A Germanic Sandwich 2010 Oldenburg

A typological switch in Early Modern English – and the beginning of one in Dutch?

Bettelou Los & Marianne Starren, Radboud University NijmegenBettelou Los & Marianne Starren, Radboud University Nijmegen

Bounded versus unbounded languages

The Quest:1)Auf einmal hört der Lehmmann Wasser tropfen

Und dann gräbt er nach dem Wasser Bis der Sand dann unter ihm nachgibtBis der Sand dann unter ihm nachgibt

2)The man is hearing the sound of dripping waterand he is digging for the waterand the sand is caving in under him (von Stutterheim et al. 2002: 25)

Bounded versus unbounded languages

Bounded

←subevent 1→ ←subevent 2→ ←subevent 3→

Events are segmented into temporally bounded subeventsEvents are segmented into temporally bounded subevents

Unbounded:--- subevent 1---

--- subevent 2------- subevent 3 ----

Events are segmented into temporally overlapping subevents.

Local versus global anchoring

Picture depicting an old town centreGerman: local anchors:

3) Auf den linken Seite ist eine ApothekeOn the left side is a drugstoreOn the left side is a drugstore

4) Vorne im Bild ist eine Strasseat the front of the picture is a street

English: A global anchor: This is a picture of a busy square.

5) There is a square with a fountain(Carroll and Lambert 2003: 269)

Coding options

German: • verb-second rule makes two prominent positions available in an

unmarked clause:

XP - (verb) – subjectXP - (verb) – subjectThis means that the subject can be reserved for the protagonist, and the

first position for linking and “anchoring”• No grammaticalized progressive.

English: • one prominent position only in an unmarked clause: the subject

(Downing & Locke 1995), both for linking and protagonists. • A grammaticalized progressive.

English subjects and Dutch/German PPs

(6) A few years ago a penny would buy two or three pinsMet een kwartje kon je vroeger een ijsje kopen

(7) This hotel forbids dogs.In diesem Hotel sind Hunde verboten

(8) This trial cannot proceed.(8) This trial cannot proceed.Wir können mit dem Prozeß nicht fortfahren

(9) The latest edition of the book has dropped a chapter.In der letzten Ausgabe des Buches ist ein kapitel hinzugefügt

(10) This room stinks.In diesem Zimmer stinkt ES.

(11)The roof of the tunnel was seeping water.Durch die Tunneldecke sickerte Wasser (durch).

(12)This loses us the best centre forwardDamit haben wir den besten Mittelstürmer verloren (Hawkins 1986, Rohdenburg 1974)

German and Dutch: Corpus Studies

Corpus studiesCorpus studiesCorpus studiesCorpus studies subject subject subject subject firstfirstfirstfirst adverbialadverbialadverbialadverbial firstfirstfirstfirstGerman spoken corpus (Engel 1974: 212-215)

51% 35%

German newspaper 54% 35.8%German newspaper corpus (Fabricius-Hansen & Solfjeld 1994: 101-102)

54% 35.8%

Dutch spoken corpus (based on Bouma 2008: 97, 279-283)

68% 26%

Table 1: the first constituent of main clauses

Old English and Present-Day English

Corpus studiesCorpus studiesCorpus studiesCorpus studies subject subject subject subject firstfirstfirstfirst adverbialadverbialadverbialadverbial firstfirstfirstfirstOld English: Joseph in Egypt (Los 2009)

55% 40%

Present-Day 75% 25%Present-Day English: Joseph in Egypt (The Message, Bible translation in colloquial PDE; Los 2009)

75% 25%

Table 2: The first constituent of main clauses in parallel texts

Old English and Present-Day English subjects

ElliptedElliptedElliptedElliptedOE: 111 (17%)PE 44 (7%)

ProperProperProperProper namenamenamename PronounPronounPronounPronoun DefiniteDefiniteDefiniteDefinite NPNPNPNPOE 35 132 37PE 65 143 82

OE: subjects encode the protagonistPDE: subjects encode the protagonist and links

Tables 3 and 4: Subjects in two parallel texts

Present-Day English: Adverbials

ClauseClauseClauseClause----initialinitialinitialinitial ClauseClauseClauseClause----medialmedialmedialmedial

ClauseClauseClauseClause----finalfinalfinalfinalPlace 5% 5% 90%Place adverbial

5% 5% 90%Time adverbial

20% 25% 55%

Table 5: position of adverbials in PDE (Biber et al. 1999: 802-3, The Longman Grammar of spoken and written English)

Deictic elements in first constituent phrasal adverbials

AdverbialAdverbialAdverbialAdverbial ClausalClausalClausalClausal Phrasal,Phrasal,Phrasal,Phrasal, nonnonnonnon----deicticdeicticdeicticdeictic

Phrasal,Phrasal,Phrasal,Phrasal,deicticdeicticdeicticdeictic

OE: 37 17 114 (68%)OE: 37 17 114 (68%)PDE: 48 22 32 (31%)

(13) Ic geseah wingeard. On þam waeron III clystru <Gen (Ker) 40.9-10>I saw a vineyard In that were three vines‘I saw a vineyard. It had three vines/In it were three vines.’

Table 6: OE Genesis text and PDEThe Message Bible

(14) þa namon hig an ticcen & ofsniðon hit & bedipton his tunecan on þam blode <Gen (Ker) 37.31>‘(They took Joseph’s coat,) butchered a goat, and dipped the coat in the blood’ (The Message Bible)

Verb-sec ond in OE

wh-word, the negator ne or þa ‘then’: verb second like Dutch or German (XP –V – S), whether subject is nominal or pronominal:

(15) ða gebrohte man him to, tomiddes þam folce, ænne dumne mann,then brought one him to among the people a dumb manthen brought one him to among the people a dumb man

& se wæs eac swilce deaf... <ÆHom 18, 25>and he was also likewise deaf‘then was brought to him/then people brought to him, among the people, a man who was dumb, and also deaf’

Other first constituents: pronominal subjects before, nominal subjects after V:(16) Be ðisum lytlan man mæg understandan ... <ÆGenPref 72>

by this little one may understand‘By means of this little thing can be understood...’

Changes in coding options in PDE

• Loss of gender and an articulate demonstrative system (12thC)• Loss of OV orders (12th-13th C) and adverbial position to the left of

the VP• Loss of verb-second rule (15th C) -> loss of local anchoring• Rise of progressive (ca. 16th C) -> rise of overlapping unbounded • Rise of progressive (ca. 16th C) -> rise of overlapping unbounded

temporal segments

(17) I see him *cross/crossing the street(18) I saw him cross/crossing the street

Van Gelderen 2004: bare infinitive in (17) only ungrammatical from ca. 1800

Different perspectives: back to the Quest

See/hear + -ing: progressive action

(19) - He wakes up to see a large piece blowing directly towards him- and you see this piece of paper flying right at him- so he sees it flying at him- so he sees it flying at him

Dutch speakers only use a passive here or a presentative construction:(20) – mannetje wordt omvergeblazen door een blaadje dat in z’n gezicht

waait/door een rondvliegend papiertje- ho, er komt bijna papier tegen zijn hoofd aan- er komt een blaadje op hem afBut not:- hij ziet een blaadje op zich afkomen

Progressives and motion verbs

Dutch/German:

• general constraint on motion verbs and progressive• Motion verbs tend to correlate strongly with goals/endpoints

(21) *Hij was/is naar het fietshokje aan het lopen(22) De trein rijdt *(door een landschap)(23) *De trein is (door een landschap) aan het rijden(24) a. Ze breidt een trui (object creates endpoint)

b. Ze is een trui aan het breien (negates perfective default interpretation)

English speakers: motion and progressives

German speakers: motion and endpoints/goals

Progressives and endpoints

See/hear + -ing:

(25) – from the top of the cairn he looks around and sees water dripping on a rock- and suddenly he sees water drip from the sky again (cf. 17!)- and suddenly he sees water drip from the sky again (cf. 17!)

Dutch speakers use an AcI here:(26) – en dan ziet hij weer water druppelen

- en hij hoort weer water druppelen- en hij ziet weer waterdruppels op de stenen vallen

NB: OE relied on motion and perception verbs followed by bare infinitives to indicate ongoing action (Richardson 1994: 318)

Inanimate subjects and protagonists

German(27) Ein kleiner Mann surft auf den Wellen.

‘a little man surfs on the waves.’ Dann wird er plötzlich von dem Brett geweht.Dann wird er plötzlich von dem Brett geweht.‘Then he is suddenly from the board thrown.’

English(28)A young man is surfing.

The wind is blowing him off the board.(Carroll, von Stutterheim & Nuese 2004: 190)

Inanimate subjects and protagonists in the Quest

(29) – A huge pile of rocks sprouts up from the floor and now he’s on top of it- Now a rock, a huge rock just emerged from the ground…- All these rocks are popping up and one pops up under his feet- Big rocks coming up and he goes up with them- A man is walking and now he’s lifted up by a big rock like a pillar- A man is walking and now he’s lifted up by a big rock like a pillar

Dutch: either as a postverbal subject or in by-phrase (cf. 20)(30) - Er komen ook stenen uit de grond

- hij wordt opgetild door een stapel stenen– terwijl hij loopt komen er stenen uit de grond en daardoor is hij nu opgetild

Anchoring in the Quest

(30) – en daar ziet hij weer een plas water- daar springt hij dan in…- daar springt hij vanaf…- en daar wordt hij wel blij van geloof ik- en daaronder ziet hij water- en daaronder ziet hij water

English: no location or location clause-final(31) - and he sees a puddle

- he leaps, so he can jump down there– he jumps- he is overjoyed- and there’s a little puddle of water down there

Granularity: Anchoring in the Quest

Events/comments not mentioned by the English speakers:(32) – en daar valt ons poppetje van daarnet bovenop

- Water, daar is hij naar op zoek- daar is het water weer in beeld- daarmee mept hij op de grond- daarmee mept hij op de grond- en daar valt het mannetje dan in- daarmee slaat hij op de waterplek- daar ziet hij een mogelijkheid- daar is weer de woestijn- daar valt hij op de grond- en daaronder is water- daar ziet hij water liggen (AcI)

‘Dutch speakers emphasize where something happens, English speakers emphasize that something happens’

Granularity: instruments in The Quest

Instruments less often mentioned by the English speakers

(33) – so he begins hitting the rocks with another rock

(34)- so he finds another rock that’s kind of smaller than this than this one, and (34)- so he finds another rock that’s kind of smaller than this than this one, and he picks it up and he starts beating this rock, he starts trying to break this rock open

(35) – hij is aan het hakken met een grote steen- pakt een stuk rots, daarmee slaat hij op de waterplek- Hij pakt een rots en slaat ermee op de steen waar het water valt

8/20 (40%) versus 25/35 (70%) mentions: granularity or restricted adverbial positions?

Conclusions

• OE had similar set of coding options as the other Wgerm languages (anchoring in verb-second)

• Verb-second was lost in ME• Progressive gradually developed from EMODE onwards• This could point to a typological switch• This could point to a typological switch• Dutch has verb-second but also a grammaticalizing progressive• Dutch still seems to side with German in being a bounded language• Difference in use of AcI and in the granularity of descriptions could offer

further hypotheses on loss of boundedness in English• Problem: how does online present tense commentary compare to past

tense narratives, and a “grammar of prose”?• Problem: translations as research material

Subjects over time in English

60

70

80

Sbj-First

0

10

20

30

40

50

O12 O34 M1 M2 M3 M4 E1 E2 E3 B1 B2 B3

Perc

enta

ge

Sbj-First

Obj-First

PP-First

Adv-First

TmpNP-First

NPother-First

Clause-First

Other-First

The make-up of English subjects

50

60

Sbj_Pro

Dem-First

0

10

20

30

40

O12 O34 M1 M2 M3 M4 E1 E2 E3 B1 B2 B3

Pe

rce

nta

ge

Dem-First

Sbj_DefNP

Sbj_Proper

Sbj_Other

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