Parameters of variation between verb-subject and subject-verb order in late Middle English

Anthony Warner

doi:10.1017/S1360674306002127

Parameters of variation between verb-subject and subject-verb order in late Middle English

Anthony Warner

Language and Linguistic Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article sets out to clarify the contribution of syntactic properties and subject weight for variation between verb-subject and subject-verb order in a database of fourteenth and fifteenth-century prose. It sets out the syntactic structures which are assumed, and investigates the impact on ordering of a set of factors, using established quantitative methodologies. A series of conclusions includes the continuing distinct status of initial then, the systematic importance of clause-final position, the different impacts of subject length in different contexts, and the presence of a definiteness effect for the late placement of a subject after a nonfinite unaccusative.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	81-111
Number of pages	31
Journal	English language & linguistics
Volume	11
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674306002127
Publication status	Published - Mar 2007

Bibliographical note

Keywords

WORD-ORDER
INVERSION

Access to Document

10.1017/S1360674306002127

Warner4.pdf

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1360674306002127

Cite this

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abstract = "This article sets out to clarify the contribution of syntactic properties and subject weight for variation between verb-subject and subject-verb order in a database of fourteenth and fifteenth-century prose. It sets out the syntactic structures which are assumed, and investigates the impact on ordering of a set of factors, using established quantitative methodologies. A series of conclusions includes the continuing distinct status of initial then, the systematic importance of clause-final position, the different impacts of subject length in different contexts, and the presence of a definiteness effect for the late placement of a subject after a nonfinite unaccusative.",

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