| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,500,000)
Fiscal Year 2000: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
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| Research Abstract |
In Middle English metrical romances a wide variety of syntactic features can be observed, and some of them are very often attributed to the exigencies of meter and rhyme. This study discusses how some syntactic features can create appropriate stylistic effects in the context in which they are used. Special attention is paid to the displaced components of a subordinate clause as in "Gyltles men yiff thay be" (Athelston, 423). In this example, "Gyltles men" is placed outside the boundary of a subordinate clause.
G.H.Roscow says that "the general effect...is to give the displaced element special emphasis", though sometimes "they may be used...for artistic effect." Michio Masui, in a chapter dealing with transposition, says that "the reason for the position being often at the beginning of a line...may be ascribed both to the demands of meter and rime and to a rhetorical consideration." Tsuneshi Miura makes detailed descriptions of the phenomena and Hideo Nishimura deals with the matter from the viewpoint of information structure.
In this study we have observed instances of displacement in the context from which they are taken. Our provisional conclusion is as follows : 1. In many cases displacement is used in connection with some important development in the story that follows it. This can be observed even with a clause like "In romance as we rede", which is often regarded as a filler. 2. Displaced elements, usually placed at the beginning of a line, carry important information in the stream of the story and can push the story ahead. 3. It is conceivable, therefore, that the displacement of sentence elements in Middle English metrical romance may have been quite useful for the minstrels who needed to keep their audience interested in the development of the story.
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