Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, 2007 vol. 43

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The pre-verbal i- in Early Middle English: An analysis of the formal parameters of the prefixed verbs
(Adam Mickiewicz University, 2007) Mokrowiecki, Tomasz
In contrast to the majority of works on the pre-verbal i-/y- in Middle English which usually attempt to explain the loss of the prefix, the present study focuses on the formal traits of the prefixed verbs. The intended aim of the study is to ascertain whether in the early Middle English period verbs had to meet any formal criteria for the use of the prefix. The linguistic data collected from seven prose texts composed at the beginning of the thirteenth century in West Midlands show that the morphological status of the EME i- extends beyond that of the preterite participle marker. The morphological dualism of the prefix – often blurred by its opaque semantics – becomes even more evident in a comparative analysis of the verbs taking the pre-verbal ge- in Modern Dutch and German with those preceded by i- in Early Middle English.