Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang
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On <strong>the</strong> post-finite misagreement phenomenon 127<br />
that PFM was a vernacular trait just because it represented <strong>the</strong> natural unmonitored<br />
performance of speakers, and that <strong>the</strong> impact of growing standardisation on <strong>the</strong><br />
written textual record had <strong>the</strong> effect of expunging PFM as writers paid more<br />
attention to norms.<br />
Finally, we might consider a formal syntactic account of <strong>the</strong> PFM phenomenon,<br />
such that agreement fails in certain types of structure, as has been proposed,<br />
among o<strong>the</strong>rs, for Celtic (cf. Borsley 2006) and Arabic (Mohammad 1989). Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore,<br />
it is known that agreement inflexions in Old English were often reduced<br />
in inverted clauses (van Gelderen 1997), especially in <strong>the</strong> 2nd person, e.g.:<br />
(5) For hwon ahenge þu mec? Exeter Book, Christ 1.1487<br />
why hang you me<br />
‘Why did you hang me?’<br />
It could be that <strong>the</strong> pattern illustrated in (1)–(4) above is a late survival of <strong>the</strong> Old<br />
English structure. If this line of investigation is followed, questions of subject type<br />
and position will be relevant, as well as <strong>the</strong> presence or absence of expletive <strong>the</strong>re,<br />
and perhaps information structure characteristics of clauses.<br />
The goal of this paper is thus to clarify <strong>the</strong> status of subject-verb misagreement<br />
in Late Middle English, in terms of <strong>the</strong> level of analysis at which it should<br />
be addressed: Should it be called a vernacular trait? Does it reflect a processing<br />
phenomenon, or can we see it as structurally determined?<br />
The article is laid out as follows. In Section 2 we present <strong>the</strong> results of our<br />
analysis of <strong>the</strong> London Chronicle plural subject data. We <strong>the</strong>n try a number of avenues<br />
offering potential solutions to <strong>the</strong> problem in Section 3, going on to propose<br />
what we think best accounts for <strong>the</strong> nature and timing of <strong>the</strong> PFM phenomenon<br />
in Section 4. Section 5 briefly summarises our main points.<br />
2. Data<br />
2.1 Sources<br />
Data were drawn <strong>from</strong> eight 15th-century London chronicles analyzed for full<br />
nominal plural subjects in pre- or post-finite position in clauses with a finite form<br />
of be (copula or auxiliary). Co-ordinate subjects were discarded, as <strong>the</strong>se could<br />
take singular verb forms in Old French or Latin (Legge & Holdsworth 1934), potential<br />
sources of influence on educated speakers at this time. The London chronicles<br />
seem to have been compiled in English between 1430 and 1480 (Flenley 1911).<br />
One that was begun in <strong>the</strong> 1440s (Vitellius) was continued into <strong>the</strong> first few years<br />
of <strong>the</strong> 16th century. Their authors were citizens of London of <strong>the</strong> merchant class,