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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6 Peter Petré & Hubert Cuyckens<br />
One of <strong>the</strong> newly emerging alternatives, becuman, deserves special attention, as<br />
it is <strong>the</strong> most frequent alternative <strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> very beginning, and, more importantly,<br />
because it went down <strong>the</strong> grammaticalization path <strong>the</strong> fur<strong>the</strong>st, eventually shedding<br />
off all its non-copularizing functions. By ME already, becuman had assumed<br />
most copula functions of weorðan, as is illustrated in (2 )–(23).<br />
(C) Copula + pp<br />
(2 ) Vor al þe lost of þise wordle […] ne byeþ bote a drope of deau/ to þe ziȝþe of þe<br />
welle. […] huanne me wenþ hine nime: he ualþ agrund/ and to naʓte becomþ.<br />
(c 340. Ayenbite of Inwit:9 )<br />
“Because all <strong>the</strong> lust of this world […] is but a drop of dew in comparison to <strong>the</strong><br />
well. When one thinks to take it, it falls down and comes to nought [= becomes<br />
nothing].”<br />
(D) Copula + ap<br />
(22) And he bicom riʓth fyne wroþ. (c 400 (?a 300). Kyng Alisaunder I:235)<br />
“And he became pretty much angry.” (compare (20))<br />
(E) Copula + np<br />
(23) Þe uerste is. huanne/ eny uor drede/ of pouerte. oþer uor couaytise/ uor to wynne:<br />
uorzaʓþ god/ and þe cristene bileaue. and becomþ bougre. oþer ieu. oþer sarasin.<br />
(c 340. Ayenbite of Inwit:43)<br />
“The worst is, when anyone, because of dread for poverty, or for <strong>the</strong> desire to<br />
make profit, abandons God and <strong>the</strong> catholic belief, and becomes heretic, or Jew,<br />
or Saracen.”<br />
The only frequent function of weorðan not found for becuman is its use with participial<br />
complements. O<strong>the</strong>rwise, <strong>the</strong> types of construction found with becuman in<br />
ME are very similar to <strong>the</strong> major types associated with weorðan. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, <strong>the</strong><br />
relative frequencies of becuman in ME differ far less <strong>from</strong> those of weorðan than in<br />
<strong>the</strong> preceding OE periods, as is made clear by a comparison of Figure 5 (in which<br />
occurrences of weorðan + past participle are left out) to Figure 6. In sum, in <strong>the</strong><br />
ME period becuman has acquired all <strong>the</strong> major functions found with weorðan: it<br />
occurred as an intransitive verb meaning ‘arise’, with a dative object meaning ‘befall’,<br />
and as a copula with Prepositional, Adjectival and Nominal subject complements.<br />
The most striking difference between weorðan and becuman in ME (apart<br />
<strong>from</strong> <strong>the</strong> absence of participial complements) is <strong>the</strong> higher number of NP subject<br />
complements in <strong>the</strong> case of becuman.<br />
While <strong>the</strong>se relative frequencies make clear that weorðan and becuman behave<br />
similarly in early ME, <strong>the</strong>y also reveal <strong>the</strong> vast difference between <strong>the</strong> two verbs in<br />
OE. Indeed, while weorðan in OE showed copula uses with adjectival and nominal<br />
subject complements (in addition to intransitive uses, uses with dative objects,<br />
and copula uses with pp complements), becuman saw a relatively high proportion of<br />
copula uses with pp complements, but was hardly ever used as a copula marking