The History of the Present English Subjunctive: A Corpus-based Study of Mood and Modality

Lilo Moessner

Published by Edinburgh University Press 2020

The History of the Present English Subjunctive

A Corpus-based Study of Mood and Modality

Lilo Moessner

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474438018

Overview
Contents

About this book

Traces the development of subjunctive use across the Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English periods

Uses descriptive data from parallel corpora of three historical periods
Employs both synchronic and diachronic analyses to evaluate quantitative and qualitative data
Illustrates results using authentic examples, accompanied by modern English translations
Includes new insights into the fields of historical English linguistics and corpus linguistics

Locating the subjunctive at the interface of mood and modality, this book presents a systematic description of the use of the English subjunctive in main clauses, noun clauses, relative clauses, and adverbial clauses. It explores the factors which governed its competition with other verbal expressions in texts ranging from the 9th to the beginning of the 18th century. Employing close reading alongside analysis of corpus data and the use of descriptive statistics, it offers new insights into the research landscape of English subjunctive use and into the fields of historical English linguistics and corpus linguistics.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
List of Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	xii
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	xx
1 Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 The subjunctive in main clauses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
3 The subjunctive in adjectival relative clauses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
4 The subjunctive in noun clauses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
5 The subjunctive in adverbial clauses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
6 A bird’s eye view of the English subjunctive Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
Epilogue: Summary and outlook Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241
Appendix I: Matrix verbs of Old English object clauses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
Appendix II: Matrix verbs of Middle English object clauses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
Appendix III: Matrix verbs of Early Modern English object clauses Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	254
Name index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
General index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	268

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 288
Keywords: Language & Linguistics

eBook

Published: March 24, 2022
ISBN: 9781474438018