Selected Papers from the Fourteenth International ... - STIBA Malang

206 Claudia Lange & Ursula Schaefer
and Finegan (1992: 689) proliferates in the EModE period and is well represented
in the searchable Chadwyck-Healey English Drama Database (ChHEDD), which
contains 1,224 plays from the period under discussion. It has to be kept in mind,
however, that the ChHEDD is not a balanced corpus in any strict sense of the word,
nor is it possible to give anything other than absolute figures for the occurrences
of it is I/me.
A first search within the time frame given by the Helsinki Corpus subperiods for
EModE was again disappointing: we found no examples for it is me and its variants
in EModE 1 and just three examples in EModE 2; it is only from EModE 3 onwards
that we have more than a handful of examples for it is me. We therefore extended
our search to include the period from 1600 to 1800, which is represented in the
ChHEDD by 1,784 plays. It seems, then, that the expression it is me was not established,
or even available in sufficient quantity, at the time when the “stabilization of
the state of affairs” supposedly took place. The actual figures for occurrences of it is
me and related constructions are given in Table 2 below.
Table 2. ClCs and IdCCs in the ChHEDD, 1600–1800
Construction
Total no of
examples. IdCC
subject
ClC,
Ø rel.
subject
ClC,
+ rel.
Σ
subject
ClCs
object
ClC,
Ø rel.
it is I 49 20 8 21 29 – –
’twas I 323 81 110 128 238 1 3
’tis I 627 303 212 108 320 3 1
it is not I 11 1 3 7 10 – –
’tis not I 13 9 – 4 4 – –
is it I 9 1 – 7 7 – 1
Σ 1,032 415 333 275 608 4 5
object
ClC,
+ rel.
it is me/it’s me 11 5 – 3 3
it is not me 7 5 – – – 2 –
’tis not me 7 4 – – – 2 1
’twas not me 1 1 – – – – –
not me/be me 2 19 14 – – – 4 1
’tis me 37 13 – – – 21 3
’twas me 15 3 – – – 12 –
it was me 3 2 – – – 1 –
is it me 4 – – – – 2 2
Σ 104 47 – – – 36 10
2. This category comprises tokens where the dummy subject it is/’tis is omitted (e.g., why
not me?) and subjunctives or other modal expressions (e.g., if it be not me, that must be me
(cf. example 21)).