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

52 Kristin Bech
Table 1. Word order distribution in Old and Middle English non-coordinate and
coordinate clauses
Noncoord.
clauses
Coord.
clauses
Old English Middle English
Word
order
Early OE Late OE Early ME Late ME
patterns No. % No. % No. % No. %
XVS 321 36.3 263 32.1 204 23.3 123 20.1
SVX 175 19.8 230 28.0 336 38.4 249 40.6
XSV 101 11.4 86 10.5 145 16.6 149 24.3
Other 288 32.5 241 29.4 190 21.7 92 15.0
Total 885 100.0 820 100.0 875 100.0 613 100.0
XVS 47 12.9 49 11.4 42 11.2 64 10.1
SVX 92 25.2 130 30.2 127 33.9 224 35.2
XSV 59 16.2 42 9.8 91 24.3 267 41.9
Other 167 45.8 209 48.6 115 30.7 82 12.9
Total 365 100.1 430 100.0 375 100.1 637 100.1
2.3 Verb types
For the purposes of this study I distinguish between verbs with complement, verbs
without complement (cf. Visser 1963), copulas and existential verbs. The reason
why I do not use the terms ‘transitive’ and ‘intransitive’ is that, in Old English,
the distinction is not between direct and indirect objects, but between accusative,
genitive and dative objects (Mitchell 1985 I: 651). Besides, if a verb is classified as
‘transitive’ and ‘intransitive’, it is the potential verb complementation that is meant,
and some verbs may be inherently both transitive and intransitive. I am here interested
in what is actually there; what clause elements are overtly expressed.
Verbs with complement are thus verbs that take accusative, genitive or dative
objects, or an object clause, and in addition any adverbial elements. Verbs without
complement occur in clauses with just a subject and a verb, or in clauses with
subject, verb, and one or more adverbial elements. Visser classifies copulas as a
subcategory of verbs with complement (1963: 189), but I have categorized them as
a separate group. However, clauses with a copular verb may have another complement
as well, and in these cases the verb has been classified as both a copula and a
verb with complement.
‘Verbs of appearance or existence on the scene’, or existential verbs, is a category
introduced by Firbas (1957, 1966, 1992), and covers verbs that “imply or even
explicitly express ‘appearance – a kind of coming into existence – on the scene’
(i.e., the scene created by the narrow, ad hoc context at the moment of utterance)
or simply ‘existence’ on this scene” (Firbas 1966: 243). Existential verbs, of which