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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138 Richard Ingham & Klean<strong>the</strong>s K. Grohmann<br />
of <strong>the</strong> position of <strong>the</strong> passive subject, we would expect that pre-modern and early<br />
modern English varieties in which PFM is not found would exhibit <strong>the</strong> same range<br />
of passive subject possibilities as we found in <strong>the</strong> London chronicles. However,<br />
this, as well as o<strong>the</strong>r aspects of <strong>the</strong> topic, must be left for fur<strong>the</strong>r research.<br />
5. Conclusion<br />
The goal of this paper was to present findings <strong>from</strong> an investigation of subject-verb<br />
misagreement we have identified in Late Middle English, namely a finite singular<br />
auxiliary form with a plural post-finite subject found in expletive passive constructions<br />
in Late Middle English (mid to late 15th century). It occurs not only in clauses<br />
containing an overt expletive subject (<strong>the</strong>re), but also in those with no overt expletive.<br />
We <strong>the</strong>n sought to understand why <strong>the</strong> PFM phenomenon arose when it did,<br />
and what level of linguistic analysis seems most appropriate. The notion of was as<br />
a morphological default form of were was rejected as constituting no more than a<br />
re-description of <strong>the</strong> phenomenon in question, ra<strong>the</strong>r than offering an explanatory<br />
account. Our conclusion is that both <strong>the</strong> sociolinguistic dimension, in particular<br />
<strong>the</strong> presence of vernacular influence, and also a structural analysis of clauses having<br />
post-finite subjects need to be covered. We have <strong>the</strong>refore made <strong>the</strong> assumption<br />
that PFM reflected a formal property of <strong>the</strong> grammar of speakers represented by <strong>the</strong><br />
authors of <strong>the</strong> London chronicles, but was sensitive to <strong>the</strong> sociolinguistic context in<br />
which <strong>the</strong>y operated. It has been proposed here that an increase in <strong>the</strong> use of was<br />
for were by London speakers in <strong>the</strong> 15th century – possibly as a result of <strong>the</strong> dialectal<br />
mix known to have been a feature of <strong>the</strong> capital in that period – became analysed by<br />
learners of this grammar as a structural cue. A structure was posited in which not<br />
only <strong>the</strong> overt expletive <strong>the</strong>re, but also <strong>the</strong> by now archaic null expletive, was variably<br />
assigned a singular number feature. PFM consisted of agreement between <strong>the</strong> finite<br />
verb form and that element. To that extent London chronicle writers, even when<br />
using an archaism, never<strong>the</strong>less reflected <strong>the</strong> vernacular that <strong>the</strong>y witnessed.<br />
Sources<br />
‘Ælfr C. Hom Thorpe’: The Homilies of <strong>the</strong> Anglo-Saxon Church: The First Part, Containing<br />
<strong>the</strong> Sermones Catholici or Homilies of Ælfric, ed. Benjamin Thorpe (2 vols.). London,<br />
1844–6.<br />
‘AR’: Ancren Riwle, ed. and tr. by James Morton <strong>from</strong> Ms. Nero A. xiv, Vol, 57. London: Camden<br />
Soc., 1852 (De la More Press reprint, 1905).<br />
‘AW’: Ancrene Wisse: The English Text of <strong>the</strong> Ancrene Riwle, ed. by Arne Zettersten <strong>from</strong> Magd.<br />
Coll. Cambs Ms. Pepys 2498, EETS OS 274. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976.