The Development from Case-Forms to Prepositional Constructions in Old English Prose

By Kiriko Sato

The development from a synthetic to an analytic language is one of the most important topics in English historical syntax. This development is reflected in the gradual decrease of case-forms and the replacement of their functions with equivalent prepositional constructions. Focussing on the Old English period, when case-forms and prepositional constructions overlapped in various functions, this book aims to answer an unresolved question: was there a significant change in the use of case-forms and, alternatively, in the use of prepositions plus case-forms in contexts where both types were possible? The author makes a statistical comparison between prose texts written in the early Old English period and texts of the later Old English period; she also takes into account stylistic features of individual texts. Thus, this book addresses this Old English syntactic issue both from a historical and a stylistic perspective and shows the stages of development during the Old English period.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3039117637
• ISBN13: 9783039117635
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Peter Lang Group Ag, International Academic P
• Length: 231 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"