Fischer et al. (4--6) に英語統語論の主要な歴史的変化の一覧表がある．参照用に便利なので，"Overview of syntactic categories and their changes" と題されたこの一覧を再現しておきたい．左欄を縦に眺めるだけでも，英語歴史統語論にどのような話題があり得るのかがつかめる．

Changes in:		Old English	Middle English	Modern English
case form and function:	genitive	various functions	genitive case for subjective/poss.; of-phrase elsewhere	same
	dative	various functions/PP sporadic	increase in to-phrase; impersonal dative lost	same
	accusative	main function: direct object	accusative case lost, direct object mainly marked by position	same
determiners:	system	articles present in embryo form, system developing	articles used for presentational and referential functions	also in use in predicative and generic contexts
	double det.	present	rare	absent
quantifiers:	position of	relatively free	more restricted	fairly fixed
adjectives:	position	both pre- and postnominal	mainly prenominal	prenominal with some lexical exceptions
	form/function	strong/weak forms, functionally distinct	remnants of strong/weak forms; not functional	one form only
	as head	fully operative	reduced; introduction of one	restricted to generic reference/idiomatic
	'stacking' of	not possible	possible	possible
	adjectival or relative clause	relative: se, se þe, þe, zero subject rel.	new: þæt, wh-relative (except who), zero obj. rel.	who relative introduced
	adj. + to-inf.	only active infinitives	active and passive inf.	mainly active inf.
aspect-system:	use of perfect	embryonic	more frequent; in competition with 'past'	perfect and 'past' grammaticalized in different functions
	form of perfect	BE/HAVE (past part. sometimes declined)	BE/HAVE; HAVE becomes more frequent	mainly HAVE
	use and form of progressive	BE + -ende; function not clear	BE + -ing, infrequent, more aspectual	frequent, grammaticalizing
tense-system:	'present'	used for present tense, progressive, future	used for present tense and progr.; (future tense develops)	becomes restricted to 'timeless' and 'reporting' uses
	'past'	used for past tense, (plu)perfect, past progr.	still used also for past progr. and perfect; new: modal past	restricted in function by grammaticalization of perfect and progr.
mood-system:	expressed by	subjunctive, modal verbs (+ epistemic advbs)	mainly modal verbs (+ develop. quasi-modals); modal past tense verbs (with exception features)	same + development of new modal expressions
	category of core modals	verbs (with exception features)	verbs (with exception features)	auxiliaries (with verbal features)
voice-system:	passive form	beon/weorðan + (inflected) past part.	BE + uninfl. past part	same; new GET passive
	indirect pass.	absent	developing	(fully) present
	prep. pass.	absent	developing	(fully) present
	pass. infin.	only after modal verbs	after full verbs, with some nouns and adject.	same
negative system		ne + verb (+ other negator)	(ne) + verb + not; rare not + verb	Aux + not + verb; (verb + not)
interrog. system		inversion: VS	inversion: VS	Aux SV
DO as operator		absent	infrequent, not grammaticalized	becoming fully grammaticalized
subject:	position filled	some pro-drop possible; dummy subjects not compulsory	pro-drop rare; dummy subjects become the norm	pro-drop highly marked stylistically; dummy subj. obligat.
	clauses	absent	that-clauses and infinitival clauses	new: for NP to V clauses
	subjectless/impersonal constructions	common	subject position becomes obligatorily filled	extinct (some lexicalized express.)
	position with respect to V	both S (...) V and VS	S (...) V; VS becomes restricted to yes/no quest.	only S (adv) V; VS > Aux SV
object:	clauses	mainly finite þæt-cl., also zero/to-infinitive	stark increase in infinitival cl.	introduction of a.c.i. and for NP to V cl.
	position with respect to V	VO and OV	VO; OV becomes restricted	VO everywhere
	position IO-DO	both orders; pronominal IO-DO preferred	nominal IO-DO the norm, introduction of DO for/to IO	IO-DO with full NPs; pronominal DO-IO predominates
clitic pronouns		syntactic clitics	clitics disappearing	clitics absent
adverbs:	position	fairly free	more restricted	further restricted
	clauses	use of correlatives + different word orders	distinct conjunctions; word order mainly SVO	all word order SVO (exc. some conditional clauses)
phrasal verbs		position particle: both pre- and postverbal	great increase; position: postverbal	same
preposition stranding		only with pronouns (incl. R-pronouns: þær, etc.) and relative þe	no longer with pronouns, but new with prep. passives, interrog., and other relative clauses	no longer after R-pronouns (there, etc.) except in fixed expressions

　・ Fischer, Olga, Hendrik De Smet, and Wim van der Wurff. A Brief History of English Syntax. Cambridge: CUP, 2017.

[ ツイート | 固定リンク | 印刷用ページ ]