Personal endings of ablaut verbs in early American writings.

ABSTRACT

The present paper deals with verbal endings in seventeenth and early eighteenth century American English. Since it is a corpus-based study, a collection of early American texts was compiled and afterwards processed manually. The major guidelines adopted in the process of corpus collection are as follows: the chosen texts represent diverse types of formality and different relationships to the spoken medium. In order to facilitate the discussion of the development of the third person indicative present singular verb inflection as well as the subjunctive in the new variety of English, the American findings are related to the contemporary developments recorded in the British corpus tailored as a supplementary collection aiming to parallel the American texts. The following personal endings are touched upon in the present article: second person singular (-st), third person singular (-th, -s, and zero endings), third person plural (zero vs. -s), and, finally, the subjunctive.

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1. Periodization 

This paper concentrates on verbal endings in seventeenth and early eighteenth century American English. The time span between 1620-1720 has been picked for the purpose of the present analysis, as this century constitutes a perfect period for the linguistic study of the beginnings of American English. Although it is apparent that the foundations of American English (in the present article, the New England-based variety is labeled early American English (1) lie in the British variety of English of the late 1500s and early 1600s, the language, once in America, starting from the third decade of the seventeenth century, can be perceived to have evolved autonomously (Kyto 1991: 3). This period can be further subdivided into three sub-periods in order to trace the diachronic change taking place among the verbal endings. The subdivision is based on a number of external factors. The beginning of the first sub-period, embracing the time span 1620-1650, is set by the arrival of William Bradford and the separatists in Plymouth in 1620. As for the language of the first Colonists, it was British rather than American English. The time limits of the second sub-period (1662-1692) are set by the Synod of 1662, dubbed the "half-way covenant", which, to a certain extent, was the embodiment of the onset of the decline of the Puritan doctrine. The beginnings of the last decade of the seventeenth century witnessed the secularization of life and the disintegration of the old social order (Kyto 1993b: 116). Linguistically, the new generation, born in America, started to shape the new offshoot of English. The last period (1700-1720) bears witness to a feeling of national independence which increased due to further changes in social order, the shifted life-focus from England to America, and, finally, the diminishing importance of the puritan doctrine.

2. Corpus of Early American and British English 

The Northern American English section of the Helsinki Corpus is not accessible yet, therefore, the corpus of American texts was compiled for the purpose of this research and afterwards processed manually. Since the study of the language of the Northern Colonies presents a more rewarding starting point for a study of early American English (Kyto 1991:186, Rissanen 1985), (2) the current analysis is focused on writings produced in New England. A number of factors determined the choice of the Northern material. As the Southern colonies maintained closer bonds with their British homeland, one can assume that works written in this region might have been more influenced by British English than the ones written in New England. Furthermore, the advancement of New England at the time (as compared to Virginia) in the matter of education, faster spread of print in the North, and, finally, the mere availability of the New England material justify the choice of the seventeenth and early eighteenth New England idiom as the object of linguistic scrutiny.

As for text types, the corpus under discussion is based on different texts representing diverse types of formality and different relationships to the spoken medium. Ten types of texts are included in the corpus: letters (private and official), diaries, historical writings, sermons, town records, journals, trials (depositions), prose of persuasion (embracing captivities, apologiAs, and essays), and, finally, poetry. The major handicap of the compiled corpus is the lack of travel accounts from the middle period published in the colonies as well as trials (depositions and appeals) from the time span 1700-1720.

As observed by Rissanen (1986), the judgments of style or levels of formality and informality are based purely on intuition, hence the categories formal/informal, speech-based/non-speech-based, are nondiscrete. It can be assumed, however, that to the more informal end of the stylistic continuum embracing texts reflecting the written medium belong such texts as informal letters, diaries, and journals, while the more formal end is represented by formal letters, historical writings, poetry, and essays. It is also assumed that texts recording speech (records of meetings, transcripts of sermons, witnesses' depositions) are closer to the spoken than written medium.

In order to facilitate the discussion of the development of the third person indicative present singular verb inflection in the new variety of English, the findings are related to the contemporary developments recorded in the Mainland language. The British corpus was tailored as a supplementary collection aiming to parallel the American texts, and thus the selection depended upon two major factors: the date of composition or publication and the purpose of a given text (text type). It should be noted that in the case of the British corpus, the adopted sub-periodization does not reflect the language-external conditions in England, but corresponds to the three sub-periods distinguished in the first century of the development of American English.

For the sake of comparability, the selection of British materials was restricted to the same text types as the ones comprising the American corpus. However, one problem that emerged was with matching suitable texts from the British counterpart of the American town records. Most of the materials found by the author were 'calendared' rather than transcribed and therefore of no use for linguistic purposes. Moreover, even the so-called "transcriptions" turned out to be deficient for the purpose of this study. In view of this, nine text types, instead of ten, are included in the collection of British texts.

It has also to be stated that both corpora are not entirely parallel. Firstly, the greater body of British texts preserved and published in the period in question allowed, wherever possible, for, at least, partial avoidance of possible idiolectal influences through the use of more than one text within a given genre. Secondly, some of the texts that made their way into the American corpus are characterized by a very close resemblance to the spoken medium; they oftentimes come from under the pen of non-elite classes and are characterized by a straightforward style, which seems unparalleled by the writings composed and published in contemporary Britain.

3. Introductory remarks on personal endings

It must be noted here that only inflexional endings attached to verbs forming their preterite and past participle forms by means of vowel gradation are taken into consideration. It must also be remarked that, regrettably, an unsatisfactorily low data input for the -th ending will make it impossible to analyze its textual distribution according to such criteria as the level of formality and speech relatedness.

Kyto (1993b: 113) rightfully states: "The later stages of the rivalry of the third-person singular ... endings coincide with the beginnings of early American English, the first major transoceanic variety of English to emerge in the 17th century". As expected, during the period under study, the main line of development is the replacement of the -th by the -s ending in the third person present singular. The minor role of zero forms that are occasionally encountered is also taken into consideration. Instances of the second person singular ending -st are observed quite frequently, however they are limited exclusively to the solemn style and used with thou.

Endings attested in the American part of the corpus show the basic present indicative paradigm:

l sg - [empty set] 2 - st (with thou) 3 - s / -th 3 - [empty set] / -s

4. Secondperson singular

The second-person forms with -st are marked for concord with thou. They become rarer as the pronoun thou falls into disuse in the course of the seventeenth century (Barber 1976: 237). In the corpus, the -est morpheme appears both in its full form (givest, knowest), and with syncope of the vowel (giv'st, know'st). Moreover, in the three sub-periods under analysis, two isolated cases of-est following the past tense forms were identified as in:

1) Thou hast upheld mee from the womb, thou art he that tookst mee out of my mothers belly ...

(The Bay Psalm Book, 1956)

In the first sub-period almost every instance out of twelve forms marked for concord with thou is used in addressing or referring to God. A similar scenario is observed in the time span 1662-1692, where seven out of the eight occurrences appear in the elevated prose (sermons) and poetry, and only one is used in the "prose of persuasion" genre to address the reader:

2) Reader, if thou gettest no good by such a Declaration as this, the fault must needs be thine own.

(Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs Mary Rowlandson, 1946: 117)

As expected, in the last sub-period, embracing the first two decades of the eighteenth century, such forms are confined to poetry. Twelve occurrences appear in Edward Taylor's poems.

In summation, it is legitimate to conclude that in the first century of the development of American English, the use of thou+verb marked with -est fell into abandonment. Its use was confined predominantly to writings in solemn or archaizing style, especially sermons and Puritan poetry.

5. Third person singular and plural

5.1. Introductory remarks

The change in the third person singular from -th to -s is "an interesting testing ground and touchstone for any theory of morphological change. The complexity of the replacement process is compounded by the advent of the written register in English in which an autonomous development towards s is checked and by which th receives an added register or sociolinguistic dimension as a marker of written language" (Stein 1988: 271).

There is no need to repeat the entire history of the rivalry between the two endings, however, a concise outline of their situation is warranted.

In terms of the fifteenth century, it is postulated that the difference between the -th and -s ending was regional: whereas the Southern paradigm embraced the first ending in the third person singular indicative, in the East Midland dialects the -es ending originated. Wyld (1920: 336) refutes this supposition and puts forward the following scenario of proliferation of the -es, and ultimately -s ending: "It is possible (...) that the starting point of the -s forms has nothing to do with regional influence, but that the extremely common Auxiliary is may have provided a model." He sums up his allegation by arguing that is might be the bona fide explanation of the third-person singular indicative in -s in the spoken dialect of London, the South and, finally, the literary English. (3)

In the early sixteenth century the preponderant form is -eth, although -es does appear in educated speech, even in the South (Barber 1976: 239). In the second half of the century -es gains complete acceptance to presumably become the norm by about 1600. As argued by Lass (1999: 164), in the earlier part of the sixteenth century forms in -s were possibly the informal variants, whereas third-person indicative singular in -th "neutral and/or elevated".

At the end of the sixteenth century -s might have belonged to the spoken norm among the educated, with -th being a metrical variant or the embodiment of the conservatism of the written language. The first half of the seventeenth century still bears witness to considerable fluctuation, however, the phonetic realization of the -th variant is uncertain. Lass (1999: 164) quotes the passage from Richard Hodges' Special help to orthography (1643: 26-27): "Therefore, whensoever eth, cometh in the end of any word, wee may pronounce it sometimes as s & sometimes like z as in these words, namely in bolteth it and boldeth it, which are commonly pronounc't, as if they were written thus, bolts it, bolds it ...". Accordingly, one may assume that in the late stages of the rivalry between the -s and -th endings, the latter was already pronounced as/s/ or /z/. Finally, in the middle of the century in question, the occurrence of the -th ending witnesses less frequency, to become sporadic toward the end of the seventeenth century.

As far as the linguistic factors that might have influenced the choice of forms (ending in -s or -th) are concerned, the number of instances in -th remains too low in the studied period to allow for the discussion on the impact of such aspects as negation, furthermore, the array of the cases attested is too scant to ponder on the influence of stem-final sounds on verb endings. (4) However, the present paper is an attempt to utilize the corpus data in view of socio-stylistic factors which influenced the distribution of the -s and -th endings.

5.2. Discussion

In terms of the extralinguistic factors influencing the fall or rise of linguistic forms, the textual genre might have considerable influence on the choice of the form. As Devitt (1989: 298) points out, the -th/-s variation is possibly "most revealing of differences across genres in the American study." Accordingly, the analysis of the data within the framework of textual distribution is necessary. Since, on the one hand, the results for the -th ending are so scarce that it is hardly possible to analyze their emergence in "formal" or "informal" context, on the other--the -s ending prevails regardless of the level of formality, accordingly, this criterion will not be taken into account in further discussions. Finally, due to the lack of the adequate amount of data, such an author-related parameter as gender of the writer is not applicable in the current study.

5.2.1. Overall distribution of forms

Comparisons between the developments recorded in the Colonial language and the mother tongue are of major interest. In this section, the developmental trends attested in the use of the third person present inflection in both varieties of English are compared in order to contrast linguistic change in the transplanted variety with what takes place in the Mainland language. It should be mentioned here that the discrepancy in the textual basis (the lack of suitable texts corresponding to American town records) is taken into consideration in the present analysis.

As for the Colonial variety of English, out of a total of 615 examples found in the analyzed material, 86.7% (533 instances) occur with the -s ending; only 13.3% (82 cases)--with the -th ending. The overall distributions of the forms by the three sub-periods under discussion are given in Table 1 (the figures are calculated into normalized frequencies per 1,000 words).

The figures for the period under study confirm the prevalence of the -s ending in third-person singular. It is noteworthy that incidental instances of the marked -th are dispersed across the majority of genres (except trial records and travel accounts) in the period 1620-1650. From the second half of the seventeenth century onwards, the number of marked -th endings dwindles rapidly and the -s establishes its even more solid position. Figure 1 illustrates the preponderance of -s in three sub-periods under discussion.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

On the basis of the diagram above it is possible to state that through the century under discussion -s was the predominant form. The rise in figures for -th in the second sub-period, where the ratio of -th to -s approximates one to three, is predominantly due to the extensive choice of this ending by Increase Mather, as shown in the section to follow.

In terms of the rivaling -s and -th endings attested in the corpus of British writings analyzed, out of a total of 637 examples found in the material covered, 94% (598 instances) occur with the -s ending, only 6% (39 cases)--with the -th ending. The distribution of both forms across text types comprising the corpus of British writings is set out in Table 2.

The stages of rivalry of the -s vs. -th endings in early British writings under scrutiny present a different scenario from that exhibited in their American counterparts. Whereas in the period 1620-1650, a small number of the -th endings was attested in all text types analyzed, in the second sub-period (embracing the years 1662-1692) the declining importance of the ending in question is immediately obvious since only in two genres does the marked -th emerge. It should be remarked that six occurrences spotted in Bacon's writings (representing the prose of persuasion genre) seem to have been a means of imparting a more solemn tone to the style of his essays.

In the last sub-period, the preponderance of the -s form is strongly felt irrespective of text type, for no case of the th-forms was recorded in the corpus. Nonetheless, it must be remarked that the scarce number of the -th endings (six cases) was attested in the biblical quotations. The gradual disappearance of th-forms from British writings is illustrated by the following diagram:

All in all, the conclusion with regard to the rivalry of the s-ending with the th-ending in both American and British English seems to be that in the language of the American settlers the -th ending lingers longer than in the contemporary Mainland language, which may testify to the conservative traits of the language of the early Colonists.

5.2.2. Textual distribution of personal endings in early American materials

The textual distribution observed for the variant forms in -th and -s are given in Table 3 and 4, respectively.

Table 3 shows that next to sermons, being the major source of the marked -th (especially in the second sub-period in question), this third-person singular ending was used quite consistently in both poetry and town records. It has to be remembered that some low figures are dependable on genre, therefore, the analysis of such text types as history writing, witnesses' depositions or the reports of travels will ipso facto result in the scarcity of examples of present tense verbs. Nonetheless, on the basis of the table presented above, one can attempt to draw a diachronic conclusion concerning the textual distribution of the third-person singular indicative in -th.

In the writings of the settler generation, the scattered instances of-th endings appeared in the majority of text types, with the exception of trials and travel. In the writings of the subsequent, American-born generation, the text types which witnessed the appearance of the marked -th dwindled to the following four: town chronicles, trials, sermons, and poetry.

Interestingly enough, as the seventeenth century wears on, the great majority of forms appear in the elevated style of sermons. A great number of instances emerged in the sermon of Increase Mather, where the largest number of the -th ending appear with speak (speaketh--thirteen occurrences), (be)come (cometh--eleven instances), go and know (three occurrences of goeth and knoweth, respectively).

It is apparent that the longer preservation of the th-forms in church preaching must be ascribed to influence of the biblical language (Jespersen 1942: 20). It is tempting to state that in the last sub-period the use of the marked -th utterly covaries with religiously motivated content or the purposes of stylistic decorum. Indeed, this claim holds true for the poetry of Edward Taylor, where rare instances of, for example, shineth or tareth do appear. As for sermons, no instances of-th used by either Mather or Green were attested; however, it should be mentioned that some occurrences were recorded in both sermons, however each case of the th-forms emerged in passages cited from the Bible. In view of that, it can be argued that the last period scrutinized witnessed even more stringent limitation and even scantier appearance of the -th ending.

Setting aside the isolated cases spotted in the prose of persuasion and formal correspondence, at the beginning of the eighteenth century the greatest number of third-person singular in -th was channeled through town records. The most common variants spotted in this genre are runeth, cometh, and goeth. The alternating forms either with -th or -s are used quite haphazardly, hence goeth is used alongside goes, cometh alongside comes, runeth appears in the same line as runs, see example (3).

3) ... the ... said Lot Runs through the Second devision then the Line that Runeth betwen the Sequestred Land and the half devision Land ...

(New Haven Town Records, 1649-1769, 1962: 370)

Such a usage may suggest that the spelling -eth came to be pronounced as [[diff]z]. This claim can be supported by another citation from Hodges', this time from the final edition to his guide to writing (1653: 63-64, quoted in Kyto 1993b: 134, fn. 10): "howsoever wee write many words as if they were two syllables, yet wee doo commonly pronounce them as if they were but one, as for example, these three words, leadeth, noteth, taketh, we doo commonly pronounce them thus, leads, notes, takes, and so all other words of this kinde".

Considerably more instances of the -s ending were recorded in the early American writings. Their textual distribution is set out in Table 4.

All the texts show overwhelming preference for the -s form as compared to the scantily represented -th endings, appearing mostly in the period 1620-1650. As can be seen in Table 3, sermons, poetry, and town records, in which a relatively consistent use of the relic marked -th was attested, are simultaneously the locus of progressiveness, since the largest number of the -s ending was recorded in both genres in question.

5.3.1. Plural -s ending

The main method of marking third-person-plural present-tense indicative verbs in Early American English was the base form of the verb plus a zero morpheme. The rare plural -s forms (no plural -th attached to an ablaut verb was attested in the corpus) are scattered throughout the century. The corpus examples are given below:

4)

a) ... my prouisiones grows skant: though I husband them the best I cane. (Winthrop Papers. III, 1943: 22-23)

b) Itt is ordered thatt Mr. Evance shall have the 2 trees wch stands before his house, in lew of 2 peeces of timber thatt brother Andrews had of his about the meeting house.

(Records of the colony and plantation of New Haven, from 1638 to 1649, 1857: 74)

c) ... many here knowes how deepely many have suffered ...

(The apologia of Robert Keayne, 1886: 49)

d) I thinke it wilbe his wisdome to pay them, especially the smaller giftes as fast as he can by degrees, as debts or pay comes in though somewhat before the time mentioned ...

(The apologia of Robert Keayne, 1886: 18-19)

The use of the plurals in -s, is by no means peculiar to American writings. The projection of the third-person singular indicative ending to the third-person plural was closely connected with establishing -s in third person singular in colloquial usage. Wyld (1920: 340-341) gives examples of sixteenth century instances emerging from under the pen of the cultivated writers, giving credence to the notion that such usage was not confined to the speech of those less educated.

In terms of the subject type, in the examples (4a) through (4c) the noun appears in plural. In the next example (4d) the plural and singular nouns are coordinated by the conjunction or. The presence of the singular noun adjacent to the verb can serve as an explanation for the choice of the marked variant instead of the zero form (Kyto 1993b: 119). In the latter example the situation is similar, where the proximity of the singular noun triggered the use of the -s ending.

Similar situation is manifested in the British material, where several occurrences of the plural -s form were found, as illustrated by the following example:

5)

a) The Bridge is a stately building all stone with 18 arches most of them bigg enough to admit a large barge to pass it; its so broade that two coaches drives a breast, and there is on each side houses and shopps just like any large street in the Citty...

(The Journeys of Celia Fiennes, 1947: 290)

b) ... then goes the Privy Councellors that are not Peers of the realme, then two Pursuivants goes.

(The Journeys of Celia Fiennes, 1947: 296)

The appearance of these s-forms in third person singular is influenced by the indiosyncratic usage of one author, Celia Fiennes (all nine instances were recorded in her travel account).

The scarcity of such forms prevents wider discussion or observations concerning the sub-period distributional patterns. Nevertheless, isolated appearances of the plural -s endings in the corpus as well as data emerging from the scrutiny carried out by Kyto (1993b: 119-120), allows the assumption that such forms were in decline in both varieties of English in the century under discussion.

5.3.2 Zero forms in third person singular indicative

Only one undisputable zero form was found in the American sources covered:

6) ... betwixt itt and the river where the land fall narrow ... (Records of the colony and plantation of New Haven, from 1638 to 1649, 1857: 63)

This rare example indicates that this form is a relic that practically disappeared form American writings (note that no instances of zero forms emerge from the British materials). As indicated by Kyto (1993b: 118), the decline of the zero form in the third person singular indicative can be explained in the light of the heavy functional load the form had obtained over the centuries as a marker of the third person present subjunctive, present indicative, and, especially, the third person present plural form.

6. Subjunctive

The subjunctive is far more common in the American English of the century under discussion than it is in Present-day English. Three examples from three consecutive sub-periods researched are grouped under (7):

7)

a) ... although my lord bear with my dulness, and take pains himself to teach me.

(The Diary of Michael Wigglesworth, 1942-1946: 323)

b) ... if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

(Increase Mather: Jeremiads, 1985:11)

c) Remember I told you so, and that many Months will not pass before this come to pass.

(Magnalia Christi Americana, 1702 [1972]: 38)

In the data, the subjunctive appears most frequently in subordinate clauses introduced by subordinate conjunctions: if, (al)though, before, lest, till, until, unless, when, etc.. The majority of the cases (48) occur after if, the rest is quite evenly distributed among forms appearing after various conjuncts, with the slight preponderance after till / until.

The subjunctive (70 cases) noted in the early American writings (5) is variable. In the third person singular appearing in the clause following the above-mentioned subordinate conjunctions, by and large, one finds the preponderant base-forms--94% (66 occurrences out of 70 examples), however, this is not always the case, as evident from the -s and -th forms emerging in the subjunctive (6%) and grouped under (8):

8)

a) ... unlesse the King comes in by way of Conquest and Tyranny ... (Christ the fountaine of life, 1972: 34)

b) ... before she comes to receive her portion ... (The apologia of Robert Keayne, 1886: 20)

c) ... if when he seeth the sword come upon the land, and he blow the trumpet, and warn the people ... his blood shall be upon his own head...

(Increase Mather: Jeremiads, 1674: 11)

d) ... if the child be then liveing to be kept & imprved for hir till she be marriyed or comes of age to receive it her selfe ...

(The apologia of Robert Keayne, 1886: 24)

Such instances support the argument put forward by Barber (1976: 246-247), who claims that in Early Modern English in the context suggesting doubt, hypothesis, or volition, especially after if, though, whether, till and so on, one can find either the subjunctive (if he come) or the indicative (if he comes). However, the latter phenomenon applies to a minority of forms in the corpus: out of eighty-nine instances, only in four the inflected form appeared in subordinate clauses introduced by the conjuncts, dispersed in the seventeenth century writings. It should also be noted that as for early American writings, the subjunctive was found in a number of contexts: for instance, introduced by an indefinite relative pronoun or adjective and after an adverb, in main clauses expressing wish or purpose, and, finally, after "verbs of commanding and entreating" (Barber 1976: 247).

9) God give him to see the evill in his failings. (Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, 1606-1646, 1964: 278)

On the basis of these examples, it is safe to conclude that the subjunctive was by no means vestigial in early American English and its appearance was by far more frequent than in Present-day American English. However, as pointed out by Abbott (1953: 116), as early as the seventeenth century modal auxiliaries took over many functions of the subjunctive, which ultimately led to the prevailing contemporary way of expressing the subjunctive idea.

In the British texts under analysis, so intensive a usage of the subjunctive was not recorded, as indicated by the lower figures (39 instances). In terms of vacillation between the usage of either the subjunctive or the indicative in subordinate clauses introduced by subordinate conjunctions, the subjunctive appeared in 69% of cases (27 instances) and the indicative occurred in 31% (11) (the indicative existed by the side of the prevalent subjunctive through the century). It must be noted that the corresponding figure for the American English texts is 94%.

Figures obtained for both American and British English point to the fact that the mother tongue, in terms of the subjunctive, was further on its way toward the situation of the Present-day English than its colonial variety.

7. Concluding remarks

In view of the results discussed above, the following conclusions can be formulated. The inflectional system of early American English, especially toward the end of the seventeenth century, was on its way to becoming what it is today, with the exception of the subjunctive, which was firmly established in the speech of American colonists. However, when compared with the contemporary British variety, it exhibits some conservative traits in the prolonged use both of the--th ending and the subjunctive introduced by subordinate conjunctions.

The second person singular ending -st, marked for concord with thou, is confined solely to the stylistic purposes and manifests itself in the writings representing solemn style or in the poetic genre. Other endings being on a verge of disappearance are the zero forms and the plural -s ending whose importance, according to the corpus data, was practically insignificant in early American writings.

In terms of the third person singular, the attempt to utilize the corpus data in view of socio-stylistic factors led to the following conclusions: the -s ending was firmly established in the first century of the existence of American English. Whereas in the first half of the seventeenth century the marked -th witnessed relative popularity in the majority of texts under research, toward the end of the century it was mainly pushed to religious and archaizing writings or poetry. In the less cultivated speech, the only exception are the town chronicles, through which the third-person singular indicative in -th was channeled to the first two decades of the eighteenth century, nonetheless, it was already a relic and rare form pushed aside by the dominant -s ending.

Appendix I: Classification of early American texts on the basis of
their type and date of composition or publication.

The following tables present the structure of the corpus arranged
according to the text type type, date of composition or the span
time covered by a given text. The word counts are based on
estimates carried out manually.

THE FIRST SUB-PERIOD: 1620-1655

TEXT TYPE    AUTHOR         YEAR        TITLE/TEXT          WORDS

letters      Various        1630-1639   formal             12 400
             authors                    informal           14 000

travel       Francis        1630        A true relation     5 000
             Higginson                  of the last
                                        voyage to
                                        New England

historical   William        1620-1631   Bradford's         23 800
writings     Bradford                   history of
                            1630        Plymouth
                                        Plantation
             Francis                    New England's       4 200
             Higginson                  plantation

poetry       Samuel         1647        Poems               2 200
             Danforth       1640        Booke of           15 700
                                        psalmes

prose of     Robert         1653        The apologia of    41 600
persuasion   Keayne                     Robert Keayne

trials                      1651        Witchcraft         10 000
                                        annals

town                        1639-1642   New Haven Town     13 800
records                                 Records

sermons      John Cotton    1639        Sermons            30 300

diaries      Michael        1652-1653   Diary              27 000
             Wigglesworth

                                                Total:    200 000

THE SECOND SUB-PERIOD: 1662-1692

TEXT TYPE        AUTHOR          YEAR        TITLE/TEXT           WORDS

letters          various         1670-1690   formal              14 400
                 authors                     informal             3 600

travel                --            --              --             --

historical       William         1677        A narrative of      15 900
writings         Hubbard                     the troubles
                                             with the Indians

poetry           Michael         1662        The day of doom     12 000
                 Wigglesworth

prose of         Mary            1675        Narrative of the    21 000
persuasion (1)   Rowlandson                  captivity of Mrs
                                             Mary Rowlandson

trials                           1692        Salem Trials        14 700
                                 1671-1680   Suffolk Records     12 300
                                 1679-1680   Witchcraft           2 600
                                             annals

town                             1670-1673   New Haven Town      18 000
records                                      Records

sermons          Increase        1674        The day of           9 700
                   Mather                    trouble is near
                 Samuel Parris   1689        The sermon          14 800
                                             notebook

diaries          Samuel          1674-1682   Diary               21 000
                 Sewall

                                                      Total:    160 000

THE THIRD SUB-PERIOD: 1700-1720

TEXT TYPE    AUTHOR          YEAR        TITLE/TEXT         WORDS

letters      Various         1705-1719   formal            14 400
             authors                     informal           3 200

journals     Sarah Knight    1704        The journal of    10 200
                                         Madam Knight

historical   Cotton          1702        Magnalia          48 000
writings     Mather                      Christi
                                         Americana

poetry       Edward Taylor   1708-1719   The poems         12 600

prose of     Cotton Mather   1710        Bonifacius        17 500
persuasion

trials            --            --             --            --

town                         1710-1719   New Haven Town    15 200
records                      1702/3-     Records            5 700
                             1706        Boxford Town
                                         Records

sermons      Henry Flynt     1714        The doctrine       7 500
                                         of the last
                                         judgment

             Increase        1700        The order of      10 100
             Mather                      the gospel

diaries      Joseph Green    1700-1715   Diary of Rev.     12 000
                                         Joseph Green

                                                Total:    156 400

Appendix II: Classification of early British texts on the basis of
Their type and date of composition or publication

THE FIRST SUB-PERIOD: 1620-1655

TEXT TYPE    AUTHOR          YEAR        TITLE/TEXT         WORDS

letters      Various         1705-1719   formal            14 400
             authors                     informal           3 200

journals     Sarah Knight    1704        The journal of    10 200
                                         Madam Knight

historical   Cotton          1702        Magnalia          48 000
writings     Mather                      Christi
                                         Americana

poetry       Edward Taylor   1708-1719   The poems         12 600

prose of     Cotton Mather   1710        Bonifacius        17 500
persuasion

trials            --            --             --             --

town                         1710-1719   New Haven Town    15 200
records                      1702/3-     Records            5 700
                             1706        Boxford Town
                                         Records

sermons      Henry Flynt     1714        The doctrine       7 500
                                         of the last
                                         judgment

             Increase        1700        The order of      10 100
             Mather                      the gospel

diaries      Joseph Green    1700-1715   Diary of Rev.     12 000
                                         Joseph Green

                                                Total:    156 400

THE FIRST SUB-PERIOD: 1662-1692

TEXT TYPE    AUTHOR          YEAR        TITLE/TEXT          WORDS

letters      Various         1670-1690   formal letters      8 600
             authors                     informal letters    8 800

travel            --            --              --            --

historical   John Milton     1670        The history         26 400
writings                                 of Britain

poetry       John Dryden     1685        Poems               11 100
             John Milton     1667        Poetical works       3 600

prose of     Francis Bacon   1673        Essays               5 600
persuasion   Izaak Walton    1676        The compleat        10 200
                                         angler (1)

trials                       1685        The trial of        19 600
                                         Titus Oates
                             1685        The trial of        15 500
                                         the Lady Alice
                                         Lisle

sermons      John            1682        A sermon preach     17 500
             Tillotson                   at the funeral
                                         of the Reverend
                                         [M.sup.r] Thomas
                                         Gouge

diaries      Bulstrode       1667-1673   Diary               20 000
             Whitelocke
             Samuel Peppys   1669        Diary               12 700

                                                  Total:    159 600

THE SECOND SUB-PERIOD: 1700-1720

TEXT TYPE    AUTHOR          YEAR        TITLE/TEXT          WORDS

letters      Various                     letters              9 300
             authors                     informal letters     8 300

travel       Celia Fiennes   1701-1703   The journeys of     27 300
                                         Celia Fiennes

historical   Brunet          1703        Burnet's history
writings                                 of my own time

poetry       Pope            1715        Poems               18 800

prose of     Anthony         1711/1714   The moralist;       20 100
persuasion   Cooper                      Reflections

trials            --            --              --             --

sermons      Samuel Clarke   1704-1705   A discourse         20 600
                                         concerning the
                                         being and
                                         attributes of
                                         God ...

diaries      John Evelyn     1703-1706   The diary of        22 800
                                         John Evelyn

                                                  Total:    147 200

Table 1. The -s and -th endings in third-person present singular
inflection in early American writings

TT          LF     TEXTS                  1620-1650
                                       -s         -rh

S-B         I      town records        20         4
                                       1.4492     0.2898
                   trials              6
                                       0.6

            F      sermons             86         5
                                       2.8382     0.165

non S-B     I      diaries             48         3
                                       1.7778     0.1112

                   travel              1
                                       0.2

                   letters             15         2
                   (informal)          1.0714     0.1428

            F      letters             5          1
                   (formal)            0.4032     0.0806

                   history writing     10         4
                                       0.3571     0.1428

                   prose               26         1
                                       0.625      0.0240
                   poetry              30         3

                                       1.6759     0.1676

TOTAL: 615                             247        23
                                       1.235      0.115

TT          LF     TEXTS                  1662-1692
                                       -s         -th

S-B         I      town records        8          4
                                       0.4444     0.2222

                   trials              8          3
                                       0.2702     0.1013

            F      sermons             30         29
                                       1.2244     1.1836

non S-B     I      diaries             26
                                       1.238

                   travel              -          -


                   letters             14
                   (informal)          3.889

            F      letters             10
                   (formal)            0.6944

                   history writing     3
                                       0.1886

                   prose               15
                                       0.7142

                   poetry              20         4
                                       1.6667     3.3333

TOTAL: 615                             134        40
                                       0.8375     0.25

TT          LF     TEXTS                  1700-1720
                                       -s         -th

S-B         I      town records        20         13
                                       0.9569     0.6220

                   trials              -          -

            F      sermons             21
                                       1.1931

non S-B     I      diaries             4
                                       0.3333

                   travel              10
                                       0.9803

                   letters             9
                   (informal)          2.8125

            F      letters             9          1
                   (formal)            0.625      0.0694

                   history writing     20
                                       0.4167

                   prose               14         1
                                       0.8        0.0571

                   poetry              45         4
                                       3.5714     0.3174

TOTAL: 615                             152        19
                                       0.9718     0.1214

TT = text types, S-B = speech-based, I = informal, F = formal

*/ empty cells indicate the absence of the -th form in a given text;
dash indicates the lack of a given text type;

Table 2. The -s and -th endings in third-person present singular
inflection in early British writings

TT        LF   TEXTS                1620-1650
                                  -s       -th

S-B       I    trials             23       2
                                  0.8041   0.0699

          F    sermons            25       2
                                  1.3020   0.1041

non S-B   I    diaries            4        2
                                  0.2222   0.1111

               travel             18       11
                                  0.6792   0.4150

               letters            18       1
               (informal)         2.4324   0.1351

          F    letters            12       2
               (formal)           0.9756   0.1626

               history writing    29       8
                                  1.1068   0.3053

               prose              24       1
                                  1.7142   0.0714

               poetry             42       2
                                  1.7004   0.0809

TOTAL: 637                        195      31
                                  1.1023   0.1752

TT        LF   TEXTS                1662-1692          1700-1720
                                  -s       -th       -s       -th

S-B       I    trials             49                 -        -
                                  1.3960

          F    sermons            10       2         21
                                  0.5714   0.1142    1.0194

non S-B   I    diaries            31                 11
                                  0.9480             0.4824

               travel             -        -         42
                                                     1.5384

               letters            12                 9
               (informal)         1.3636             1.0843

          F    letters            11                 14
               (formal)           1.279              1.5053

               history writing    25                 7
                                  0.9469             0.35

               prose              32       6         21
                                  2.0253   0.3797    1.0447

               poetry             33                 75
                                  2.2448             3.9893

TOTAL: 637                        203      8         200      0
                                  1.2719   0.0501    1.3586

TT = text types, S-B = speech-based, I = informal, F = formal

*/ empty cells indicate the absence of the -th form in a given text;
dash indicates the lack of a given text type;

Figure 2. The distribution of the -s and -th endings in early
British writings

                   the -s ending     the -th ending

sup-period I       1.1023            0.1752
sub-period II      1.2719            0.0501
sub-period III     1.3586            0.0000

Note: Table made from bar graph.

Table 3. Textual distribution of the -th ending in early
American writings

sub-       town        trials      sermon      diaries     travel
period     records

I          4                       5           3
           0.2898                  0.165       0.1112
II         4           3           29                      -
           0.2222      0.1013      1.1836
III        13          -
           0.6220
Total      21          3           34          3           0
102

sub-       letters     letters     history     prose       poetry
period     (I)         (F)         writing

I          2                       41          1           3
           0.1428                  0.1428      0.0240      0.1676
II                                                         4
                                                           0.3333
III                    1                                   4
                       0.0694                              0.3174
Total      2           2           41          1           11
102

I = informal, F = formal

*/ empty cells indicate the absence of the -th form in a given text;
dash indicates the lack of a given text type;

Table 4. Textual distribution of the -s ending in early
American writings

sub-       town        trials      sermon      diaries     travel
period     records

I          20          6           86          48          1
           1.4492      0.6         2.8382      1.7778      0.2
II         8           8           30          26          -
           0.4444      0.2702      1.2244      1.238
III        20          -           21          4           10
           0.9569                  1.1931      0.3338      0.9803
Total      48          14          137         78          11
533

sub-       letters     letters     history     prose       poetry
period     -1          (F)         writing

I          15          5           10          26          30
           1.0714      0.4032      0.3571      0.625       1.6759
II         14          10          3           15          20
           3.889       0.6944      0.1886      0.7142      1.6667
III        9           9           20          14          45
           2.8125      0.625       0.4167      0.8         3.5714
Total      38          24          33          55          95
533

I = informal, F = formal

(1) Cf. Kyto (1989), quoted in Montgomery (2001: 117).

(2) As argued by Kyto (1991:12): "Though the texts ... derive from the Massachusetts, Connecticut, New England and Rhode Island colonies, accounting for the intercolonial or other local variation was considered to be beyond the scope of the present study (one reason for this was the insufficient number of candidates for systematic coverage of text types within each colony)."

(3) Barber (1976), among others, suggests a slightly different scenario, namely that the -s ending spread from poetry to other genres as a convenient metrical device.

(4) The phonotactic factor which might have also influenced the choice of a variant form--the unstressed syllables following the verb--was discussed by Samuels (1972:174-175).

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RADOSLAW DYLEWSKI Adam Mickiewiez University, Poznan