Mary Clayton and Juliet Mullins, eds. and trans., Old English Lives of Saints. Vols. 1–3, Ælfric. (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 58, 59, 60.) Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2019. Pp. xxxii, 384; 426; 402. $35/e. ISBN: 978-0-6744-2509-5, 978-0-6742-4129-9, 978-0-6742-4172-5.

Speculum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 796-798
Author(s):  
Damian Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
Lives Of Saints

Prosodic evidence for incipient VO order in Old English

2005 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANN TAYLOR
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Prosodic Structure ◽  
Concomitant Increase ◽  
Lives Of Saints

In this article I investigate the prosodic structure of verb–object sequences in three Old English metrical texts: Beowulf, Ælfric's Lives of Saints, and The Metres of Boethius. I show that while OV sequences are rarely separated by a line break in any of the texts, the prosodic structure of VO sequences is different in each text, with a high rate of separation of the verb and object in Beowulf, followed by the Metres with less separation, and finally the Lives of Saints with less again. I relate these facts to the ongoing change in headedness in the VP that has been claimed to begin in the Old English period. I take a separated verb–object sequence to indicate a postposed object, and thus the fall in the frequency of separation across the texts indicates a fall in the proportion of VO sequences that are derived by postposition, with a concomitant increase in base-generated VO order.

The Constituent Order ofHwæt-Clauses in Old English Prose

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Anna Cichosz
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Regular Variation ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Free Relatives ◽  
Lives Of Saints ◽  
English Prose ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Functional Differences ◽  
Constituent Order

The aim of the present study is to conduct a comprehensive corpus analysis of the constituent order of main declarative clauses with the interjectionhwæt‘what’ in the clause-initial position in Old English prose texts. On the basis of his analysis of Ælfric'sLives of Saintsand Bede'sHistoria Ecclesiastica, Walkden (2013) claims that suchhwæt-clauses pattern with subordinate clauses with respect to their verb position. My study confirms Walkden's basic empirical findings thathwæt-clauses do not behave like typical main clauses as far as their constituent order is concerned. However, there are numerous differences between them and subordinate clauses introduced byhwæt, that is, free relatives and embedded questions. The analysis suggests that the conditions favoring the use of the V-final order in mainhwæt-clauses resemble the ones identified for ordinary V-final main clauses in Bech 2012. What is more, the study shows that the functional differences betweenhwæt-andhwæt þa-clauses noted in Brinton 1996 are blurred in Old English prose because of a regular variation betweenhwæt þa-S andhwæt-S-þapatterns. The data also suggest thatþainhwæt þa-clauses should rather be analyzed as an independent clause element.

scholarly journals The status ofhwætin Old English

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
GEORGE WALKDEN
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Old Saxon ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Exact Test ◽  
Lives Of Saints ◽  
Epic Poem ◽  
Fisher’S Exact Test ◽  
The Status ◽  
Constituent Order

It is commonly held that Old Englishhwæt, well known within Anglo-Saxon studies as the first word of the epic poemBeowulf, can be ‘used as an adv[erb]. or interj[ection]. Why, what! ah!’ (Bosworth & Toller 1898, s.v.hwæt, 1) as well as the neuter singular of the interrogative pronounhwā‘what’. In this article I challenge the view thathwætcan have the status of an interjection (i.e. be outside the clause that it precedes). I present evidence from Old English and Old Saxon constituent order which suggests thathwætis unlikely to be extra-clausal. Data is drawn from the Old EnglishBede, Ælfric'sLives of Saintsand the Old SaxonHeliand. In all three texts the verb appears later in clauses preceded byhwætthan is normal in root clauses (Fisher's exact test, p < 0.0001 in both cases). Ifhwætaffects the constituent order of the clause it precedes, then it cannot be truly clause-external. I argue that it ishwætcombined with the clause that follows it that delivers the interpretive effect of exclamation, nothwætalone. The structure ofhwæt-clauses is sketched following Rett's (2008) analysis of exclamatives. I conclude that Old Englishhwæt(as well as its Old Saxon cognate) was not an interjection but an underspecifiedwh-pronoun introducing an exclamative clause.

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