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

8 Peter Petré & Hubert Cuyckens
of 75 occurrences pmw in the period 5 – 250 (more or less one occurrence in
half an hour of spoken language).
Such a sudden change is improbable, at least in the constructional framework
we adopt. According to Croft (2000), change takes place in the replication of utterances
(unlike in some generative theories, according to which it is the grammar
as a unit that changes through its replication by the child). In a first stage, one or
more individuals replicate one or more utterances while altering one particular
element in them. The result of this process is an innovation. While an innovation
in an individual’s language is, by definition, sudden, the spread of an innovation
in a linguistic community – such as the spread of becuman in the new ap/np
copula-constructions – involves speakers replicating the new utterances (coined by
the innovators) until the gradual cumulation of this process of replication reaches
a point at which a change has taken place in the language as a whole (for empirical
support, see Croft 2000: 53–78). In this view, it is very unlikely that the early Middle
English texts, with their overall high frequency of becuman in copula-constructions,
all represent sudden independent innovations, simultaneously providing the necessary
spread in the language for the change to occur. Those advocating the resignation
policy will find a good argument in this case: Old and Middle English simply do
not compare. However, a more satisfying explanation is not impossible. In this respect,
it is crucial that at least three examples of construction (D) (Copula + ap) can
be attested in the OE material; this suggests that becuman had already developed
a copula function by the end of the tenth century, at least with adjectival subject
complements (these occurrences are considerably earlier than the earliest attestations
given in the OED and MED, which date from the mid-twelfth century):
(24) Us milde bicwom meahta waldend æt ærestan þurh þæs engles word.
(c970. Christ (Exeter):26.820)
“The wielder of powers became merciful to us at first through the word of the angel.”
(25) Gemun ðu min Drihten. þonne ðu mihtig becymst.
(c 000. ÆCHom II, 4. : 46.253)
“Remember my Lord, when you become powerful.” 6
(26) Breac longe ær wlencea under wolcnum; he þy wyrs meahte þolian þa þrage,
þa hio swa þearl becom. (c970 MetBo : 55.75)
“[Boethius’] had possessed for a long time before a pride under the sky; he
could endure this painful time the worse, as it became so strong.”
These examples indicate that the OE data we have available are at least misleading.
One plausible explanation is that the OE manuscripts are all very conservative
in nature, refusing to pick up the new development occurring with a verb such
6. This example is not derived from the present sample, but from WS material.