English Adjective Comparison: A Historical Perspective

English Adjective Comparison......Page 2
Editorial page......Page 3
Title page......Page 4
LCC data......Page 5
Dedication page......Page 6
Table of contents......Page 8
Acknowledgements......Page 14
3. Historical periods......Page 16
5. Authors......Page 17
6. Works......Page 18
1.1. Standard grammars of English......Page 22
1.2. Formal approaches to adjective comparison......Page 23
1.3. Corpus linguistics and adjective comparison......Page 24
2. Adjective comparison: A synchronic and diachronic account......Page 27
2.1. Theoretical stance......Page 28
2.2. Methodology......Page 30
3. Organisation of the book......Page 33
1. Introduction......Page 36
2.1. Analysis of the data......Page 39
2.2. The ambiguity of past participles in Old English......Page 43
2.3. The development of adjectival periphrastic comparison......Page 49
3.1. Introduction......Page 51
4.1. English periphrastic comparatives: A Latin borrowing?......Page 56
4.2. The Latin comparative system: Some introductory remarks......Page 57
4.3. Analysis of the data......Page 58
5. Periphrastic comparison and contact-induced grammatical change......Page 63
6. Motivation for the rise of English periphrastic comparatives......Page 68
7. Concluding remarks......Page 70
1. Introduction: French vs. English in medieval times......Page 72
2. Middle English: A creole?......Page 74
3. Linguistic studies on the influence of French on English......Page 77
4. French influence on adjective comparison......Page 79
5.1. Corpus analysis......Page 82
5.2. Individual author's analysis......Page 86
5.3. Comparison in a translated text: Dan Michell's Ayenbite of Inwyt......Page 91
6. Concluding remarks......Page 92
1. Introduction......Page 96
2. Adjective comparison: Previous literature......Page 97
3. The data......Page 99
4.1. The position of the adjective......Page 101
4.2. Presence of a second term of comparison......Page 104
4.3. Presence of adverbial premodifiers......Page 106
4.4. Presence of complements......Page 107
4.5. Conclusion......Page 109
5.1. Previous literature on the topic......Page 110
5.2. Frequency......Page 111
5.3. Coordination......Page 112
5.4. The position of the adjective: A semantic interpretation......Page 114
5.5. Establishment in discourse......Page 118
6. The influence of adverbial intensifiers on comparatives......Page 120
6.1. Much......Page 121
6.2. Far......Page 122
6.3. Conclusion......Page 123
7. Determinants of adjective comparison: Variable rule analysis......Page 124
8. Concluding remarks......Page 127
2. The data......Page 130
3.1. The position of the adjective......Page 131
3.3. Presence of adverbial premodifiers......Page 132
3.4. Presence of complements......Page 133
3.5. Establishment in discourse......Page 134
3.6. Determinants of comparative variation in PDE: A variable rule analysis......Page 135
4.1. Cruse's model of antonymy......Page 137
4.2. Cruse's true- and pseudo-comparative constructions......Page 140
4.3. Semantic-pragmatic differences between inflectional and periphrastic comparatives......Page 144
4.4. Analysis of the data......Page 151
5. Concluding remarks......Page 154
1. Introduction......Page 156
2. The origin of double periphrastic comparatives......Page 158
3. Double periphrastic comparatives in cross-linguistic perspective......Page 159
4. Double periphrastic comparatives: An analysis......Page 162
4.1. Second term of comparison......Page 163
4.2. Establishment in discourse......Page 167
4.3. Adverbial premodifiers......Page 168
4.4. Linguistic distribution of double comparatives: Concluding remarks......Page 172
5. The influence of even on the development of double periphrastic comparatives......Page 175
5.1. Analysis of the data......Page 176
6. Concluding remarks......Page 178
1. Introduction......Page 180
2. Double comparatives in Old English......Page 181
3.1. Introduction......Page 183
3.2. Double comparatives in Le Morte Darthur......Page 186
3.3. Concluding remarks......Page 192
4.1. General background......Page 193
4.2. Socio-stylistic distribution of double comparatives in EModE......Page 196
5.1. General background......Page 216
5.2. Double comparatives in LModE......Page 218
5.3. Conclusion......Page 225
6.1. General background......Page 226
6.2. Double comparatives in Present-day English......Page 228
7. Concluding remarks......Page 231
1. Introduction......Page 236
2. Chapter 2: Internal v. external factors of change, gradience issues......Page 237
3. Chapter 3: Language contact, complexity issues......Page 239
4. Chapter 4 and Chapter 5: Iconicity issues......Page 241
5. Chapter 6 and Chapter 7: Double marking of degree, linguistic purism......Page 243
6. Further research......Page 244
References......Page 248
Index......Page 270
The series CURRENT ISSUES IN LINGUISTIC THEORY......Page 274