
Unhistorical Gender Assignment in Layamon's Brut : A Case Study of a Late Stage in the Development of Grammatical Gender toward its Ultimate Loss.
Title:
Unhistorical Gender Assignment in Layamon's Brut : A Case Study of a Late Stage in the Development of Grammatical Gender toward its Ultimate Loss.
Author:
Shinkawa, Seiji.
ISBN:
9783035104295
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (201 pages)
Series:
Linguistic Insights ; v.156
Linguistic Insights
Contents:
Table of Contents -- 1. Introduction 11 -- 1.1 A gap in linguistic gender scholarship 11 -- 1.2 Gender marking in Old English 12 -- 1.2.1 Sex and gender 12 -- 1.2.2 Nominal forms 13 -- 1.2.3 Agreement 13 -- 1.2.3.1 Agreement between modifiers and their head nouns 14 -- 1.2.3.2 Agreement between anaphoric pronouns and their antecedent nouns 14 -- 1.3 The loss of grammatical gender 15 -- 1.3.1 Traditional views and their defects 15 -- 1.3.2 The explanation of the first defect 16 -- 1.3.3 The explanation of the second defect: a needfor an analysis of unhistorical gender assignment within the noun phrase 17 -- 1.4 A short review of research on unhistorical gender assignment within the noun phrase 18 -- 1.5 Texts 20 -- 1.6 Aims and organization 22 -- 2. Historical and unhistorical gender forms of demonstratives and adjectives 25 -- 2.1 Introduction 25 -- 2.2 The simple demonstrative (Old English se/seo/þæt) 26 -- 2.2.1 The distribution of forms 26 -- 2.2.2 Nominative singular masculine (Old English se) 29 -- 2.2.3 Nominative and accusative singular feminine (Old English seo/þa) 35 -- 2.2.4 Nominative and accusative singular neuter (Old English þæt) 38 -- 2.2.5 Genitive singular masculine and neuter (Old English þæs) 43 -- 2.2.6 Genitive and dative singular feminine (Old English þære) 49 -- 2.2.7 Dative singular masculine and neuter (Old English þæm, þam) 51 -- 2.2.8 Accusative singular masculine (Old English þone) 54 -- 2.2.9 Post-prepositional singular forms 57 -- 2.2.9.1 Masculine 57 -- 2.2.9.2 Feminine 61 -- 2.2.9.3 Neuter 65 -- 2.2.10 Summary 69 -- 2.3 The compound demonstrative (Old English þes/þeos/þis) 70 -- 2.3.1 The distribution of forms 70 -- 2.3.2 Nominative singular masculine (Old English þes) 71 -- 2.3.3 Nominative and accusative singular feminine (Old English þeos/þas) 72.
2.3.4 Nominative and accusative singular neuter (Old English þis) 74 -- 2.3.5 Genitive singular masculine and neuter (Old English þisses) 77 -- 2.3.6. Genitive and dative singular feminine (Old English þisse, þissere) 77 -- 2.3.7 Dative singular masculine and neuter (Old English þissum) 78 -- 2.3.8 Accusative singular masculine (Old English þisne) 79 -- 2.3.9 Post-prepositional singular forms 80 -- 2.3.9.1 Masculine 80 -- 2.3.9.2 Feminine 82 -- 2.3.9.3 Neuter 83 -- 2.3.10 Summary 85 -- 2.4 Strong adjectives 86 -- 2.4.1 The distribution of forms 86 -- 2.4.2 Genitive singular masculine and neuter (Old English -es) 88 -- 2.4.3 Genitive and dative singular feminine(Old English -re) 88 -- 2.4.4 Dative singular masculine and neuter (Old English -um) 89 -- 2.4.5 Accusative singular forms (the masculine form: Old English -ne) 90 -- 2.4.6 Post-prepositional singular forms 93 -- 2.4.6.1 Masculine 93 -- 2.4.6.2 Feminine 95 -- 2.4.6.3 Neuter 96 -- 2.4.7 Summary 97 -- 2.5 Deviations from historical gender agreement 98 -- 3. Innovative attributive morphology as a case marker 99 -- 3.1 Introduction 99 -- 3.2 The ending -es as a genitive case marker 100 -- 3.2.1 Singular contexts 100 -- 3.2.2 Plural contexts 102 -- 3.2.3 Competing forms 103 -- 3.2.4 Summary 104 -- 3.3 The ending -Vn as a dative case marker 104 -- 3.3.1 Numerical superiority 104 -- 3.3.2 Ambiguous number marking 106 -- 3.3.3 Variant forms 109 -- 3.3.4 Summary 112 -- 3.4 The ending -ne as an accusative case marker 113 -- 3.4.1 Singular contexts 113 -- 3.4.2 Plural contexts 115 -- 3.4.3 Variant forms 115 -- 3.4.4 'Masculinization' 116 -- 3.4.5 Summary 118 -- 3.5 Unhistorical -re 118 -- 3.6 Implications of register variation 120 -- 3.7 Summary and conclusions 121 -- 4. The development of a tripartite system of defining words, the, that, and this 123 -- 4.1 Introduction 123.
4.2 The differentiation of the and that 124 -- 4.2.1 Indeclinable þV 124 -- 4.2.2 Indeclinable þVt 126 -- 4.2.3 Tentative explanation for the differentiation 127 -- 4.2.4 The Scandinavian and French influence 131 -- 4.3 The development of indeclinable this 132 -- 4.4 Summary and conclusions 134 -- 5. Conclusion: implications for the grammatical category of gender 135 -- Appendix A: Old English paradigms 139 -- A.1 Nominal endings 139 -- A.1.1 Strong declensions 139 -- A.1.2 The weak declension 139 -- A.1.3 Minor declensions 140 -- A.2 The simple demonstrative 140 -- A.3 The compound demonstrative 141 -- A.4 Strong adjective endings 141 -- A.5 Weak adjective endings 142 -- A.6 Third-person personal pronouns 142 -- Appendix B: historical and unhistorical attributive forms constructed with a particular noun 143 -- References 175.
Abstract:
This book explains how and why grammatical gender disappeared from English through a detailed analysis of unhistorical gender assignment within the noun phrase in Layamon's Brut, one of the most important Early Middle English texts. Such deviations do occur capriciously but not randomly, suggesting a development of innovative functions of the attributive forms concerned. These innovations are mainly of two types: gender-insensitive uses as a case marker and a shift from a bipartite to tripartite system of defining words, the, that, and this. The author discusses these innovations, focusing on their implications for the subsequent development and eventual loss of grammatical gender.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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