Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of English and American Studies
English Language and Literature
Václav Křiklán
The Position of the Subject in Modern English and Old English Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis
Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph. D.
2009
I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.
…………………………………………….. Author’s signature
Acknowledgement :
I would like to thank the supervisor of my work doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph. D. for all the
help Table of Contents 1. Introduction ...... 2 2. The Grammatical System of Modern English ...... 3 2.1. Distinctive Properties of The Subject ...... 3 2.2. Dummy Subject ...... 4 2.3. The Principle of End – Weight ...... 5 2.4. Subject in Canonical Constructions ...... 6 2.4.1. SV: Subject–verb phrase ...... 6 2.4.2. SVA: Subject–verb phrase–obligatory adverbial ...... 6 2.4.3. SVC: Subject–verb phrase–subject complement ...... 6 2.4.4. SVOd: Subject–verb phrase–direct object ...... 7 2.4.5. SVOp: Subject–verb phrase–prepositional object ...... 7 2.4.6. SVOiOd: Subject–verb phrase–indirect object–direct object ...... 8 2.4.7. SVOdOp: Subject–verb phrase–direct object–prepositional object ...... 8 2.4.8. SVOdCo: Subject–verb phrase–direct object–object complement ...... 8 2.4.9. SVOdA: Subject–verb phrase–direct object–obligatory adverbial ...... 9 2.5. Subject in non–canonical constructions ...... 9 2.5.1. Interrogative Clauses ...... 9 2.5.2. Imperative Clauses ...... 10 2.5.3. Extraposition ...... 10 2.5.4. Existential Clauses ...... 11 2.5.5. Inversion ...... 11 2.5.6. Fronting ...... 12 3. The Grammatical System of Old English ...... 14 3.1. Inflections ...... 14 3.2. Cases ...... 15 3.2.1. Nominative ...... 15 3.2.2. Genitive ...... 15 3.2.3. Dative ...... 16 3.2.4. Accusative ...... 16 3.3. Phrasal Syntax ...... 16 3.4. Old English Word Order ...... 17 4. Functional Sentence Perspective ...... 21 5. The Texts Analyzed ...... 25 6. Analysis of Modern English Texts ...... 26 7. Analysis of the Old English Texts ...... 34 8. Comparison of the Results ...... 42 9. Conclusion ...... 47 Sources ...... 48 Primary Sources ...... 48 Secondary Sources ...... 48
1. Introduction
In my work I would like to explore the differences between the position of the subject in Old English and in Modern English main sentences.
The position of the subject in Old and Modern English differs in many aspects. In
Modern English the position of the subject is quite fixed while in Old English it is relatively free. The principle governing the word order of Modern English is different from the principle governing the word order of Old English. There is a working system of inflections in Old English but inflections practically disappeared in Modern English making its word order more fixed. I would like to explore and describe these and other differences regarding the position of the subject in main sentences in Old and Modern
English and show that there are a lot of differences but also some similarities connected with the position of the subject in Modern English and in Old English.
Chapters 2 and 3 of my work are concerned with the theoretical issues connected with the position of the subject in Modern English and in Old English. Chapter 4 deals with the issue of functional sentence perspective which has a considerable influence over the position of all syntactic elements including the subject. In chapter 5 the texts which underwent the analysis are described. Chapter 6 presents the results of the analysis of
Modern English texts and Chapter 7 the results of the analysis of Old English texts. The results are compared in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 summarizes all the work and data.
2. The Grammatical System of Modern English
To write this chapter on the subject in Modern English I used the information which
I gathered from the books Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English by Douglas
Biber et al. (1999) and The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language by Rodney
Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum (2002).
The subject is one of the two main parts of the clause. The other part is the predicate. According to Huddleston and Pullum a subject can be found in all canonical clauses1. (Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 236) There are of course some non-canonical constructions which do not involve an expressed subject (for example an imperative clause
“Do it!”) but these constructions always involve an understood subject.
2.1. Distinctive Properties of The Subject
According to Biber et al. and Huddleston and Pullum :
The subject is most typically a noun, but it can have the form of a nominative clause or a pronoun as well.
It goes with all types of verbs.
The subject typically stands before the predicator and its position is external to the verb phrase. The position of the subject plays a very important role in distinguishing it from the object in finite clauses. This is due to the loss of inflections. Without inflections it would be often impossible to distinguish the subject from the object if the position of the subject was not fixed.
Peter killed Paul. X Paul killed Peter. 2
1 According to Huddleston and Pullum canonical clauses are more basic counterparts of non-canonical clauses. For example a positive clause (c) x a negative clause (nc), a declarative clause (c)x an interrogative clause (nc), an active clause (c) x a passive clause (nc). Imperative, existential, and subordinate clauses are also regarded as non-canonical as well as clauses with inverted subject verb phrase order, negative clauses and others. (Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 46) 2 All the examples with no bibliographical reference I constructed myself If the default position of the subject was not fixed it would be very difficult to find out who is the killer in the sentences above. There are of course certain non-canonical constructions in which the position of the subject is different but they will be dealt with later.
A personal pronoun acting as a subject of a sentence appears in its nominative form.
Nevertheless, case does not play a very important role in distinguishing the subject from the object in English since it lost almost all inflections except for a few personal pronouns.
Person and number inflections of the verb are determined by the subject.
According to Huddleston and Pullum the subject is an obligatory element in all canonical clauses. (Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 236) “The fact that the subject is obligatory is reflected in the possibilities for reducing clauses when material is recoverable from the context. Sue has eaten them already, say, can be reduced to She has (e.g. in answer to the question Has Sue eaten them already?), but not to Has or Has eaten.”
(Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 239)
A clause can only contain one subject, no more. On the other hand there can be for example more than one object per sentence.
2.2. Dummy Subject
Some constructions require a semantically empty dummy subject to be used.
According to Biber et al. it can also be called a non-referential subject. (Biber et al. 1999,
125) Such a subject does not convey any semantic content. It is only used to complete the sentence in a grammatical way. Dummy subject is most commonly used in clauses expressing information about weather, distance or time.
1. It is windy.
2. It's ten o'clock. 3. It's 2 kilometers to the nearest bus station.
Dummy subjects are also involved in existential clauses, cleft clauses and in clauses with extraposition, which will be dealt with later.
2.3. The Principle of End – Weight
All clausal elements differ in their size and complexity, or weight. Some of these elements for example only consist of a pronoun while others are much more complex and contain a lot of premodifiers and postmodifiers. Positions of clausal elements are therefore often influenced by their weight. “There is a preferred distribution of elements in the clause in accordance with their weight called the principle of end-weight : the tendency for long and complex elements to be placed towards the end of a clause.” (Biber et. al. 1999,
898) This makes it possible for the reader to comprehend the text, since the complex information is dealt with at the end of the sentence and does not have to be retained in reader's short-term memory. This principle also cooperates with the principle of functional sentence perspective because heavy elements often contain substantial new information.
However, organization of clausal elements does not only depend on the principle of end- weight and therefore heavy elements can also be found at the beginning of the sentence.
2.4. Subject in Canonical Constructions
The default position of the subject in all canonical clauses is at the beginning in front of the predicate and other constituents.
According to Biber et. al. the major clause patterns are SV, SVA, SVC, SVOd, SVOp, SVOiOd, SVOdOp, SVOC. (Biber et. al. 1999, 141 - 151)
2.4.1. SV: Subject–verb phrase
This pattern provides an answer to the question “What does/did X do?” (Biber et. al. 1999, 141).
We stayed [sitting in the driveway] [then went to the police station in Yateley [until
their relatives arrived.]] (Biber et. al. 1999, 141)
2.4.2. SVA: Subject–verb phrase–obligatory adverbial
This pattern includes clauses which provide answers to the questions “When is/was
X? And Where is was X?” (Biber et al. 1999, 143)
1. The baby was lying on his back.
2. The pleasant summer lasted well into March. (Biber et. al. 1999, 143)
2.4.3. SVC: Subject–verb phrase–subject complement
Clauses which have this structure answer the questions “What is/was X like?, How did X change? (characterizing pattern) or Which one is/was X? (identifying pattern)”
(Biber et. al. 1999, 145).
1. Characterizing pattern
I`ve been a skinhead for eight years. Now I am a Klansman and a politician.
He`s American.
(Biber et. al. 1999, 145) 2. Identifying pattern
My headmistress was the president of the Shakespeare League.
Delaware park is the city's showpiece.
(Biber et. al. 1999, 146)
2.4.4. SVOd: Subject–verb phrase–direct object
1. I tried to roll boulders into the river to make stepping-stones, but it's too deep, they
disappeared.
2. He wrote his PhD on the climate.
3. Gabrielle kissed her parents goodnight.
(Biber et. al. 1999, 147 – 8)
2.4.5. SVOp: Subject–verb phrase–prepositional object
1. He's got to go and deal with the children, take them to and from work, then run a
business.
2. Meanwhile, a joint economic commission will look into the ways of economic and
industrial co-operation.
(Biber et. al. 1999, 149)
2.4.6. SVOiOd: Subject–verb phrase–indirect object–direct object
1. Well that tells you the voltage of the battery.
2. Jacobu's wife bought him a mug of tea.
3. His own airport commissioners voted him a handsome raise. (Biber et. al. 1999, 150)
2.4.7. SVOdOp: Subject–verb phrase–direct object–prepositional object
1. You accuse her of encouraging him?
2. He only told his name to an Italian painter named Carlino.
3. Don't you tell me about war.
(Biber et. al. 1999, 150 - 1)
2.4.8. SVOdCo: Subject–verb phrase–direct object–object complement
1. Dave considered it accurate.
2. The Airport Operators Council re-elected him president.
3. We did not call them prostitutes.
(Biber et. al. 1999, 151)
2.4.9. SVOdA: Subject–verb phrase–direct object–obligatory adverbial
1. She placed the baby on a blanket in the living room.
2. [You could take it to the kitchen] [and put it under the grill of the electric cooker [in
order to get it hot]], without knowing why it should be hot.
(Biber et. al. 1999, 151)
2.5. Subject in non–canonical constructions
2.5.1. Interrogative Clauses
Interrogative clauses can be divided into two types : closed interrogatives and open interrogatives.
There is obligatory subject-operator inversion in closed interrogatives. If there is no operator to be inverted with the subject empty do is inserted.
1. It is true. X Is it true?
2. They saw her. X Did they see her?
( Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 856)
Open interrogatives open with an interrogative phrase consisting of a wh-word
(who, what, whose, which, when, . . .). If the interrogative phrase is not a subject it is usually fronted which causes subject-operator inversion otherwise there is the normal SV order.
3. Who broke the window? (interrogative phrase as subject)
4. Which one did he choose? (non – subject interrogative phrase)
5. So you told him what, exactly? (non-fronted interrogative phrase)
(Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 856)
2.5.2. Imperative Clauses
The subject can be omitted in imperative clauses and a prototypical imperative clause does not contain an expressed subject. If the subject is omitted it is always implied in all imperative clauses. When an imperative clause contains an expressed subject, the subject can stand at the beginning of the clause in front of the verb (default position) or the positions of the verb (operator) and the subject can be inverted.
1. Look after yourself. (implied subject you)
2. Everybody stand up.(subject in its default position)
3. Don't be late. (implied subject you)
4. Don't you worry about it. (subject and operator inverted)
(Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 857)
2.5.3. Extraposition
When a sentence has a subordinate clause as a subject there usually is a non- canonical variant involving extraposition. In such a sentence the subordinate clause acting as the subject is extarposed at the end of the sentence and the dummy pronoun it is placed in the default subject position at the beginning of the sentence. Extraposition is only possible with subordinate clauses.
1. That he hasn't phoned worries me. X It worries me that he hasn't phoned.
2. Why she told him is unclear. X It is unclear why she told him.
3. His silence worries me. X *It worries me his silence.
(Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 1403-4)
2.5.4. Existential Clauses
A prototypical existential clause contains the pronoun there acting as a dummy subject, the verb be, and a displaced (notional) subject. It can contain additional elements such as adjuncts. 1. There is plenty of ice-cream.
2. There's one copy on the table.
3. There were two sirens blazing.
(Huddleston and Pullum 2002, 1393)
The pronoun there acts as a grammatical subject of the clause. It occupies the default subject position and is used in question tags. The notional subject is usually an indefinite noun phrase and it has a noun or an indefinite pronoun as its head. It always follows the verb phrase.
2.5.5. Inversion
According to Biber et al. inversion is divided into two types : subject–verb inversion (full inversion) and subject–operator inversion (partial inversion). (Biber et. al.
1999, 911)
When subject–verb inversion occurs the subject is preceded by the whole verb phrase. It is usually caused by an adverbial or a subject complement standing at the beginning of the sentence. The subject usually contains some new information.
1. On the wall hung a row of Van Goghs. ( Biber et. al. 1999, 912)
2. Next came the Chaplain. ( Biber et. al. 1999, 913)
3. Best of all would be to get a job in Wellingham. ( Biber et. al. 1999, 914)
Subject-operator inversion is possible with both transitive and intransitive verbs.
According to Biber et. al. this kind of inversion is usually triggered by negative or restrictive coordinators and adverbials standing in the initial position. (Biber et. al. 1999,
915) The negative scope has to affect the whole of the sentence if inversion is to occur.
1. At no time did he indicate he couldn't cope. 2. Only then did he feel better.
3. Rarely can two sets of forwards have covered so much ground.
( Biber et. al. 1999, 916)
2.5.6. Fronting
Fronting means placing some of the core elements normally following the verb phrase at the beginning of the sentence. Fronting of some elements can trigger subject-verb inversion.
When an object or other nominal is fronted it is followed by the regular SV order.
However fronting of complements can be a cause of subject-verb inversion but if the subject is an unstressed pronoun there is often no inversion.
1. Such a blunder I had now committed. ( Biber et. al. 1999, 900)
2. Why he came this way I will probably never know. ( Biber et. al. 1999, 901)
3. Far more serious were the severe head injuries; . . . ( Biber et. al. 1999, 903)
4. Bloody amazing it was! ( Biber et. al. 1999, 904)
According to Biber et. al. the main verb with everything following it can be placed in front of the subject in finite clauses. Such a fronted element is then called fronted non- finite predicate. There are three types of non-finite predicates : infinitive predicates, ed- predicates and ing-predicates. (Biber et. al. 1999, 905)
5. I had said he would come down and come down he did. ( Biber et. al. 1999, 905)
6. Also billed to appear as a special mystery guest is Vivacious Val. ( Biber et.
al.1999, 906)
7. Coming to Belfast this month are The Breeders and The Levellers . . . ( Biber et. al.
1999, 907)
3. The Grammatical System of Old English
This chapter on Old English is based on the books A Bibliography of English
Language by C. M. Millward (1996), The Development of Word Order Patterns in Old
English by Marian C. Bean (1983), and A Guide to Pre-modern English by Josef Hladký
(2003).
3.1. Inflections
According to Hladký there were two basic types of inflection in Old English, thematic and athematic. (Hladký 2003, 64). These types of declension are based on the presence (thematic declension) or absence (athematic declension) of the stem suffix (the theme). The theme could end with a vowel (strong declension) or a consonant (weak declension).
Old English nouns were masculine, feminine, or neuter and there were two morphological categories connected with nouns, number (singular, plural) and case
(nominative, genitive, dative, accusative).
There were weak and strong adjectives in Old English but the distinction between these two types was not based on morphology (like nouns) but on syntax. According to
Hladký “most adjectives could be declined in both ways” (Hladký 2003, 73). According to
Hladký some of the adjectival inflections were the same as nominal inflections but adjectives also shared their endings with the pronouns. (Hladký 2003, 57)
Verbs were divided into thematic and athematic like nouns. Old English verbs were also divided in weak and strong. According to Hladký three quarters of Old English thematic verbs were weak, one quarter strong and one fiftieth of verbs were athematic and preterite-present verbs (combined the strong and weak preterite forms).(Hladký 2003, 63)
The presence of inflections made it possible for the Old English word order to be considerably freer than the word order of Modern English.
3.2. Cases
Old English used four cases : nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative.
3.2.1. Nominative
The nominative was the case of the subject of the sentence in Old English. It had to be used in direct address as well because there was no vocative in Old English.
3.2.2. Genitive
The main function of the genitive was that of the possessive genitive but it also had a lot of other functions such as subjective, objective, and partitive function and others.
There was no preposition which was exclusively connected with the genitive but a lot of verbs appeared with it (mainly verbs of mental actions – blissan – rejoice at, gyrnan – desire, . . . (Hladký 2003, 70)).
3.2.3. Dative
The dative functioned mainly as the case of the direct object and as the old instrumental. Many verbs including the impersonal verbs (verbs with no expressed subject) appeared with the dative. Of all the cases of Old English dative appeared with prepositions most frequently. The dative also had other functions including possessive function, temporal function and the dative of instrument, means and manner.
3.2.4. Accusative
“The accusative was the case of direct object.” (Hladlký 2003, 71) The accusative was also used adverbially as a means of expressing the extent of space or time. It was used with some impersonal verbs and after a lot of prepositions (in “into”, ofer “over”, fore
“before”, . . .(Hladký 2003, 70))
3.3. Phrasal Syntax
One-word adjectival modifiers usually preceded the nouns they modified. When there were two modifiers of the noun sometimes one stood in front of the noun and one behind the noun but if these modifiers were connected by and they usually followed the noun. When there was a title used with a proper name, it usually stood behind the proper name.
1. wlance wīgsmiÞas Ælfrēd cynig mīne Þegnas twēgen
proud warriors Alfred king my servants two
2. ān fæt fyðer-scyte and brād
a vessel four-cornered and broead
(Millward 1996, 107)
Adverbial modifiers usually preceded the words they modified.
3. Þises godspelles geendung is swīðe ondrædenlic
his gospel's ending is very terrifying
(Millward 1996, 108)
The Old English system of verb phrases was not as rich as that of Modern English.
Old English only had present and preterit tense which on the other hand had much more functions than for example Moder English present tense. Old English often used subjunctive. Verbs with no expressed subject (impersonal verbs) were common in Old
English. Old English did not use existential there. The dummy subject it was used less frequently than in Modern English. Old English used the adverb ne to form negatives.
4. se cynig ne sceal arīsa of ðām bedde
the king not shall arise from the bed
(Millward 1996, 108)
3.4. Old English Word Order
“The presence of formal markers of gender, case, number and person meant that word order was less rigid in Old English than in Modern English and that all possible permutations of the three main elements (S-V-O) occurred in OE texts. There was a considerable tendency, however, towards the order S V O . . . ” (Hladký 2003, 79)
According to Bean there are ten possible word orders in main clauses, five major orders and five minor orders. The major orders are VSX, X’VS, SVX, X’SV, and SVX.
The minor orders are OSV, OVS, SXVX, SV1XV2, and miscellaneous which includes all the orders which do not belong in any of the other orders. (Bean 1983, 59)
The VSX order contains the clauses in which the verb occupies the initial position followed immediately by the subject and then possibly some complements. This pattern also includes negative versions.
1. & feng Ælfric Wiltunscire bisceop to Þam arcebisceprice
and succeeded Ælfric, Wiltshire's bishop, to the bishopric
(Bean 1983, 59)
The X’VS order includes clauses with adverbial (mainly time or place) in initial position followed by the verb and then the subject. This pattern also includes sentences with the order X’V1SXV2.
2. Þy geare gefuhton Mierce & Cantware æt Ottanforda
(in) that year fought (the) Mercians and (the) Kent-dwellers at Ortford
(Bean 1983, 60)
The SVX order includes sentences beginning with the subject followed by the verb.
If there is a compound verb the order is V1V2, no elements can intervene but those which would take such a position in Modern English.
3. & wunderleca nærdan wæron gesewene on SuÞseaxna londe
and wonderful adders were seen in (the) South Saxon land
(Bean 1983, 61)
The X’ in the X’SV order stands for an adverbial element. It is immediately followed by the subject. The verb appears in the third position in such a clause. Clauses of this type are very similar to Modern English.
4. Her Cyneheard ofslog Cynewulf cynig.
In-this-year Cyneheard slew Cynewulf king
(Bean 1983, 62)
The verb in the SXV order occupies the final position in the clause. When a compound verb appears the order of the elements of the verb is V1V2.
5. & te king it besæt
and the king it beseiget
(Bean 1983, 62)
The clauses of the OVS minor pattern start with an indirect object which is followed by the subject and then the verb. Not many clauses of this type appear in Old
English texts.
6. & hine bebyrigle se biscop of Ceastre.
and him buried the bishop of Chester.
(Bean 1983, 63)
In the SXVX order the subject is separated by another element from the verb.
However, the verb does not occupy the final position in such clauses. This pattern also includes sentences with the X’SXVX order.
7. Her Eleutherius on Rome onfeng bisc dom. in-this-year Eleutherius in Rome received bishopdom
(Bean 1983, 63)
The clauses of the SV1XV2 order begin with the subject followed by the first part of a compound verb. The second part of the compound verb occupies the final position in the clause. This is a very minor word order pattern in Old English.
8. & eac se micla here wæs Þa Þær to cumen
and also the great (enemy) army was then there to come
(Bean 1983, 64)
The Miscellaneous pattern contains all the clauses which do not fit into any of the above mentioned categories and do not constitute a word order pattern of their own.
9. & he hem it wolde tyÞian
And he them it wished to-grant
(Bean 1983, 64)
The word order VSO is obligatory in Old English questions and also in imperative clauses which include an expressed subject.
10. Hæfst ðu hafocas?
Have you hawks?
11. Ne sleh Þū, Abraham, Þīn āgen bearn
Not slay you, Abraham, your own son
(Millward 1996, 110)
4. Functional Sentence Perspective
The present chapter on functional sentence perspective is based on the books
Functional Sentence Perspective in Written and Spoken Communication by Jan Firbas
(1992), Intonation in English and Czech Dialogues by Jana Chamonikolasová (2007), and
A Functional Syntax of Modern English by Josef Vachek (1994).
According to Firbas every sentence is a field where various degrees of communicative dynamism (CD) are distributed over the sentence elements. (Firbas 1992, )
The manifestation of communicative dynamism can be seen in constant development of communication towards a communicative goal. Each linguistic element participating in it has a degree of CD which means “the relative extent to which a linguistic element contributes towards the further communication.” (Chamonikolasová 2007, 24). According to Chamonikolasová the degree of CD of an element is determined by the interplay of FSP factors. In written language these factors are the linear modification factor, the semantic factor, and the contextual factor. According to Chamonikolasová these factors are hierarchically ordered with the linear modification factor being the lowest and the contextual factor factor the highest. (Chamonikolasová 2007, 24)
Linear modification operates both in the system of FSP and in the system of word order. It co-determines the degrees of CD and the actual positions of the elements in a sentence. If not worked counter to by the other factors linear modification asserts itself by arranging the elements of the sentence according to the gradual rise of CD. The contextual factor renders the sentence elements context dependent or context independent. Context dependent elements are retrievable from the immediate context and carry lower degrees of CD than context independent elements which are irretrievable from the immediate context.
1. [Mary went downtown.] She bought a present for her daughter. (Chamonikolasová
2007, 27)
In the above sentence the pronoun she is context dependent because it refers back to
Mary mentioned earlier. On the other hand all the other elements of the sentence do not refer to any elements mentioned earlier and therefore are context independent and carry higher degree of CD.
The semantic factor stands in the medial position in the hierarchy of FSP factors.
According to Chamonikolasová the degree of CD of an element is co-determined by its semantic character and the character of its semantic relations to other elements.
(Chamonikolasová 2007, 28)
According to Vachek the semantic function of the English non-generic indefinite article a and its zero variant found with plural nouns is to signal a new idea. (Vachek 1994,
18) This function enables even the subjects which have the highest degrees of CD in their sentences (and perform the function of rheme proper – see below) to stand at the beginnings of their sentences (position demanded by the grammatical principle).
2. A boy came into the room. (Vachek 1994, 18)
3. New Zealand Apples were being sold, or rice-brooms from Australia were
exhibited. (Vachek 1994, 19)
Subjects in the above sentences carry the highest degrees of CD of all the constituents and the indefinite articles clearly signal new ideas.
The temporal and modal exponents of the verb (TMEs, in finite verbs) have a medium degree of CD in any sentential position unless the degree of CD is changed by the contextual factor which is hierarchically superior. The notional component of the verb has the degree of CD determined by the semantic relations in the sentence. According to Firbas and Chamonikolasová there are two types of dynamic semantic scales : the presentation scale (Setting (Set) – Presentation of Phenomenon (Pr) – Phenomenon Presented (Ph)) and the quality scale (Setting (Set) – Bearer of Quality (B) – Ascription of Quality (AofQ) –
Quality (Q) – Specification (Sp) – Further Specification (Fsp))(Chamonikolasová 2007,
29)3. The notional component of the verb performs either of two functions : presenting a phenomenon or expressing the quality of a quality bearer.
4. This year (Set) the Browns (B) spent (Q) their holidays (Sp) in Spain
(FSp).
5. A Cloud (Ph) appeared (Pr) on the horizon (Set).
(Chamonikolasová 2007. 29)
The thematic elements carry the lowest degrees of CD and form the foundation of the message of the sentence. According to Chamonikolasová the elements that have already occurred in the thematic function in the immediately relevant context perform the function of theme proper (ThPr) and the elements introduced in the relevant context as non-thematic elements perform the function of diatheme (DTh). (Chamonikolasová 2007,
31) Thematic elements usually form the beginning of the sentence and are followed by transitional and then rhematic units. Typical arrangement therefore looks as follows : Th –
Tr – Rh.
Transitional units belong to the non-thematic part of the sentence. The TMEs of the verb always perform the function of transition proper (TrPr). The notional component of the verb or the nominal part of the predicate perform the function of transition (Tr) the
3 These arrangements are interpretative arrangements and may differ from the actual linear arrangements most dynamic transitional unit. The notional component of the verb can under certain conditions complete the message of the sentence.
Rhematic elements constitute the most dynamic part of the sentence and complete the message of the sentence. The most dynamic rhematic element performs the function of rheme proper (RhPr). All the rhematic units are context-independent.
In Modern English the most important principle governing the word order is not functional sentence perspective but the grammatical principle which requires the sentence elements to be ordered according to the syntactic functions they perform (S – V – C – O –
A). This sometimes causes violating of the FSP linearity principle and that is one of the reasons why English sentences can start with the most dynamic element without being regarded as marked. The grammatical principle determines whether the word order is marked or unmarked in Modern English. Therefore a sentence beginning with a rhematic subject does not have to be described as marked as long as it does not violate the grammatical principle which is the dominant factor determining the word order of Modern
English.
According to Firbas the FSP linearity principle is the most important principle governing the word order in Old English. (Firbas 1992, 128) The FSP linearity principle determines whether the word order is marked or unmarked in Old English. Old English word order is therefore described as marked when it goes counter to the FSP linearity principle. (Firbas 1992, 131)
5. The Texts Analyzed
In order to get as much meaningful data from the analysis as possible it was necessary to find texts which would be quite similar to each other. The texts had to be of similar genre, topic and the language used in the texts. Finding such similar texts in Old
English and Modern English is not easy. It was also necessary to find Old English texts with suitable and accurate Modern English translations to make the analysis of Old English possible. In the end texts from chronicles were chosen. The chronicles chosen were Anglo
Saxon Chronicle for the analysis of Old English and Chronicle of Britain and Ireland for the analysis of Modern English. In both the Modern English texts and the Old English texts main clauses are the primary focus of the analysis. Subordinate clauses are regarded as clause constituents. Therefore for example an adverbial subordinate clause is then analyzed as an adverbial etc..
Seven texts were chosen from the Chronicle of Britain and Ireland (Chronicle of
Britain and Ireland, H. Heald (ed.), 1992 ). These texts together contain 72 sentences all of which underwent the analysis. All the texts are of a descriptive character.
For the analysis of Old English two texts were chosen. One of the texts comes from
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle MS D – Cotton Tiberius B iv (E. Classen – F. E. Harmer (eds.),
1926) and the other can be found in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle MS A - The Parker Chronicle
(John William Sutton (ed. and trans.), 2009). These two texts together contain 48 sentences all of which underwent the analysis. Less Old English Sentences were analyzed than
Modern English sentences. This situation was caused by the fact that analyzing Old
English texts is very demanding and also very time consuming and therefore only 48 sentences in Old English were analyzed. 6. Analysis of Modern English Texts
Table 1 : Word Order Patterns in ME texts
SV SVO SVA SVC(A) ASVA ASVO (A)SVO ASVC sVCS SVAs sVSA A[AO] 2 12 21 11 7 4 8 4 1 1 1
Table 1 shows the word order patterns that can be found in the Modern English texts. There are three dominant word order patterns in all the texts. The most frequent word order pattern is SVA (subject – verb – adverbial). This word order pattern constitutes
29% of all the patterns. The second most dominant pattern is SVO (subject – verb – object) appearing in 17% of modern English sentences and the third one is SVC(A) (subject – verb – subject complement – (adverbial)) which can be found in 15% of the sentences analyzed. These three patterns together appear in more than a half of the sentences which were analyzed. The other patterns are quite marginal in comparison. The last three patterns
(sVCS, SVAs, sVSA) include special types of the subject. The SVAs and sVSA patterns both contain split subjects and the sVCS pattern stands for a sentence with an extraposed subject. However, to reach the goal of this work such a detailed analysis of word order patterns is not necessary and therefore some simplifications were applied to the Table 1 in order to make it simpler and better fitting to achieving the goal of this work.
Both the tables 1 and 2 include sentences with subjects that are not expressed.
There are no distinctive marks for the unexpressed subjects in these two tables because they are dealt with separately in the Table 3 below.
Table 2 : Word Order Patterns in Mod E Texts
SVX XSV 56 16 This work is mainly concerned with the position of the subject in accordance to the position of the verb and then the other elements which were reduced to the X sign to make the table simpler and better arranged. The SVX pattern then includes the SV, SVO, SVA,
SVOA[AO] and SVC(A) patterns. The XSV pattern includes the ASVA, ASVO,
ASVOA[AO], and ASVC patterns. The two split subjects and the extraposed subject are included in the SVX pattern since one part of these subjects always stands at the beginning of the sentence and no other elements precede it.
1. SVX
The Saxons, who have their roots in northern Germany, have settled in coastal
regions and river valleys in the south-east not under Jutish sway. (SVA)
The death of Ailill Molt ends his family's control of the high-kingship of Tara . . .
(SVO)
. . . the Romanized general Ambrosius Aurelianus and a shadowy commander
called Arthur are possible candidates for a triumph which many believe will stem
the Germanic tide. (SVC)
2. XSV
Despite this, many Britons have decided to emigrate, to Armorica in Western Gaul
[France], which is itself becoming known as „Britannia“ [the land of the Britons.]
(ASVA)
But in Ireland his legacy of religious communities and native clergy testify amply
to the scale of his achievement. (ASVO)
Table 1 and Table 2 clearly show that the most common position of the subject in the Modern English texts is at the beginning of the sentence. The subject is usually the opening element of the sentence. 78 % of the sentences analyzed open with the subject not preceded by any other elements. In 22 % of the sentences the subject stands at the beginning but is preceded by some other element. In all these sentences the element preceding the subject is with no exception an adverbial. However, the initial position of the subject appears to be more common than the position of the subject behind an adverbial.
No other elements appeared in front of the subject than adverbials. The subject always appears in the pre-verbal position. The only exceptions are the two split subjects and the extraposed one which all constitute of two parts with one of them opening the sentence and therefore standing in the pre-verbal position and the other appearing towards the end of the sentence in the post-verbal position.
In Modern English the dominant factor governing the word order is the grammatical principle which requires the subject to stand at the beginning of the sentence in front of the verb and other elements with the exception of some adverbials which can be placed in front of it.
Table 3 : Unexpressed Subjects
SneVX XSneV 12 1
3. SneVX
After six years, guided by a vision, he escaped and sailed to Gaul, eventually
returning to his family to train as a deacon.
4. XsneV
Saxons are also spreading out over Sussex from a power base around the rivers
Ouse and Cuckmere, established recently by their leader Aelle, to occupy the
South Downs, and in addition have settled in parts of the Thames valley.
Table 3 shows the number and positions of the unexpressed subjects in the analyzed texts. There are 13 unexpressed subjects in the texts and they constitute 18% of all the subjects analyzed which shows that sentences with an expressed subject are more common than those with an unexpressed subject in the texts. The position of the unexpressed subject if it was expressed would usually be at the beginning of the sentence with no elements preceding it, only in one instance there would be an adverbial preceding it. The position of an unexpressed subject can be located quite easily in Modern English since the position of the subject is determined by the grammatical principle which requires the subject to stand at the beginning of the sentence.
Another factor that can influence the position of the subject and other sentence elements in Modern English is the principle of functional sentence perspective. Although its influence is not as high as the influence of the grammatical principle, it is still quite important and therefore has to be dealt with.
Table 4 : Thematic and Rhematic Subjects
StVX XStV SrVX XSrV 53 15 3 1
Table 5 : Thematic and Rhematic Post-verbal and Pre-verbal Subjects
Pre-verbal St Post-verbal St Pre-verbal Sr Post-verbal St 68 0 4 0
Table 6 : Unexpressed Subjects
SnetVX XSnetV SnerVX XSnerV 4 1 0 0
These tables deal with the position of the subject and whether the subject is thematic or rhematic.. 74% of the subjects begin their sentences and are thematic while
21% of the subjects analyzed are thematic and preceded by adverbials. There only are four rhematic subjects in all the texts analyzed which is 5 % of all the subjects. All the unexpressed subjects are with no exception thematic.
According to the theory of functional sentence perspective a sentence is supposed to begin with thematic elements and end with rhematic elements. From the tables above it is quite clear that almost all the sentences in the Modern English texts fulfill this requirement. More than half of the sentences begin with a thematic subject. In these sentences the grammatical principle and the principle of FSP agree with each other..
All the unexpressed subjects are thematic. It is not possible for an unexpressed subject to be rhematic since the receiver of the text has to be able to guess the unexpressed subject from the immediate context of the sentence. This of course renders all the unexpressed subjects retrievable from the immediate context or context-dependent and all context-dependent elements in the sentence are considered thematic. The [S] in the examples below shows where the unexpressed subject would be.
5. Some of these fortresses date from before the Roman conquest, and [S] have been
refurbished.
6. The newcomers derive from a variety of Germanic tribes but [S] fall into three
principal groups : Angles, Saxons and Jutes.
All the sentences with rhematic subjects are placed at the beginnings of the texts.
The position at the beginning of the text is probably an important factor that renders the subjects of these sentences rhematic. These sentences introduce the receiver of the text into the topic of the text, they tell to the reader what the text is about and the most important information is carried by the rhematic subjects of these sentences. However, not all the subjects in the opening sentences are necessarily rhematic. In three of the seven texts analyzed the subjects in opening sentences are thematic.
7. Opening rhematic subject :
Patricius, the missionary who converted many Irish to Christianity, has died.
8. Opening thematic subject :
Britons besieged in an old Roman fort here have been massacred by their Saxon enemies.
Two of the four rhematic subjects are split subjects with one part of the subject placed at the beginning of the sentence and the other standing at the end of the sentence or near the end.
9. Little is known about the origins of Christianity in Ireland, although Germanus,
the bishop of Auxerre, is thought to have had an Irish Disciple earlier this century.
10. Reports are circulating in this region of a decisive victory for the Britons over an
Anglo-Saxon force at a place called Mount Badom.
The heavier and more important parts of these two subjects are situated near the end of the sentences. The parts near the end of the sentences also happen to carry the bigger and more important part of the new information carried by these subjects. This can be seen as one possible solution to the conflict between the grammatical principle and the principle of FSP. The subjects begin both the sentences which fulfills the requirements of the grammatical principle and at the same time the rhematic subjects with most of the new information carried by them appear at the end s of the sentences fulfilling the requirements of the principle of FSP.
These subjects also behave in accordance with the principle of end-weight. The more complex and therefore heavier parts of these two subjects are placed towards the ends of their sentences where the principle of end-weight tends to place such elements.
The other two rhematic subjects are placed at the beginning or towards the beginning of their sentences.
11. Over the past few decades migrants from continental Europe, driven by
population pressures, have been arriving to England in drowes . . .
12. Patricius, the missionary who converted many Irish to Christianity, has died.
Trying to rephrase these two sentences would result in either an ungrammatical solution or would bring changes which would be too substantial and the result sentences would be too different from these two. There is no other possibility how to place these two rhematic subjects. The principle of FSP is in conflict with the grammatical principle here.
The positions of the subjects agree with the grammatical principle but are in conflict with the principle of FSP. However, such constructions are not considered marked in Modern
English because of the fact that the dominant principle governing the word order in
Modern English is the grammatical principle requiring the subject to be at the beginning of the sentence.
The position of the subject in the Modern English texts which underwent the analysis can be described as fixed. The subject stands at the beginning of the sentence or towards the beginning in all the sentences analyzed following the requirements of the grammatical principle.. As far as the two split subjects are concerned they conform to this as well because one of their parts always stands at the beginning of the sentence. In the sentence with the extraposed subject the dummy subject it stands at the beginning of the sentence and therefore conforms to the fixed position of the subject as well. Most of the subjects are thematic which is in agreement with the theory of functional sentence perspective. Two of the four rhematic subjects place their more substantial parts at the ends of their sentences resolving the conflict between grammar and Functional Sentence
Perspective. The other two simply follow the requirements of the grammatical principle.
All this shows that the position of the subject in Modern English can be described as fixed at the beginning of the sentence and that the grammatical principle is the governing principle of modern English word order superior to the system of FSP.
7. Analysis of the Old English Texts
Table 7 : Word Order Patterns in OE Texts
SVA SVC SVOA(AO) SA(O)V AS(O)V (O,A)VS(A) SvOV(A,O) sVAS vSCVA A(O) 4 3 8 4 8 17 2 1 1
Table 7 shows the word order patterns that can be found in the Old English texts. The most frequent of all the word order patterns is the (O, A)VS(A) pattern which appears in 35 % of the sentences. The other frequent word order patterns are the SVOA(AO) and
AS(O)VA(O) patterns which both appear in 17 % of all the Old English sentences. These three patterns together appear in more than half of the sentences analyzed. Table 7 underwent some changes to make it simpler. The reasons for these changes are the same as for changing Table 1.
Table 8 : Word Order Patterns in OE Texts
SVX XSVX SXV XVSX 18 8 4 18
The Subject and the verb again retained their marks S and V and the other elements were reduced to the X sign as in the previous chapter. The SVX order then includes the
SVA, SVC, SVOA(AO), SvOV(A,O) and sVAS patterns. The XVSX pattern includes the
AS(O)VA(O) pattern. The SXV pattern includes the SA(O)V pattern. The XVSX pattern includes the (O, A)VS(A) and vSCVA patterns.
1. SVX
Brytene igland is ehta hund mila lang 7 twa hund mila brad . . . [SVC]
The island Britain is 800 miles long, and 200 miles broad
7 se kasere geeode wel monige heahburh mid myclum gewinne . . . [SVOA]
and Caesar, having after much fighting gained many of the chief towns
2. XSVX
7 on hiera dagum Hengest 7 Horsa, from Wyrtgeorne geleaþade, Bretta kyninge,
¨gesohton Bretene on þam staþe þe is genemned Ypwinesfleot . . . [ASVOA]
In their days Hengest and Horsa, invited by Vortigern, king of the Britons, sought
Britain on the shore called Ebbsfleet 3. SXV
. . . 7 hi swa dydan . . . [SAV]
They did so . . .
4. XVSX
7 þa cwædon þa Scottas, we magon eow hwæþere ræd gelæron. [AVSO]
"But," said the Scots, "we can nevertheless give you advice.
Ða flugon þa Brytwalas to þam wuduwestenum. [AVSA]
Then fled the Britons to the fastnesses of the woods.
The patterns SVX and XVSX are the most frequent word order patterns. They appear in the same number of sentences. Each of them can be found in 37.5 % of all the sentences analyzed. The XSVX pattern appears in 17 % of all the sentences and the SXV pattern can be found 8 % of the sentences. The SXV pattern is the least frequent of all the word order patterns.
Both Table 7 and Table 8 contain sentence patterns with unexpressed subjects. The unexpressed subjects are not distinctively marked in these two tables because they will be dealt with separately in Table 9.
The position of the subject in Old English appears to be considerably free. The subject can appear in the pre-verbal position as well as in the post-verbal position. The patterns with the subject in the pre-verbal position can be found in 62.5 % of all the sentences analyzed. The pre-verbal position of the subject therefore appears to be more frequent in the Old English texts than the post-verbal position. The most common pre- verbal position of the subject in the Old English texts then appears to be at the beginning of the sentence not preceded by any other elements. The elements that precede the pre- verbal subject at the beginning of the sentence are adverbials in all the sentences analyzed.
The elements standing at the beginning of the sentences of the XVSX pattern are also adverbials, except for the sentences containing an unexpressed subject which can also be started by an object.
The subject in the Old English texts tends to be placed in the pre-verbal position at the beginning of the sentence. The pattern XVSX appears in 37.5 % of the sentences, however, all the patterns containing the subject in the pre-verbal position appear in 62.5 % of the sentences altogether which shows that the post-verbal position of the subject is quite common in Old English texts but there is a stronger tendency to place the subject at the beginning of the sentence.
Table 9 : Unexpressed Subjects in the Old English Texts
SneVX SneXV XVSneX 5 2 4
5. SneVX
. . . 7 gesæton suþonwearde Brytene ærost. [[S]VAA]
. . . and first peopled Britain southward.
6. SneXV
. . . 7 þæs landes sumne dæl geeodon, . . . [[S]OOV]
. . . and acquired some portion of this land.
7. XVSneX
. . . 7 eft gewat into Galwalum. [AV[S]A]
. . . went back into Gaul.
There are 11 unexpressed subjects in the Old English texts which means that unexpressed subjects can be found in about 23 % of all the Old English sentences analyzed. Unexpressed subjects appear in both the pre-verbal and the post-verbal position in the Old English texts. The most common position of an unexpressed subject is at the beginning of the sentence not preceded by any other elements. Two thirds of the unexpressed subjects can be found in this position. One third of the unexpressed subjects appears in the post-verbal position. The position of the unexpressed subjects behind the verb is due to the fact that Old English is considered to be a verb-second language which means that there is a tendency to place the verb in the second position in the sentence.
Therefore when there is some element such as an adverbial at the beginning of the sentence the verb is placed behind the adverbial and the unexpressed subject stands behind the verb.
Table 10 : Thematic and Rhematic Subjects
StVX XStVX StXV XVStX SrVX XSrVX SrXV XVSrX 17 5 4 9 1 3 0 9
Table 11 : Thematic and Rhematic Post-verbal and Pre-verbal Subjects
Pre-verbal St Post-verbal St Pre-verbal Sr Post-verbal Sr 26 9 4 9
Table 12 : Unexpressed Subjects
SnetVX SnetXV XVSnetX SnerVX SnerXV XVSnerX 5 2 4 0 0 0
There are 35 thematic subjects and 13 rhematic subjects in the Old English texts.
That means that 75 % of all the subjects are thematic and 25 % of all the subjects are rhematic. There are 26 pre-verbal thematic subjects and 9 post verbal thematic subjects. 74
% of the thematic subjects stand in front of the verb and 26 % of the thematic subjects appear in the post-verbal position. Four rhematic subjects appear in the pre-verbal position and nine rhematic subjects appear in the post-verbal position which means that 30 % of the rhematic subjects can be found in the pre-verbal position and 70 % of the rhematic subjects are placed in the post-verbal position.
With 75 % of the subjects thematic and 25 % rhematic the analysis of the Old
English texts shows that it is more common for the subject to be thematic. If the subject is thematic it then usually appears in the pre-verbal position at the beginning or towards the beginning of the sentence where thematic elements are usually placed. However, about one quarter of the thematic subjects can be found in the post-verbal position where rhematic elements usually appear. Four out of the nine post-verbal thematic subjects are unexpressed which automatically renders them context dependent and therefore thematic no matter where they appear in the sentence.
8. . . . 7 sige hæfdan [S] swa hwar swa hi comon. [OV[S]A]
. . . and had victory wherever they went.
The other five thematic post-verbal subjects are always followed by at least one other element which exceeds them in the degree of communicative dynamism it is carrying.
Moreover, all of these subjects are context dependent and most of them refer to someone who has already been mentioned which automatically renders them thematic. Placing thematic subjects counter to the requirements of the functional sentence perspective appears not to be very common in Old English.
The rhematic subjects show a strong tendency to be placed in the post-verbal position at the end of the sentence where rhematic elements usually appear. All the post- verbal rhematic subjects stand right at the end of the sentence not followed by any other elements. All the rhematic subjects standing n the post-verbal position are therefore placed in accordance with the requirements of the system of functional sentence perspective.
9. Of Eald Seaxon comon East Sexa, 7 Suð Sexa, 7 West Sexan.
From the Old Saxons came the East Saxons, the South Saxons, and the West
Saxons. Three out of the four sentences with pre-verbal rhematic subjects introduce the reader into the text and provide the reader with an important information regarding the topic of the text. The rhematic subjects introduce new important never before mentioned
“characters” which renders them context independent and therefore automatically rhematic. Such a placement of a rhematic subject appears to be marginal in Old English.
10. Syxtigum wintrum ær þon Crist wære acænned, Gaius Iulius, Romane Casere, mid
hundehtatigum ceolum gesohte Brytene.
Sixty winters ere that Christ was born, Caius Julius, emperor of the Romans, with
eighty ships sought Britain.
The fourth rhematic subject which was included among the pre-verbal subjects is of a special kind. It is very similar to the extraposed subject in the Modern English texts. The lesser part of the subject carrying less information and quite similar to dummy it is situated at the beginning of the sentence while the second more complex and dynamic part containing important new information is situated at the end of the sentence. This subject was included among the pre-verbal subjects because one part of it stands in front of the verb at the beginning of the sentence and because of its similarity to the extraposed subject used in Modern English.
11. 7 þa gelamp ymbe geara ryne þæt Scotta sum dæl gewat of Ybernian on Brytene
And it happened, in the run of years, that some party of Scots went from Ireland
into Britain
Both parts of this subject are situated in the sentence in accordance with the requirements of functional sentence perspective. The part which is carrying a lesser degree of communicative dynamism is situated at the beginning of the sentence where thematic elements usually appear while the more complex part with a very high degree of communicative dynamism is situated at the end of the sentence where rhematic elements tend to be placed.
The outcomes of the analysis of the Old English texts clearly suggest that the principle of functional sentence perspective is the dominant principle governing the placement of sentence constituents in Old English. Subject can be found in both the pre- verbal and the post-verbal position. It can be placed at the beginning of the sentence, in the middle of it or even at the end of the sentence. Although the subject tends to be placed in the pre-verbal position towards the beginning of the sentence, the position behind the verb can still be found in 37.5 % of all the sentences analyzed. Most of the subjects of the sentences analyzed are placed in accordance to the fact whether they are thematic or rhematic. When the subject is thematic it is situated towards the beginning of the sentence in front of the verb and when it is rhematic it stands at the end of the sentence in the post- verbal position most of the time. The principle of functional sentence perspective therefore appears to be the dominant principle governing the word order in Old English.
The fact that the principle of the functional sentence perspective is the governing principle of the word order in Old English makes the Old English word order relatively free but it is not the only reason why it is so. The other reason why sentence constituents can be placed relatively freely in Old English is the presence of the system of inflections.
Inflections make it possible to express some grammatical relationships in Old English by using different inflected forms of words making the position of a syntactic element less important.
8. Comparison of the Results
There are many differences between the position of the subject in Modern English and in Old English. First of all the position of the subject is more fixed in Modern English than in Old English. The percentages of thematic and rhematic subjects and positions of these subjects are also different. Another difference lies in the occurrence of unexpressed subjects and also in the positions these subjects can occupy in Old English and in Modern
English. There is also a difference in the principles that govern the placement of the subject in Old English and in Modern English, moreover in Old English the system of inflections also influences the positions of sentence constituents.
The position of the subject in Modern English can be described as fixed at the beginning of the sentence. The subject in the Modern English texts always appears at the beginning or towards the beginning of the sentence in the pre-verbal position. It is usually the opening element. The only element that precedes the subject in the Modern English texts is an adverbial. There are three exceptions to this in the Modern English texts. There are two split subjects and one extraposed subject. Parts of these subjects are situated at the ends of their sentences in the post-verbal position. But one part of these subjects always stands at the beginning of the sentence conforming to the rule requiring the subject to stand at the beginning of the sentence. In the Old English texts on the other hand the situation is quite different since the position of the subject is considerably freer than in the Modern
English texts. In the Old English texts the subject appears in the pre-verbal position as well as in the post-verbal position. The most common position of the subject appears to be the pre-verbal position but the subject in the post-verbal position can be found in more than one third of all the Old English sentences unlike in the Modern English texts where no subject appears only in the post-verbal position. Even the sentence patterns for the Old
English texts are more complex and diverse than for the Modern English texts (ModE :
SVX, XSV x OE : SVX, XSVX, SXV, XVSX). But although the position of the subject in
Old English is freer than in Modern English there is a strong tendency to place the subject pre-verbally towards the beginning of the sentence in both the Old English texts.
The percentage of unexpressed subjects in the Old English texts is higher than in the Modern English texts, even though the Modern English texts analyzed contain more sentences than the Old English texts. In the Modern English texts there are 13 unexpressed subjects which is 18 % of all the subjects while in the Old English texts there are 11 unexpressed subjects which is 23 % of all the subjects. This fact shows the tendency in Old
English to use unexpressed subjects more than in Modern English. The placement of these subjects is also different. In Modern English unexpressed subjects would usually be placed at the beginning of the sentence or after an opening adverbial while in Old English an unexpressed subject can be also placed after the verb (when there is another element preceding the verb).
In the Modern English texts there only are four rhematic subjects which means only
5 % of all the subjects are rhematic. Two of these subjects are placed in front of the verb at the beginning of the sentence where thematic elements usually appear. The other two are realized by split subjects and their more complex parts containing the new information and therefore carrying a higher degree of communicative dynamism are placed at the ends of their sentences. The rest of the subjects is thematic in the Modern English texts. On the other hand in the Old English texts there are 13 rhematic subjects which is 25 % of all the subjects. 9 out of the 13 rhematic subjects take the post-verbal position at the end of the sentence which is the usual position of rhematic elements in the sentence. One of the four pre-verbal rhematic subjects in the Old English texts is realized by a kind of subject very similar to extraposed subject in Modern English with the more complex part carrying the new information situated at the end of the sentence. The Old English texts have more rhematic subjects and there is a strong tendency to place these subjects at the end of the sentence where rhematic elements are supposed to appear. In the Modern English texts on the other hand the rhematic subjects are fewer in number and half of them is placed at the beginning of the sentence counter to the requirements of the principle of FSP. The Old
English texts show higher sensitivity to the requirements of the functional sentence perspective than the Modern English texts.
In Old English the principle of functional sentence perspective is superior to the grammatical principle in governing the placement of sentence constituents. The principle of functional sentence perspective is therefore the main principle governing the word order in Old English. With the principle of functional sentence perspective being the governing principle of word order, positions of sentence constituents including the subject are relatively free. Sentence constituents are mainly placed in accordance with the degree of communicative dynamism they carry while their syntactic functions are of lesser importance. The grammatical principle has of course some influence here but it is inferior to the principle of functional sentence perspective. On the other hand the Modern English texts show that the superior principle governing the word order in Modern English is the grammatical principle and that the principle of FSP is inferior to the grammatical principle.
The positions of the subject and other sentence constituents are therefore more fixed than the positions of sentence constituents in Old English. Their positions in the sentence are not decided by them being thematic or rhematic but by their syntactic functions. The default position of the subject is at the beginning of the sentence in Modern English. In the
Modern English texts there are no sentences without the subject at the beginning or near the beginning of the sentence. Even the sentences with rhematic subjects have their subjects at the beginning. Two of these subjects are split with the more dynamic part at the end of the sentence but there still is at least a part of the subject at the beginnings of these sentences. The other sentences simply place the rhematic subjects at the beginning in front of the verb disregarding the requirements of the principle of functional sentence perspective but following the requirements of the grammatical principle which is superior to the principle of functional sentence perspective in Modern English.
Another reason why the word order in Old English is freer than in Modern English is the system of inflections that Old English has. Expressing some syntactic relationships by the means of inflections makes the position of an element less important. In Modern
English there are no inflections with the exception of a few personal pronouns which makes the position of a syntactic element much more important and the word order in
Modern English is therefore quite fixed.
The positions of the subject in Modern English and in Old English differ in many aspects. Modern English has no inflections and the subject is placed according to the requirements of the grammatical principle which makes its position quite fixed. The subject in Modern English also shows a tendency to be thematic. It is also more often expressed than unexpressed. In Old English the situation is different. Old English has a working system of inflections and the subject is placed in accordance with the requirements of the principle of functional sentence perspective, the superior principle governing the word order in Old English, which makes the position of the subject much freer than in Modern English. The subject in Old English also tends to be rhematic more often than in Modern English and also tends to be more often unexpressed than in Modern
English. However, there are some similarities as well. Although the position of the subject in Old English is freer there is an important tendency to place the subject in the pre-verbal position towards the beginning of the sentence. The number of thematic subjects is higher than the number of rhematic subjects in both Modern and Old English showing the tendency of the subject to be thematic although in Old English the number of rhematic subjects is considerably higher than in Modern English.
9. Conclusion
In my work I managed to explore and show the differences between the position of the subject in Modern English and in Old English. Modern English subject has a fixed position at the beginning of the sentence. Due to the fact that Modern English lost almost all inflections and the grammatical principle governs its word order the position of the subject is quite fixed. The subject in Modern English also tends to be mostly thematic. On the other hand the subject in Old English has quite a free position since there is a working system of inflections in Old English and the system of functional sentence perspective is the governing principle of the word order in Old English. The subject in Old English also tends to be rhematic much more often than in Modern English. The occurrence of unexpressed subjects is more often in Old English than in Modern English. However, there are some similarities as well. The subject in both Modern and Old English tends to be placed at the beginning of the sentence and to be thematic although in Old English this tendency is weaker than in Modern English.
Sources
Primary Sources
Classen, E., F. E. Harmer (eds.). Anglo-Saxon Chronicle MS D - Cotton TiberiusB iv.
Manchester : 1926.
Sutton, John William (ed. and trans.). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle MS A – The Parker
Chronicle. 18 September 2009. The Camelot Project at the University of Rochester.
24 Nov. 2009
Heald, H. (ed.). Chronicle of Britain and Ireland. Liberty, MO : JL International publishing
1992.
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Abstract
This work deals with the position of the subject in Old English and Modern English main sentences. Information gathered from various grammar books and books dealing with the theory of functional sentence perspective as well as from the analyses of Modern and
Old English texts was used to achieve the goal of this work.
The position of the subject in Modern English can be described as fixed at the beginning of the sentence. This applies to all canonical and most non-canonical sentences.
There are of course some exceptions such as clauses with inverted subject verb phrase order, extraposed subjects, or fronted elements, and imperative clauses with no expressed subject. Subject in Modern English is mostly thematic and expressed. There are exceptions as well but they are quite marginal. The word order of Moder English is governed by the grammatical principle which makes the positions of sentence elements quite fixed. There are almost no inflections in Modern English which also makes Modern English word order quite fixed.
Old English word order is freer than the word order of Modern English thanks to its working system of inflections and the fact that the principle of functional sentence perspective is the governing principle of the Old English word order. Thanks to this subject in Old English can be found at the beginning, at the end and sometimes even in the middle of the sentence. Subject in Old English tends to be rhematic more often than in Modern
English but there is a stronger tendency of the subject in Old English to be thematic and situated at the beginning of the sentence. Old English also uses unexpressed subjects more often than Modern English.
Resumé
Tato práce se zabývá pozicí podmětu v hlavní větách ve staré a moderní angličtině.
K dosažení cíle této práce je užito informací získaných z různých knih zabývajících se gramatikou staré i nové angličtiny a funkční perspektivou větnou i vlastních analýz staroanglických textů i textů psaných moderní angličtinou.
Primární pozice podmětu v moderní angličtině je na začátku věty. Toto platí pro všechny kanonické větné konstrukce i pro většinu vět s netypickou stavbou. Samozřejmě existují i výjimky, mezi něž patří například věty s převrácenou pozicí podmětu a slovesa, rozkazovací věty bez vyjádřeného podmětu a různé další větné konstrukce. Podmět je v moderní angličtině převážně tematický a vyjádřený. I zde samozřejmě existují výjimky, které jsou ale pouze ojedinělé. Slovosled moderní angličtiny je řízen gramatickým principem. Moderní angličtina navíc nemá systém skloňování. Díky tomu jsou pozice větných členů pevně dány.
Slovosled staré angličtiny je volnější než slovosled angličtiny moderní. Je to způsobeno tím, že stará angličtina má systém skloňování a dále i tím, že slovosled staré angličtiny je řízen principem funkční perspektivy větné. Díky tomu může podmět ve staré angličtině stát na začátku, na konci a dokonce někdy i uprostřed věty. Podmět ve staré angličtině je rematický častěji než v moderní angličtině. Je zde ale silnější tendence tvořit věty s tematickým podmětem stojícím na začátku věty. Stará angličtina používá nevyjádřený podmět častěji než angličtina moderní.