HEL.
U
NIT
1:
I
NTRODUCTION
1
Seminar 2:
Activity 1: Spot the change!
Here you can find examples of linguistic change in the different periods of the History
of English. Classify them according to the relevant level of language (semantic change,
morphological change…etc.). In the case of Old and Middle English and Early Modern
English texts, identify one change on each linguistic level if possible.
PDE
Increasing extension of the progressive to stative verbs.
Mouse n. (OALD)
2 plural also mouses (
COMPUTING
) a small device that is moved by hand across a surface to
control the movement of the cursor on a computer screen Click the left mouse button
twice to highlight the program. Use the mouse to drag the icon to a new position.
Acquisition of a new meaning (through metaphor) due to change in the world. New plural form,
-es. I-mutation plurals (mice) no longer productive in the language. New words form their plural
with the only productive pattern.
LModE
Now I will return to Fanny –it rains. (1818 Keats, Letters 75 p. 170 (3 Jul.))
The division of labour between progressive and simple forms is not found until the late 19
th
century. Until then, simple forms could be used to indicate actions going on at the moment of
speaking.
But are there six labourers’ sons educating in the universities at this moment? (1850, Kingsley,
Alton Locke xiii.138)
Educating is a passival (active form with passive meaning). The progressive passive is first
found at the end of the 19
th
century. It was rebuked by grammarians, but finally the innovation
succeeded because with the addition of the progressive passive the verb system became more
symmetrical.
EModE
Think’st thou so Nurse, What sayest to Wat and Nicke? (HC, Middleton 20)
Do-support was not obligatory in EModE in questions and negative clauses.
The pronoun thou (2
nd
person singular) and its corresponding verb ending (-est) disappeared
from the standard in the 18
th
century.
