Prepositions in Early Modern English argument structure and beyond

Abstract

This paper is the first to use a bottom-up, corpus-based, exploratory approach to the full range of prepositions in Early Modern English argument structure. Contrary to what previous research leads us to expect, the overall token frequency of prepositions during this period decreases, and they are not always successful against the older NP-variants. Similarly, our case study challenges earlier suggestions that PP-complements are particularly frequent in second-language varieties of English. With respect to the functions taken on by PPs in the clause, however, we provide preliminary evidence that more complement-like uses increase at the expense of more adjunct-like arguments, i.e., that PPs become more important as core elements of the clause.

Revisiting Gradience in Diachronic Construction Grammar: PPs and the Complement-Adjunct Distinction in the History of English

“…Claridge 2000, 89-91;also Hiltunen 1983, 179;Denison 1981, 209-213, 245-246). The hypothesis of a general increase in more complement-like PPs proposed in Section 1 is tested in a pilot study on PPs in Early Modern English in Zehentner and Hundt (2022), suggesting that at least a slight increase can be seen within this period. The present paper now extends this question to both Middle English and Late Modern English, aiming, on the one hand, to give further support to this assumption.…”