Some strategies for coding sentential subjects in English

Fanego, Teresa

doi:10.1075/sl.28.2.03fan

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…On the one hand, the conclusion that the definite article, as used with the gerund in the early 16 th century, is not a functionally empty element can account for the historical fact that, as the verbalisation of the gerund proceeded, the use of definite gerund constructions was nevertheless maintained, both in the form of definite nominal gerunds, which still occur in Present-Day English, and in the form of so-called hybrid gerunds, as are illustrated in (36). On the other, it has been suggested by Fanego (2004b) that at a certain stage in the history of the gerund the definite article has lost its semantic value. Similarly, it seems to make no sense to treat (all) bare verbal gerunds as they are used in Late Modern and Present-Day English as indefinite (see e.g.…”

Section: Conclusion and Further Perspectives -45-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nominal gerunds in 16th-century English. The function of the definite article

Smet¹

2007

Folia Linguistica Historica

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This paper addresses the variation between two nominal gerund constructions in 16 th-century English: definite gerunds on the one hand (the eating of the apple) and bare gerunds on the other (eating of the apple). Although the two constructions are highly characteristic of the period and have played a role in the further development of the gerund, the factors that govern their use are still poorly understood. It is proposed here that the essential difference between the two variants lies in the presence of the definite article, which expresses its usual function of marking referents as 'uniquely identifiable'. The role of the definite article can be made visible through close analysis of corpus data (Helsinki Corpus). In particular, the function of the article underlies two tendencies emerging from the data-one relating to the status of the nominal gerund as a 'reference point construction', the other relating to the gerund's control behaviour vis-à-vis its matrix clause. Thus, the analysis shows that the choice between the two variants is non-arbitrary. At the same time, it opens up a fresh perspective on the historical development of the gerund, as it provides a functional characterisation of the nominal constructions in relation to which verbal gerunds emerged. KEYWORDS: article; control; definiteness; Early Modern English; gerund; nominalisation presence of the definite article: (1a), introduced by a definite article, represents a definite nominal gerund, whereas (1b), lacking any overt determiner, represents a bare nominal gerund. The variation between the two constructions in (1) has received some attention in a number of recent diachronic studies, particularly in the work of Fanego (1996, 1998, 2004a). The main reason for this attention is the role the two variants have played in the verbalisation of the gerund-i.e. the emergence of an alternative gerund construction characterised by verbal (or clausal) features, as illustrated in (2). (2) I shall teach him a lesson, for filching hens or cocks. (1552-63, William Stevenson (?), Gammer Gvrtons nedle (HC)) Specifically, Fanego (1996, 1998, 2004a) has demonstrated that it was bare nominal gerunds that most readily allowed a reanalysis from nominal to verbal structures, and that were the first nominal structures to be ousted by the new verbal gerund constructions as the latter became progressively more frequent in English usage. Definite nominal gerunds, by contrast, played much less of a role in the early appearance of verbal gerunds, and underwent the competition of verbal structures only at a later stage. Despite this attention to the two nominal gerund types, however, the functional relation between the two variants is still poorly understood. For example, dealing with the gerund in Middle English, Miller notes the variation between definite and bare nominal gerund constructions, but merely observes that "the apparent option of an article […] remains unclarified" (2002: 330). Other authors seem to take the existence of the two variants for granted and simpl...

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Section: Conclusion and Further Perspectives -45-mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nominal gerunds in 16th-century English. The function of the definite article

Smet¹

2007

Folia Linguistica Historica

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“…The diachronic evolution of the English complementation system has been widely studied (see Warner 1982;Fischer 1988Fischer , 1989Fanego 1990Fanego , 1992Fanego , 1996aFanego , 1996bFanego , 1998Fanego , 2004aFanego , 2004bFanego , 2007Fanego , 2010Fanego , 2016Rohdenburg 1995Rohdenburg , 2006Rohdenburg , 2014Rudanko 1998Rudanko , 2000Rudanko , 2011Miller 2002;Los 2005;Vosberg 2006;De Smet, 2008, 2013. However, complementation has not received much attention in the area of World Englishes, despite it being considered an area prone not only to variation and change but also to innovation (Mukherjee and Hoffmann 2006: 148;Schneider 2007: 86).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovation at the Grammar-lexis Intersection in World Englishes1

Romasanta

2019

NJES

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It has often been claimed that the English complementation system lies at the intersection of grammar and lexis, an area where, in the process of nativization in new varieties of English, innovation and change commonly occur (Olavarría de Ersson and Shaw 2003; Schneider 2007). The current study aims to contribute to this field by looking at the complementation profile of the verb REGRET as used on the internet (Corpus of Global Web-Based English (GloWbE), Davies 2013). The manual analysis of more than 18,000 examples unveils new distributions, uses and patterns of complementation with this verb in 16 different L1 and L2 varieties of English worldwide, for which tentative cognitive explanations are offered.

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“…Two of the most notable of these changes are the spread of the infinitive at the expense of finite clauses (see Rohdenburg, 1995) and the establishment of the gerund as a second type of non-finite complement alongside infinitives after it developed verbal features during Late Middle English (Fanego, 1996a(Fanego, , 2004b.…”

Section: The English Clausal Complementation System and The Verb Regretmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rohdenburg, 2006: 143) or, in Sapir's terms (1921), as a drift (cf. Fanego, 2007: 162, see also, among others, Warner, 1982;Fischer, 1988Fischer, , 1989Fanego, 1990Fanego, , 1992Fanego, , 1996aFanego, , 1996bFanego, , 1998Fanego, , 2004aFanego, , 2004bFanego, , 2010Fanego, , 2016Rohdenburg, 1995Rohdenburg, , 2006Rohdenburg, , 2014Rudanko, 1998Rudanko, , 2000Rudanko, , 2011Miller, 2002;Los, 2005;Vosberg, 2006;and De Smet, 2008, 2010. However, further work on variation in clausal complementation is still needed, especially in Present-Day English "where comparatively little work has been done" (Fanego, 2007: 161), and also in World Englishes, since, as Schneider (2007: 86) argues, "a classic example [of innovations in varieties in phase 4, nativization] is the complementation patterns which verbs and also adjectives typically enter".…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contact-induced variation in clausal verb complementation: the case of REGRET in World Englishes

Romasanta

2017

RAEI

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It has been argued that in language contact situations both transfer processes from the substrate languages (Thomason, 2008) and cognitive effects derived from the language contact situation itself (Schneider, 2012(Schneider, , 2013 can constitute important catalysts for language variation and change. Regarding the verbal complementation system, Steger and Schneider (2012: 172), for example, notice a preference for finite patterns over non-finite structures in World Englishes (WEs), that is, a preference for more explicit forms (hyperclarity and isomorphism). On the contrary, Schneider's study (2012) does not confirm such a preference for more explicit forms in WEs in the competition between finite and non-finite patterns. This article intends to shed some light on the differences between the distribution of finite and nonfinite complementation patterns in WEs by exploring the complementation profile of the verb REGRET in two metropolitan varieties, British and American English, and comparing them to three geographically distant varieties with different substrate languages, historical contexts, and degrees of language contact: on the one hand, two ESL varieties, Hong Kong English and Nigerian English, and on the other, one ESD variety, Jamaican English, where contact is more pronounced. The main aim of this paper is, therefore, to investigate whether potential differences in the verbal complementation systems between varieties of English are product of cognitive processes derived from the language contact situation, a matter of transfer-induced change, or a combination of both.

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Some strategies for coding sentential subjects in English

Cited by 18 publications

References 24 publications

Nominal gerunds in 16th-century English. The function of the definite article

Nominal gerunds in 16th-century English. The function of the definite article

Innovation at the Grammar-lexis Intersection in World Englishes1

Contact-induced variation in clausal verb complementation: the case of REGRET in World Englishes

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