A quantitative exploration of the functions of auxiliary do in Middle English

LORENZO MORETTI
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Abstract

One of the questions that still surrounds the history of auxiliary do is what function it had during the Middle English period (c.1100–1500). Scholars have put forward different hypotheses, suggesting that it could serve, among others, as a perfective marker (Denison 1985), agentive marker (Ecay 2015) and habitual marker (Garrett 1998). The present article reports on a quantitative study that aims to shed further light on this issue. By means of a collexeme analysis, this article investigates the semantic features of the infinitives that occur with auxiliary do in several Middle English corpora. The results show that auxiliary do was not connected to verbs with specific semantic profiles, but it was employed in different contexts and had various functions. Specifically, the data suggest that auxiliary do was used (i) as an accommodation tool to facilitate the use of low-frequency verbs, particularly of French origin, and (ii) as an aspectual particle to mark both perfectivity and habituality. It is argued that the multifunctionality of auxiliary do in Middle English played a crucial role in the preservation of the construction before it spread to the NICE (i.e. negation, inversion, code and emphasis) environments.
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对中古英语中助词 "do "功能的定量研究
在中古英语时期(约 1100-1500 年),助动词 "do "具有什么功能,是至今仍围绕在助动词 "do "历史周围的问题之一。学者们提出了不同的假设,认为它可以作为完成时标记(Denison,1985 年)、祈使标记(Ecay,2015 年)和惯用标记(Garrett,1998 年)等。本文报告了一项定量研究,旨在进一步揭示这一问题。本文通过语汇分析,研究了几个中古英语语料库中与助词 do 一起出现的不定式的语义特征。结果表明,助动词 do 与具有特定语义特征的动词并无关联,但它在不同的语境中被使用,并具有不同的功能。具体而言,数据表明助动词 do (i) 被用作通融工具,以方便使用低频动词,尤其是源于法语的动词,(ii) 被用作方面性微粒,以标记完成性和习惯性。本文认为,助词 do 在中古英语中的多功能性在该结构传播到 NICE(即否定、倒装、编码和强调)环境之前的保存过程中发挥了至关重要的作用。
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A quantitative exploration of the functions of auxiliary do in Middle English Caroline Gentens, Lobke Ghesquière, William B. McGregor and An Van linden (eds.), Reconnecting form and meaning: In honour of Kristin Davidse (Studies in Language Companion Series 230). Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2023. Pp. 305 + vii. ISBN 9789027212993. Ole Schützler, Concessive constructions in varieties of English (Language Variation 9). Berlin: Language Science Press, 2023. Pp. viii + 270. ISBN 9783961104222. Elnora ten Wolde, The English binominal noun phrase: A Cognitive-Functional approach (Studies in English Language). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp. xx + 310. ISBN 9781108921893. Elizabeth Peterson, Turo Hiltunen and Joseph Kern (eds.), Discourse-pragmatic variation and change: Theory, innovations, contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022. Pp. xxviii + 332. ISBN 9781108836203.
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