Elly van Gelderen

A history of English reflexive pronouns : person, self, and interpretability

This book brings together a number of seemingly distinct phenomena in the history of English: the introduction of special reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself), the loss of verbal agreement and pro-drop, and the disappearance of morphological Case. It provides vast numbers of examples from Old and Middle English texts showing a person split between first, second, and third person pronouns. Extending an analysis by Reinhart & Reuland, the author argues that the ‘strength’ of certain pronominal features (Case, person, number) differs cross-linguistically and that parametric variation accounts for the changes in English. The framework used is Minimalist, and Interpretable and Uninterpretable features are seen as the key to explaining the change from a synthetic to an analytic language.

The Definiteness Cycle in Germanic

In this paper, I provide examples from Germanic of cyclical changes involving the nominal phrase. Using a DP structure, it can be observed that demonstratives in specifier positions of the DP are reanalyzed through time as articles in head positions. The change from demonstrative to article is known as the definiteness cycle and described in Greenberg 1978 and Lyons 1999. Providing examples from Old Norse, Old English, and Afrikaans, I suggest an explanation for the cycle in terms of a cognitive principle, Feature Economy, that assists in language acquisition and hence language change. *

An introduction to the grammar of English

It has been eight years since An Introduction to the Grammar of English was first published. The second edition is completely revised and greatly expanded, especially where texts, example sentences, exercises, and cartoons are concerned. It continues to provide a very lively and clearly written textbook. The book introduces basic concepts of grammar in a format which inspires the reader to use linguistic arguments. The style of the book is engaging and examples from poetry, jokes, and puns illustrate grammatical concepts. The focus is on syntactic analysis and evidence. However, special topic sections contribute sociolinguistic and historical reasons behind prescriptive rules such as the bans on split infinitives, dangling participles, and preposition stranding. The book is written for undergraduate students and structured for a semester-long course. It provides exercises, keys to those exercises, and sample exams. It also includes a comprehensive glossary. A basic website will be kept up at http://www.public.asu.edu/~gelderen/grammar.htm .

ASP(ECT) in english modal complements

In this paper, I argue in favor of a structure for modal complements making crucial use of the M(ood) and ASP(ect) Phrases. Deontic modals in English originate in ASP whereas epistemic modals are in M and select ASP Phrases as their complements. There are several arguments which I mention here briefly and then work out in later sections in more detail. The phrase structures used are Minimalist, and so are the underlying assumptions about features (even though the latter are not worked out). First, starting with the weakest argument, which I’ll only briefly mention in section 1, present tense deontic modals derive historically from perfective verb forms and the class is therefore called ‘preterite–present’. This suggests an ‘affinity’ with aspect. Second, deontic and epistemic predicates differ in that the latter but not the former can have auxiliaries and stative complements. This is accounted for if epistemics select an ASPP, but if deontics are in ASP in complementary distribution with other aspectuals. Third, double modal varieties of English typically have at most two modals with the epistemic preceding the deontic. This fits in if one modal is in ASP and the other in higher in the structure. Finally, I’ll look at the position of to, but will start with a note on terminology.

Null Subjects in Old English

I review the proposal made by Sigurðsson (2011) that null arguments follow from third-factor principles, as in Chomsky 2005. A number of issues remain unclear: for instance, the kind of topic that licenses null arguments in Modern Germanic, including Modern English. I argue that Old English is pro drop and add to the discussion Frascarelli (2007) started as to which topic licenses a null subject. I agree with Frascarelli and Hinterhölzl (2007) that the licensing topic in Modern Germanic and Old English is an aboutness-shift topic. I also argue that verb movement to C is necessary to license the empty argument in the modern Germanic languages (including Modern English), but not in Old English, since agreement is still responsible for licensing in that language, as in Italian.

The Future of for to

I examine the development of for to and for in several stages of English. I argue that as prepositions grammaticalize, they acquire certain intrinsic features and occupy special positions. In Old English, for to is a P, related to Case, and has some future sense (through an extension of the locative meaning). Verbs do not subcategorize for complements with for (yet), however. In early Middle English, for to is used to introduce a complement with future meaning. Now, for (to) occupies C, which I assume is universally true for purpose/future indicators. In late Middle English, the situation solidifies, and more verbs select a complement with for (to) indicating purpose and futurity. In Early Modern English, for to disappears, but for separated from to takes over its function of introducing purposive adjuncts and future complements.

Features and affix-hop

In this paper, I review how formal features are currently regarded and used in the Minimalist Program. Although features are the cornerstone in Minimalism, they are used in many different and conflicting ways. Features may seem particularly relevant to affix-hop because the affix has to be checked against a higher verb or auxiliary. Chomsky’s (1957) analysis of affix-hop has the affix connected with an auxiliary, e.g., the -en of have-en, move to a verb on its right, as in have see-en. This analysis is one of the high points of early generative grammar but, with each new instantiation of the generative model, it has needed adjustments and the phenomenon is still debated. I will elaborate on a proposal made in van Gelderen (2013) who argues that interpretable tense, mood, or aspect are in a low position being probed by the relevant uninterpretable features in a high position. This view I claim is consistent with data from change and acquisition. I also discuss the implications of this reliance on features ...

Split Infinitives in Early Middle English

The split infinitive is one of seven syntactic properties that English is said to share with Old Norse, and I will show that, on the basis of the area and date of its first occurrence, Norse origin is unlikely.

The absence of Verb‐movement and the role of C: Some negative constructions in Shakespeare

The paper lists and discusses all occurrences of an infrequent construction in Shakespearean English, namely one where not precedes (rather than follows) the finite main verb, without the auxiliary do to support the negation. This construction has been neglected or, when it is mentioned, has been left unexplained in traditional grammar. I show that in all these constructions a CP is overtly present. Thus, rather than being an anomaly, the construction provides insight into the clause structure: when a CP is included, an IP is not always present (for the verb to move to across not) and agreement is checked through covert features attraction to C.

The Linguistic Cycle and the Language Faculty

Because there has been a recent surge of interest in the linguistic cycle, this article presents a survey of cyclical change and shows how that change provides a unique perspective on the language faculty. The article provides a general background to the linguistic cycle and cyclical change. It reviews some of the cycles that we know and provides a possible account for them.