Thim Phrasal Verbs

The English Verb-Particle Construction and its History
1. Auflage 2012
ISBN: 978-3-11-025703-8
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 78, 316 Seiten

Reihe: Topics in English Linguistics [TiEL]ISSN

The book traces the evolution of the English verb-particle construction (‘phrasal verb’) from Indo-European and Germanic up to the present. A contrastive survey of the basic semantic and syntactic characteristics of verb-particle constructions in the present-day Germanic languages shows that the English construction is structurally unremarkable and its analysis as a periphrastic word-formation is proposed.

From a cross-linguistic and comparative perspective the Old English prefix verbs are identified as preverbs and the shift towards postposition of the particles is connected to the development of more general patterns of word order. The interplay of phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic factors in the loss of the native prefixes in the history of English is investigated. In this context the question is discussed to what extent the older prefixes were replaced by particles and borrowed prefixes, how the characteristic etymological and semantic properties of the Modern English phrasal verbs can be explained and what role they play in the lexicon. The author argues that their common perception as particularly ‘English’, ‘colloquial’ and ‘informal’ has its origin in the eighteenth-century normative tradition.

Zielgruppe

Linguists interested in the Study of English, Historical Linguistics, Germanic Languages

Autoren/Hrsg.

Thim, Stefan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Einzelne Sprachen & Sprachfamilien
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Semantik & Pragmatik
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Grammatik, Syntax, Morphologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Historische & Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft, Sprachtypologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Acknowledgments;5
2;List of figures;10
3;List of tables;11
4;Abbreviations;12
5;1. Introduction;15
5.1;1.1. Aims;15
5.2;1.2. The term phrasal verb;16
5.3;1.3. Contrast, comparison, history;17
5.4;1.4. Structure of this study;22
6;2. Present-day English and other Germanic languages;24
6.1;2.1. Phrasal verbs: some examples;24
6.2;2.2. Semantic characteristics;25
6.2.1;2.2.1. Three semantic types;27
6.2.2;2.2.2. Compositional constructions;28
6.2.3;2.2.3. Aspectual constructions;30
6.2.4;2.2.4. Idiomatic constructions;33
6.3;2.3. Syntactic characteristics;34
6.3.1;2.3.1. Transitivity and serialization;35
6.3.2;2.3.2. Particles and prepositions;40
6.3.3;2.3.3. Phrasal-prepositional verbs;42
6.4;2.4. Further observations;44
6.4.1;2.4.1. Cranberry verbs;44
6.4.2;2.4.2. Nominalisations;44
6.4.3;2.4.3. Other word formations;48
6.4.4;2.4.4. Prefix verbs and phrasal verbs;48
6.4.5;2.4.5. ‘Group-verbs’ etc.;50
6.4.6;2.4.6. Replaceability by a simple verb;54
6.4.7;2.4.7. Variation and style;56
6.5;2.5. Verb-particle constructions in other present-day Germanic languages;59
6.5.1;2.5.1. Basic word order;61
6.5.2;2.5.2. Particle position;62
6.6;2.6. Phrasal verbs as periphrastic word formations;69
6.6.1;2.6.1. Verbs plus particles?;70
6.6.2;2.6.2. Periphrastic word formation;76
6.6.3;2.6.3. Further pros and cons;81
6.6.4;2.6.4. Phrasal verbs as constructions;83
6.7;2.7. Conclusion;86
7;3. The development of postposed particles;88
7.1;3.1. Preverbs;89
7.1.1;3.1.1. Preverbs in non-Indo-European languages;92
7.1.2;3.1.2. Preverbs in Indo-European;95
7.2;3.2. The development of English word order;103
7.2.1;3.2.1. Word order in earlier Germanic;103
7.2.2;3.2.2. Word order in Old English;107
7.2.3;3.2.3. The rise of Modern English word order;114
7.3;3.3. The position of the particle in medieval English;117
7.4;3.4. Conclusion;129
8;4. Writing the history of the phrasal verb;131
8.1;4.1. A classic study: Kennedy (1920);131
8.1.1;4.1.1. The ‘rise’ of the phrasal verb;132
8.1.2;4.1.2. Colloquiality, informality, nativeness;134
8.1.3;4.1.3. The impact of Kennedy's study;137
8.2;4.2. Some textbooks and language histories;138
8.2.1;4.2.1. The pitfalls of history;138
8.2.2;4.2.2. Coverage in CHEL I and II;140
8.3;4.3. Lexicographic coverage: a characteristic example;145
8.3.1;4.3.1. Bosworth-Toller and other older dictionaries;146
8.3.2;4.3.2. The Middle English Dictionary;149
8.3.3;4.3.3. The Oxford English Dictionary;152
8.3.4;4.3.4. The Dictionary of Old English;154
8.3.5;4.3.5. Concluding remarks on the historical dictionaries;157
8.4;4.4. Conclusion;157
9;5. Word formation, sound change and semantics;159
9.1;5.1. Changing prefix inventories in English;159
9.1.1;5.1.1. The Old English prefixes;160
9.1.2;5.1.2. The prefixes in Middle English and beyond;167
9.2;5.2. Preverbs and particles in medieval English;172
9.2.1;5.2.1. On sound change and word formation;172
9.2.2;5.2.2. Some comparative evidence;179
9.2.3;5.2.3. Prefix variation in Old English;185
9.2.4;5.2.4. Particle semantics in medieval English;190
9.2.5;5.2.5. Some conclusions;197
9.3;5.3. An outlook to modern English;199
9.3.1;5.3.1. Etymology and integration;199
9.3.2;5.3.2. Phrasal verbs in 15th- and 16th-century English;206
9.4;5.4. Conclusion;209
10;6. Frequency, style and attitudes;211
10.1;6.1. Counting phrasal verbs;211
10.1.1;6.1.1. Quantitative long-term developments from Middle English to the 20th century;211
10.1.2;6.1.2. Early Modern English frequencies;219
10.1.3;6.1.3. Relative frequencies of particles;224
10.1.4;6.1.4. Quantitative long-term developments;225
10.2;6.2. Style and attitudes;228
10.2.1;6.2.1. Text type and frequency;229
10.2.2;6.2.2. Pre-1800 evidence for colloquiality?;232
10.2.3;6.2.3. An example: Samuel Johnson;235
10.2.4;6.2.4. James Cook rewritten and John Dryden revised;240
10.3;6.3. The colloquialization conspiracy: a first suggestion;247
10.4;6.4. Conclusion;259
11;7. Conclusion;261
11.1;7.1. Summary;261
11.2;7.2. Outlook;266
12;References;269
13;Index;307

Über Autor(innen)

Thim, Stefan
Stefan Thim, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany.