Dem C copula

[u-phi] [i-phi] [u/i-T] [u-phi]

[loc] [loc]

Also: degree adverb and tense marker (Tibeto-Burman) and noun class marker.

Around 1200: a reanalysis(1) & gaddresst swa þe clene corn

`and so you gather the clear wheat.’ (Ormulum 1484-5, Holt edition)

(2) 3ho wass … Elysabæþ 3ehatenn `She was called Elisabeth.’ (Ormulum 115)

(3) & swa þe33 leddenn heore lif Till þatt te33 wærenn alde `and so they led their lives until they were old.’ (Ormulum 125-6)

(4) þin forrme win iss swiþe god, þin lattre win iss bettre. `Your earlier wine is very good, your later wine is better.’ (Ormulum 15409)

Reduction of the article also in PC and Ormulum, according to Nykiel

(5) 7 begæt thare priuileges, an of alle þe

And obtained their proviledges one of all the lands of þabbotrice 7 oþer of þe lands ...

lands of the-abbey and other of the lands

‘and obtained their privileges, one for all the lands of the abbey, and another for the lands (that adjoin to the churchyard).’ (from Nykiel 2013  Peterborough Chron. an.1137)

What happens?Externally: a `strengthening’ of the third

person features in the pronoun and a shift in the relationship with the demonstrative.

This reinforcement through external pronouns, she and they, brought about a reanalysis of the features of the pronoun as deictic.

Now I turn to aspect and definiteness on the HO

Rest of the talk: change around 1200

Loss of ge-; some new particles

Loss of object case

Loss of pro-drop

OE demonstrative > article

New personal pronouns

New reflexive pronouns

More quantifiers