Week 11 (March 25): Syntactic change and usage issues
Pick one topic under only one of the following two sections
(i.e., either syntactic change or usage
issue). You may find it more fun to browse through Denison or
Webster's and find a topic that really appeals to you.
Syntactic change. Read the appropriate section of David Denison's
chapter on "Syntax" in The Cambridge History of the English Language,
Volume IV 1776-1997 and of Matti Rissanen's chapter on "Syntax" in
Volume III 1476-1776. (If you're feeling obsessive, you can chase
down
other sources; Denison's and Rissanen's sources and section-bibliographies
are helpful,
as is Denison's monograph on English historical syntax. For the
masochistic: Jespersen, and especially Visser.) For those in need of
simplicity and clarity: try Barber or Gorlach's books on Early Modern
English (and of course Millward and Crystal).
Clearly explain the topic to the class: how the change happened? why the
change happened? the consequences of syntactic variation before, during,
after the change? (for instance, you can still say I think
not).
Topics (numbers in brackets mostly correspond to Denison's
chapter headings ("D"), but you should look at Rissanen "R" too -- I
haven't put in all of the references):
- problems
with noun/verb
concord (D 3.2.1.2),
- the rise of one as a prop-word ("I don't
like that one (D 3.2.2.2; R 4.2.3.2) --Brad,
- concord problems with
pronouns
like
everybody (D 3.2.2.2) or none (D 3.2.4.4) --Andrea,
- attributive
nouns (D 3.2.6 "GUN JOKE TORY"),
- used to in the wider context of expressing habitual action (D
3.3.5.2),
- have vs be as auxiliary
with the perfect aspect ("She is arrived") (M 4.3.1.2, D 3.3.2.2) --
Jennifer,
- the grammaticalization of the progressive ("It is raining") (D 3.3.3,
M
4.3.1.4),
- the "passive progressive" ("The church is being built") (D
3.3.3.3-4) --Tim,
- the rise of be going to with future reference (R
4.3.2.2, D 3.3.7.2)--Cheratra,
- the decline of the subjunctive (D 3.3.4, M 4.3.3) --Zach,
- recent semantic
change involving the verb MAY (D 3.3.5.1) or CAN (D 3.3.5.1), see also R
4.3.4.3;
- the use of
get as a passive auxiliary ("he gets beaten") (D 3.3.6.1; R
4.3.1.3),
- the use of do in negative sentences (R 4.3.5.3,
4.5.2)--Dane,
- try
and "try to" (D 3.6.6.7),
- spread of "phrasal-prepositional verbs" ("She
hung up on him") (D 3.4.2.5, table 7, class 4)--Susana;
- double negation (R 4.5.2, D 3.5.2.1)--Dale,
- "the man that/whom/- I love" (D 3.6.5.2, R 4.6.2.2.1) ...
- the use of go "say" ("he went, it is so over")--Rebecca
Usage issues. After reading Crystal chapter 13 ("Grammatical
mythology"), think of a topic that you'd like to research and read the
appropriate section of the Webster's
dictionary of English Usage (PE 1460 M45 at INNIS, PE 1460 W425 at
Robarts GENR, SMCR, TRIF, VUPR -- be thoughtful and reshelve it). If
you're feeling obsessive, you can chase down other sources: modern usage
dictionaries? Fowler's The King's English or Modern English
Usage. Denison's chapter in CHEL 4 may well help you assess
the "descriptive" situation for your "prescriptive" topic.
Clearly explain the topic to the class: Webster's is so good that you may
find it difficult to prove to me that you've made this topic your own. Why
not pick a topic that you've had personal experience with?!
You choose a topic and let me know: I'll put them up as
they're staked out. You may NOT pick the split infinitive, as
it's done quite nicely on Crystal page 195 already!