2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Competing motivations in head-dependent relations in the history of English: A pan-chronic view of typological heterogeneity
| Project/Area Number |
25370569
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
English linguistics
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| Research Institution | Meiji University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha) |
HIGASHIIZUMI YUKO 東京学芸大学, 留学生センター, 非常勤講師 (30537337)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
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| Keywords | 歴史言語学 / 談話分析 / 言語類型論 / 文法化 / 英語史 / 歴史語用論 |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
This research project addresses the following two issues. One concerns head-dependent relations and change in morphosyntax. The contracted form ’tis (< it is) is often found until the end of the eighteenth century, while it’s (< it is) becomes predominant in usage and frequency from the nineteenth century onward. This radical morphosyntactic change is brought about by the Great Vowel Shift, i.e. the long term change of the sound system roughly in 1500 through 1700. The other centers on head-dependent relations and change with respect to the flow of information in discourse. In the sentence The fact is that I don’t like it, the first part the fact is can be regarded as head and the second part I don’t like it as dependent from a syntactic point of view; however, viewed from the perspective of information flow and status, the second part becomes primary. This change, i.e. from subordinate clause to main clause, is witnessed in a variety of languages, known as insubordination.
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| Free Research Field |
英語学
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