Unhistorical Gender Assignment in Layamon's «Brut»: A Case Study of a Late Stage in the Development of Grammatical Gender Toward Its Ultimate Loss

By Seiji Shinkawa

This book explains how and why grammatical gender disappeared from English through a detailed analysis of unhistorical gender assignment within the noun phrase in Layamon's Brut , one of the most important Early Middle English texts. Such deviations do occur capriciously but not randomly, suggesting a development of innovative functions of the attributive forms concerned. These innovations are mainly of two types: gender-insensitive uses as a case marker and a shift from a bipartite to tripartite system of defining words, the , that , and this . The author discusses these innovations, focusing on their implications for the subsequent development and eventual loss of grammatical gender.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 3034311249
• ISBN13: 9783034311243
• Release Date: September 2012
• Publisher: Peter Lang Group Ag, International Academic P
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 8.8"