Analyzing Syntax through Texts
Old, Middle, and Early Modern English
Illustrates the syntax and morphology of English with manuscript images and word-by-word transcriptions
To describe a language, it is necessary to get as close to the sources as possible -- this textbook takes manuscript images, explains the various scripts used, and provides a word-by-word account of the Old, Middle, and Early Modern English texts. It invites you to explore early English syntax by looking at the linguistic characteristics of well- known texts throughout the early history of English, and encourages you to evaluate how that piece of the language fits in to the broader picture of how English is developing. You will be introduced to the real writing of the period as you look at the original manuscript version of selected excerpts.
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1 Introduction
1 The history of English in a nutshell
2 Functions and case
3 Verbal inflection and clause structure
4 Language change
5 Sources and resources
6 Conclusion
Chapter 2 The Syntax of Old, Middle, and Early Modern English
1 Major Changes in the Syntax of English
2 Word Order
3 Inflections
4 Demonstratives, pronouns, and articles
5 Clause boundaries
6 Dialects in English
7 Conclusion
Chapter 3 Old English Before 1100
1 The script
2 Historical prose narrative: Orosius
3 Sermon: Wulfstan on the Antichrist
4 Biblical gloss and translation: Lindisfarne, Rushworth, and Corpus Versions
5 Poetic monologue: the Wife’s Lament and the Wanderer
6 Conclusion
Chapter 4 Early Middle English 1100-1300
1 Historical prose narrative: Peterborough Chronicle
2 Prose Legend: Seinte Katerine
3 Debate poetry: The Owl and the Nightingale
4 Historical didactic poetry: Physiologus (Bestiary)
5 Prose: Richard Rolle’s Psalter Preface
6 Conclusion
Chapter 5 Late Middle English and Early Modern 1300-1600
1 Didactic poem: Cleanness
2 Instructional scientific prose: Chaucer’s Astrolabe
3 Religious: Margery of Kempe
4 Romance: Caxton
5 Chronicle and letters: Henry Machyn and Queen Elizabeth
6 Conclusion
Chapter 6 Conclusion
Appendix I Summary of all grammatical information
Appendix II Background on texts
Appendix III Keys to the exercises
Bibliography
Glossary
Index
Analyzing Syntax through Texts is a very good book, one that the diachronic-syntactic community has probably been waiting for, and it deserves a place among the ranks of our course books ... Each chapter offers further reading and exercises; the latter are cleverly devised and can effectually be used in class or as homework ... The book concludes with three appendixes [and] van Gelderen also includes a glossary that gives comprehensible definitions of the grammatical terms used. The bibliography is short and therefore reader-friendly, particularly for students, and the index stood up well to random critical cross-checking. All in all, this is a really recommendable book that can well be used for undergraduate courses.
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