Categorial heterogenity: Old English determiners
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Date
2007
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Adam Mickiewicz University
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Abstract
This paper examines the syntactic properties of two structures illustrated in (1) and (2):
1) his þone readan gim
his the red gem
‘his red gem’
(coblick,HomU_18_[BlHom_1]:9.125.121),
2) þæs his cwides
that his saying
‘that saying’
(coblick,LS_17.1_[MartinMor[BlHom_17]]:215.79.2742).
Example (1) features a possessive – determiner sequence, which is characterized by the
obligatory occurrence of both an adjective and simple determiners of the paradigm
se/seo/þæt (Mitchell 1985: §103-112). The reversed order (determiner – possessive) does not
display such restrictions. In particular, the adjective is optional and compound determiners
(þes/þeos/þis) are also licit in these sequences, as shown in example (2). The analysis proposed
in this paper accounts for these facts by assuming that Old English determiners are not
a homogeneous group because they combine both adjectival (specifier) and pronominal
(head) properties.
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Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, vol. 43 (2007), pp. 75-96
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0081-6272