West Midland and Southwestern adjectival systems in early Middle English: a reanalysis.ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to present the process of functional reanalysis that took place in the adjectival ad·jec·ti·val adj. Of, relating to, or functioning as an adjective. ad  jec·ti systems of West Midland Noun 1. West Midland - a dialect of Middle EnglishMiddle English - English from about 1100 to 1450 and Southwestern dialects. The process is manifested in the interplay between case and gender marking, which is regarded as an intermediate stage in the process of adjectival disintegration in Early Middle English Middle English Vernacular spoken and written in England c. 1100–1500, the descendant of Old English and the ancestor of Modern English. It can be divided into three periods: Early, Central, and Late. . It is demonstrated that the formerly gender specific inflectional endings were reanalyzed to serve new functions as case markers in the aforementioned dialectal areas. An investigation into the dialectal distribution of the process reveals that prior to the loss of case and gender marking in West Midland and Southwestern dialects gender specific endings were reinterpreted to serve case functions. 1. Aims of the study The aim of this paper is to present the process of functional reanalysis that took place in the adjectival systems of West Midland and Southwestern dialects. This process is manifested in the interplay between case and gender marking, which will be regarded as an intermediate stage in the process of adjectival disintegration in Early Middle English. It will be demonstrated that the formerly gender specific inflectional endings were reanalyzed to serve new functions as case markers in the aforementioned dialectal areas. The stimulus for the present study stems from the oversimplified o·ver·sim·pli·fy v. o·ver·sim·pli·fied, o·ver·sim·pli·fy·ing, o·ver·sim·pli·fies v.tr. To simplify to the point of causing misrepresentation, misconception, or error. v.intr. presentation of the adjectival disintegration process in previous literature. It is generally acknowledged that the relatively sophisticated inflectional system of Old English Old English: see type; English language; Anglo-Saxon literature. Old English or Anglo-Saxon Language spoken and written in England before AD 1100. It belongs to the Anglo-Frisian group of Germanic languages. adjectives was drastically simplified in transition to the Middle English period. For instance, Welna (1996), among others, points to the fact that in Middle English "as a consequence of changes shared with nouns, first of all the reduction of unaccented un·ac·cent·ed adj. 1. Having no diacritical mark. Used of a word, syllable, or letter. 2. Having weak stress or no stress, as in pronunciation or metrical rhythm. Adj. 1. syl lables and analogical an·a·log·i·cal adj. Of, expressing, composed of, or based on an analogy: the analogical use of a metaphor. an leveling, the five-case system of adjectives became extensively simplified" (Welna 1996: 93). Another standard observation regarding the disintegration of the adjectival system is the retention of a few relic inflections in the dialects of the South and Midlands. For instance, Fisiak (1968 [1996]: 78) remarks that: At the start of Middle English some traces of older adjectival inflection can be found in the Southern and Midland dialects, as {-ne} in ale-ne acc. 'each', {-re} in age-re gen.-dat. 'own', {-re} in al-re gen.pl. 'all', and {-en} for all cases and genders except the nominative nominative (nŏm`ĭnətĭv), [Lat.,=naming], in Latin grammar, the case usually employed for the noun that is the subject of the sentence. singular, as in halech-en 'holy'. It appears that standard accounts of the process distinguish merely one stage in the loss of adjectival inflectional markers, namely the shift from the richly inflected in·flect v. in·flect·ed, in·flect·ing, in·flects v.tr. 1. To alter (the voice) in tone or pitch; modulate. 2. Grammar To alter (a word) by inflection. 3. system inherited from Old English to the highly invariable in·var·i·a·ble adj. Not changing or subject to change; constant. in·var i·a·bil system of Middle English with some relic forms
preserved in some dialects. However, an investigation into the dialectal
distribution of the process reveals that prior to the loss of case and
gender marking in West Midland and Southwestern dialects gender specific
endings were reinterpreted to serve case functions.
2. The data The data for the present study comes from texts of West Midland and Southwestern provenance. The reason for such a choice was the condition of the adjectival system in those dialects. In both dialectal areas the EME n. 1. An uncle. adjectival system still preserved a large portion of the older inflectional markers, which could provide input for the process of reanalysis. In East Midland Noun 1. East Midland - the dialect of Middle English that replaced West Saxon as the literary language and which developed into Modern English Middle English - English from about 1100 to 1450 texts the adjectival system is already reduced to such an extent that the gender specific markers are largely absent. For instance, Allen (1995: 213) postulated the complete loss of the category of the dative dative (dā`tĭv) [Lat.,=giving], in Latin grammar, the case typically used to refer to an indirect object, i.e., a secondary recipient of an action. For example, him in I gave him a book is translated in Latin by a dative case. in the Ormulum, a category in which gender distinctive endings were used for the feminine in Old English. Yet another East Midland text, the Peterborough Chronicle The Peterborough Chronicle (also called the Laud Manuscript), one of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, contains unique information about the history of England after the Norman Conquest. According to philologist J.A.W. , is devoid of any gender marking as observed by Clark (1957: 113), or Allen (1995: 183). The work of Ofverberg (1924), who conducted a detailed analysis of the adjectival forms in the texts of the East Midland area, confirms the lack of adjectival gender marking. The remaining dialecs are poorly represented in the textual material. Thus, the corpus selected for the present study consists of the following texts: West Midland: - Hali Meidhad, St. Juliana, Sawles Warde (Oxford, Bodleian Library Bodleian Library (bŏd`lēən, bŏdlē`ən), at Oxford Univ. The original library, destroyed in the reign of Edward VI, was replaced in 1602, chiefly through the efforts of Sir Thomas Bodley, who gave it valuable collections of , Bodley 34) - Lazamon Brut Brut, Brute (both: br  t), or Brutus (br A (London, British Library British Library, national library of Great Britain, located in London. Long a part of the British Museum, the library collection originated in 1753 when the government purchased the Harleian Library, the library of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, and groups of manuscripts. , Cotton Caligula A IX)
Southwestern: - The Benedictine Rule (London, British Library, Cotton Claudius D III) - Lazamon Brut B (London, British Library, Cotton Otho C XIII) 3. West Midland adjectival system: A reanalysis The West Midland dialect is represented in this study by two sources: the Katherine group The so-called Katherine Group is a group of five 13th century Middle English texts composed by an anonymous author of the English West Midlands. The texts are all addressed to anchoresses (religious recluses) and praise the virtue of virginity. and La3amon Brut A. Katherine group is composed of five texts: Seinte Juliene, Seinte Marherete, Seinte Katerine, Sawles Warde and Hali mei??had (Bately 1988: 55). Of these five texts three constitute the basis for investigation in this study: Seinte Juliene, Sawles Warde, and Hali Mei??had. The adjectival gender system of the Katherine group is highly depleted de·plete tr.v. de·plet·ed, de·plet·ing, de·pletes To decrease the fullness of; use up or empty out. [Latin d . Consequently, there is no input for the process of reanalysis in this group of texts. However, another West Midland source, La3amon Brut A, provides evidence of the process discussed in the present paper due to its relatively archaic character. The archaicizing tendencies in La3amon Brut A were pointed out by previous scholars (Stanley 1969). Among the signs of the archaic character of this text is the preservation of the adjectival strong/weak opposition. For instance, Burrow (1996: 30) claims that the declensional de·clen·sion n. 1. Linguistics a. In certain languages, the inflection of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in categories such as case, number, and gender. b. distinctions were preserved in this text. Simil ar observations were made by Lass (1992). Lass claimed a two stage restructuring, which in early texts was evidenced by inconsistent use of inflectional relics, and in later ones by the collapse of the strong/weak opposition (Lass 1992: 115). Milroy (1984: 10) with reference to La3amon Brut A in general states that it displays a number of conservative features such as inflection and grammatical gender Noun 1. grammatical gender - a grammatical category in inflected languages governing the agreement between nouns and pronouns and adjectives; in some languages it is quite arbitrary but in Indo-European languages it is usually based on sex or animateness gender preserved in a healthy condition. The Old English gender marker -re survived in this text in the dative singular forms. The dative singular feminine ending feminine ending n. 1. An extra unstressed syllable at the end of a line of verse. 2. Grammar A final syllable or termination that marks or forms words in the feminine gender. in the form of /r??/ is used in 50% of the contexts where the feminine noun was modified. 1) [Page 98] and zif ??u wult al bis land; nimen to ??ire azere hond. we wu11e?? mid be uehten; mid f((u))llere stren??en. and Caric of-slaen and alle his cnihtes flan; 2) [Page 90] Normandie and France; bi-wunnen mid fehte. preo & pritti kine-long; ich halde a mire azere hond. pae ze hit under sunnen; habbeo?? me bi-wunnen. 3) [Page 60] pae cnihtes mid weope; ??ene king awehten. & heo him to cleopeden; mid mildere steuene. Lauerd hu mid ??e; hu beo?? ??ine beo[r]ste. All of the modified nouns in the examples above were assigned feminine gender. However, the same ending occurs with Old English masculine and neuter neu·ter adj. 1. Having undeveloped or imperfectly developed sexual organs. 2. Sexually undeveloped. n. A castrated animal. v. To castrate or spay. neuter 1. nouns as well. 4) [Page 18] Blisse was on hirede. peo Brennes pis maeide nom. mid muchelere wurhscipe; he wunede mid ban ducke. pa bat forme zer; wharo foro igan. The modification of the originally masculine noun wurhschipe stands in contrast to the Old English rules of gender assignment on the adjectival inflectional endings. Thus, this extended use of the marker may as well be interpreted as an instance of reanalysis. The preservation of the adjectival grammatical gender in Lazamon Brut A was emphasized by a number of previous scholars (Milroy 1984, Clark 1957). However, the authors of these studies failed to notice that these gender specific markers were extended to serve as markers of the case rather than the gender function. 4. Southwestern adjectival system: A reanalysis The gender system of the Benedictine Rule seems unstable. Confusion in gender assignment of the adjectival forms appears abundant. Strong singular genitive genitive (jĕn`ĭtĭv) [Lat.,=genetic], in Latin grammar, the case typically used to refer to a possessor. The term is used in the grammar of other languages, but the phenomenon referred to may not closely resemble a Latin genitive; thus a adjectives modifying feminine nouns generally use the expected /r??] inflection. 5) [121.25] CLEOPIAP NUNNE ODDE OFFESTRE. Gyf hwylc abbodesse odoe aenig ealdor of haligre endebyrdnisse gewilnad, paet me hi on mynecene mynstre underfo... 6) [45.4] saete for awyrpnesse bare halige breomnesse. aefter ban utsangan reden maen pa becc godeundre lare aegpor ge of pare ealdon ae, ge of pare nywe, and eac heore trahtes, pe namcube... However, the same /r??/ ending appears modifying the originally neuter noun maezen. 7) [147.18] awriten is, to anginne godre drohtnunge, and swa aet nyxtan purh Godes fultum pu cymst to mare gepinoe godre magne and lare paere halgene, pe we bufe embe spece, paet a gewuroe ece lif to magne... Adjectives in the strong dative singular contexts generally display gender agreement with the modified feminine noun. The historically expected /r??/ inflection appears in the majority of the singular dative feminine contexts: 8) [31.1] gyf hwet to axsyenne sy, pat beo ponne geaxsod of pare ealdre mid ealre eadmodnysse and underpidnisse and mycelre arwyrpnysse, laeste heo mare spaece, penne hit fremye. Gabbunge oddo... The use of the ending /re/ appears to be extended to the entire case, as this inflection is present when adjectives modify masculine and neuter nouns as well. This is best illustrated by the examples below, where the noun in example (9) was originally masculine and the one in (10) was neuter: 9) [123.5] ne gedyrstlaece heo nane penunge to begynnen, bute paere abbo- desse hese. Sy heo aefre geare to aelcere steore be regoles tecinge, and swa mycle ma heo eowige edmodnesse and gode... 10) [5.23] us liues wegas aetyweo. We eornestlice mid clennesse modes and lichaman and mid geleafan and godre werce bigenge and mid ha- ligra maegene heuene his wegas geornlice faren and geernian, paet.. In Lazarnon Brut B lack of historical gender congruence con·gru·ence n. 1. a. Agreement, harmony, conformity, or correspondence. b. An instance of this: "What an extraordinary congruence of genius and era" is at times observed in the forms with the strong dative singular feminine ending /re/. This ending is indeed found in the strong singular dative feminine positions:
11) [Page 307]
Al zeode pes read; ase pe king hadde ised.
and Cona(n pa)r-to heold mid hezere strengpe.
And pe king wende forp in toward France.
12) [Page 345]
Vortiger pis iseh; and he to pan kinge beh.
mid mildere speche; he gan his louerd grete.
Hayl beo pou Constance; Bruttene louerd.
13) [Page 227]
and mochel of his folke flozen mid pan kinge.
and asteze pane hul; mid mochelere sorewe.
nopeles par vp pronge; nizentene pusend.
However, its use is extended beyond the bounds of the feminine nouns modification. The /re/ was also recorded with a originally neuter noun.
14) [Page 345]
Her beop chepmen icome; of oper londe alse hit his wone.
Hii habbe?? me itold, wi?? so??ere spelle
??at ??e king of Norweie; neuwenliche wole hider fare.
One interpretation of such usage is that the function of the older ending was confused and it was used indiscriminately with masculine and neuter nouns as well. Another possible explanation is the functional reanalysis of the older gender marker. The theory of reanalysis appears to explain the situation observed in this context. 5. Summary The analysis of the textual material revealed that West Midland and Southwestern texts seemingly display a degree of confusion in the usage of the feminine /r??/ ending. However, this confusion might be reinterpreted as a case of reanalysis. The preservation of this gender specific ending in West Midland and Southwestern dialects and its use throughout the entire case could find its explanation in the reanalysis suggested by Jones (1988). To sum up, it can be postulated that there were two stages in the adjectival disintegration process. The first stage is the retention and analogical enforcement of phonetically strong endings, such as strong singular genitive /??s/, dative /r??/ and accusative accusative (əky `zətĭv') [Lat.,=accusing], in grammar of some languages, such as Latin, the case typically meaning that the noun refers to the entity directly affected by an /n??/ with the
accompanying gradual loss of adjectival gender distinctions (Jakubowski
2001). The process of reanalysis, as suggested by Jones (1988) was at
work at this stage, which suggests a tendency to retain the older
adjectival case system categories. This stage is followed by the loss of
distinctive endings and the development of the adjectival inflection
system based on the /??/~/[PHI]/ opposition with the accompanying
gradual loss of adjectival case distinctions. It is likely that the
system found in Lazamon Brut A is still at the first stage of
disintegration and therefore displays such unexpected inflectional
diversity and archaic adjectival inflection features (Jones 1988). The
older case and gender distinctive markers underwent the process of
reanalysis in this text to perform the case functions at the expense of
gender distinctions (as suggested by Jones 1988).
In view of the complexity observed in the adjectival system disintegration it can be concluded that the accounts of adjectival disintegration in previous literature present a very simplified picture. These studies focus on the second stage of adjectival simplification suggested here, disregarding the first stage crucial to the understanding of the process.
Table 1.
Reanalysis in West Midland and Southwestern texts
GENDER West Midland Southwestern
KG Laz A BR Laz B
fem, /r??/ -- RNL RNL RNL
*/RNL- reanalysis
REFERENCES Allen, Cynthia L. 1995 Case-marking and reanalysis: Grammatical relations from Old to Early Modern English Early Modern English refers to the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period (the latter half of the 15th century) to 1650. Thus, the first edition of the King James Bible and the works of William Shakespeare both belong to the late phase . Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bately, Janet M. 1988 "On some aspects of the vocabulary of the West Midlands West Midlands, former metropolitan county, central England. Created in the 1974 local government reorganization, the county embraced the Birmingham conurbation and comprised seven metropolitan districts: Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Birmingham, Solihull, in the Early Middle Ages: The language of the Katherine group", in: Edward D. Kennedy -- R. Waldron -- J.S. Wittig (eds.), 55-77. Blake, Norman F. (ed.) 1992 The Cambridge history of the English language English is a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain by Germanic settlers and Roman auxiliary troops from various parts of what is now northwest Germany and the Northern Netherlands. . Vol. 2: 1066-1476. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). . Brook, G.L. -- R.F. Leslie (eds.) 1963 La3amon Brut. London: Oxford University Press. Burrow, John A. -- Thorlac Turville-Petre 1996 A book of Middle English. Oxford: Blackwell. Clark, Cecily 1957 "Gender in the 'Peterborough Chronicle', 1070-1154", English Studies 38: 109-115, 174. d'Ardenne, S.R.T.O. (ed.) 1961 The Liflade ant the Passiun of Seinte Iuliene. London: Oxford University Press. Fisiak, Jacek 1968 A short grammar of Middle English. Part I: Graphemics graphemics Linguistics. the study of systems of writing and their relationship to the systems of the languages they represent. Also called graphonomy. — graphemic, adj. , phonemics pho·ne·mics n. (used with a sing. verb) The study and establishment of the phonemes of a language. pho·ne  mi·cist n. and
[1996] morphemics mor·phem·ics n. (used with a sing. verb) 1. The study, description, and classification of morphemes. 2. The morphemic structure of a language. . Warsaw-London: Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe. Jakubowski, Piotr 2001 The loss of adjectival inflection in Early Middle English: A dialect criterion. [Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Adam Mickiewicz University]. Jones, Charles 1988 Grammatical gender in English: 950 to 1250. London-New York-Sydney: Croom Helm. Kennedy, Edward D. -- R. Waidron -- J.S. Wittig (eds.) 1988 Medieval English studies presented to George Kane. Wolfeboro, NH: Brewer. Lass, Roger 1992 "Phonology phonology, study of the sound systems of languages. It is distinguished from phonetics, which is the study of the production, perception, and physical properties of speech sounds; phonology attempts to account for how they are combined, organized, and convey meaning and morphology", in: Norman Blake (ed.), 23-155. Millett, Bella (ed.) 1982 Hali Meiohad. London: Oxford University Press. Milroy, James 1984 "The history of English in the British Isles", in: Peter Trudgill (ed.), 5-31. Ofverberg, William 1924 The inflections of the East Midland dialects in Early Middle English (substantives, adjectives, numerals and pronouns). Lund: Gleerup. Schroer, Arnold 1888 Die Winteney version der Regula S. Benedicti. Halle: Max Niemeyer. Stanley, Eric G. 1969 "La3amon's antiquarian an·ti·quar·i·an n. One who studies, collects, or deals in antiquities. adj. 1. Of or relating to antiquarians or to the study or collecting of antiquities. 2. Dealing in or having to do with old or rare books. sentiments", Medium Evum 38: 23-37. Trudgill, Peter (ed.) 1984 Language in the British Isles. Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University Press. Welna, Jerzy 1996 English historical morphology. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. Wilson, R. M. (ed.) 1938 Sawles Warde: An Early Middle English Homily homily (hŏm`əlē), type of oral religious instruction delivered to a church congregation. In the patristic period through the Middle Ages the focus of the homily was on the explanation and application of texts read or sung during the (Bodley, Royal and Cotton Mss.). Leeds: Kendal. |
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