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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Adverb-marking patterns in Earlier Modern<br />
English coordinate constructions<br />
Amanda Pounder<br />
In addition to <strong>the</strong> common pattern of X-ly and Y-ly in <strong>the</strong> coordination of<br />
adverbs, minority patterns such as X and Y-ly have also been observed in Early<br />
Modern and Modern English texts. While <strong>the</strong> pattern is thought typical of<br />
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century texts, examples can be found in current<br />
English as well. This paper explores <strong>the</strong> question of whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> choice between<br />
<strong>the</strong> patterns is due to aes<strong>the</strong>tic criteria such as eurythmy, <strong>the</strong> maintenance of<br />
symmetry, or a desire to avoid repetition. It concludes that all three may play a<br />
role. After considering <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>oretical alternatives of paradigmatic selection and<br />
morphological ellipsis in <strong>the</strong> analysis of <strong>the</strong> choice of <strong>the</strong> non-suffixed adverb in<br />
coordinate constructions, it seems that both strategies are available to English<br />
speakers. The morphological ellipsis strategy aligns English with a variety of o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
languages which use zero morphology in similar constructions.<br />
1. Introduction<br />
The history of <strong>the</strong> marking of deadjectival adverbs in <strong>the</strong> English language is very<br />
much still obscured by <strong>the</strong> interplay between written text and <strong>the</strong> spoken medium.<br />
For example, it is hardly likely that <strong>the</strong> zero-form of <strong>the</strong> derived adverb as verbal<br />
modifier (as in He handled that situation excellent) is a recent innovation, yet it appears<br />
only very rarely in texts of any kind appearing before <strong>the</strong> twentieth century<br />
(cf. e.g., Nevalainen 1994, 1997 & Pounder 2001, 2004). It would seem, fur<strong>the</strong>r, that<br />
a restriction of <strong>the</strong> zero-adverb in written text predates <strong>the</strong> period normally associated<br />
with intense prescriptive pressure (Pounder 2007). It seems safe to propose<br />
that <strong>the</strong> zero-form has long been typical of <strong>the</strong> spoken language, whe<strong>the</strong>r socially<br />
stigmatized or not, or restricted to informal registers or not. Occasional occurrences<br />
of <strong>the</strong> zero adverb in Early Modern English and Late Modern English texts<br />
hint at a possible preferential selection of <strong>the</strong> zero adverb in a particular syntactic<br />
context, namely in conjunction with ano<strong>the</strong>r adverb. The present paper attempts<br />
to account for such a preference with reference to both <strong>the</strong> word-formation system<br />
1. I thank all referees for <strong>the</strong>ir helpful comments. The research on which this paper was based was<br />
supported by <strong>the</strong> University of Calgary and <strong>the</strong> Universität Konstanz, for which I am very grateful.