MORE ON THE HISTORY OF SUBJECT CONTACT CLAUSES IN ENGLISH

Abstract

0. The literature on the history of English subject contact clauses is voluminous (see Mustanoja 1960:206-208; Visser 1963:14-15; Bourcier 1977:78), and it keeps growing, also in Folia Linguistica Historica (see Erdmann 1980; Nagucka 1980; Romaine 1981; Maxwell 1982). In this paper I will briefly comment on the four FLH analyses, and I will offer some alternative ideas. 1.1. Peter Erdmann (1980) has made a corpus-based survey of the contexts of subject contact clauses (henceforth 'SCCs') in present-day Standard British English. Bus conclusion, which is in conformity with earlier scholarship (see esp. Jespersen 1974: 144 149), is that SCCs are very colloquial, and that they are restricted to certain focus constructions. The most typical such constructions start with there isfare (äs in (1) and (2)). Another frequent SCC focus structure employs a cleft sentence (äs in (3) and (4)). (1) There's none can dodge Father Time. (2) There were three of us made the journey. (3) It was a vision brought me here. (4) It must have been the vanity of the old man made me invite you here. The restriction to focus constructions, Erdmann (1980:146) claims, following Krüger (1929: 65 73) and Strang (1970:143), came into effect in the 18th Century. Before that, SCCs had a wider usage — a Situation partially reflected in some varieties of non-standard