Descriptive Adequacy of Early Modern English Grammars

320 Pages·2004·8.1 MB·English

by  Ute Dons

Descriptive Adequacy of Early Modern English Grammars
W
DE
G
Topics in English Linguistics
47
Editors
Bernd Kortmann
Elizabeth Closs Traugott
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
Descriptive Adequacy
of Early Modern English Grammars
by
Ute Dons
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague)
is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dons, Ute, 1971-
Descriptive adequacy of early modern English grammars / by Ute
Dons.
p. cm. — (Topics in English linguistics ; 47)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 3-11-018193-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. English language — Early modern, 1500 — 1700 — Grammar.
2. English language — Early modern, 1500 — 1700 — Grammar — His-
toriography. I. Title. II. Series.
PE821.D66 2004
428.2Ό9Ό3—dc22
2004017322
© Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines
of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.
ISBN 3-11-018193-2
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek
Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at <http://dnb.ddb.de>.
© Copyright 2004 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 10785 Berlin
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this
book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mecha-
nical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, with-
out permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover design: Christopher Schneider, Berlin.
Printed in Germany.
Acknowledgements
This book was submitted as doctoral dissertation to the Philosophical Fac-
ulty of the Technical University of Aachen. It took quite some time from
the moment of handing it in to the posting of the camera-ready copy, with a
number of persons contributing in one way or another to the present study.
My thanks go to my supervisor Lilo Moessner for offering me the op-
portunity to join her staff at the Technical University of Aachen and to
carry out further research on Early Modern English grammar writing. I owe
her a large debt of thanks for her interest in my work and for her unfailing
support from the very beginning of the project until the completion of this
manuscript.
I thank Paul Georg Meyer for accepting to be the co-referee and for his
advice on the theoretical background.
I am grateful to Christa Μ. Schmidt, not only for numerous discussions
on "my" grammarians and for commenting on several (pre-)fmal versions,
but also for encouraging me when the Early Modern English grammar jun-
gle seemed to become impenetrable. Needless to say that I alone am re-
sponsible for any remaining mistakes and shortcomings.
My thanks also go to Petra Bettig for introducing me to the "art of in-
dexing" and to Johannes Müller-Lance for helping to re-animate my fading
memories of Latin once I got to the more complex constructions.
I also wish to express my gratitude to the staff of the University Li-
brary of Aachen University, especially to those working in the interlibrary
loan section. They managed to trace many first editions and microfiches
which otherwise would not have been accessible to me.
I thank Bernd Kortmann, one of the Series Editors of Topics in English
Linguistics, the anonymous reviewer and Manfred Krug who helped me
with constructive comments and advice on the pre-fmal version. My thanks
also go to Mouton de Gruyter for putting up with more and more delays.
Birgit Sievert was very helpful with all administrative matters and provided
quick and efficient help when it came to formatting the book.
Last but not least, my thanks go to my family: To my parents for sup-
porting my work in every possible way, to our sons Bjarne and Marten for
more than once releasing me from the good-night-ceremony to let me write
"The Book" (which Bjarne offered to illustrate once he learned that there
were not going to be any pictures in it), and to my husband Peter for doing
vi Acknowledgements
most of the formatting, for keeping the household going and the kids (and
myself) in good humour, and for encouraging me again and again in this
work - even though he did not write a single line, this book would not exist
without him.
Aachen, July 2004 Ute Dons
Table of contents
Acknowledgements V
1 Introduction 1
1.1 The cultural climate 4
1.2 The corpus of Early Modern English grammars 6
1.2.1 William Bullokar: Bref Grammar for English (1586) 7
1.2.2 Paul Greaves: Grammatica Anglicana (1594) 8
1.2.3 Alexander Hume: Orthographie and Congruitie
of the Britan Tongue (1617) 8
1.2.4 Alexander Gill: Logonomia Anglica (1619/1621) 9
1.2.5 Charles Butler: English Grammar (1634) 10
1.2.6 Ben Jonson: The English Grammar (1640) 11
1.2.7 Joshua Poole: The English Accidence (1646) 12
1.2.8 John Wallis: Grammatica Linguce Anglicance (1653) 13
1.2.9 Jeremiah Wharton: The English Grammar (1654) 14
1.2.10 James Howell: A New English Grammar (1662) 14
1.2.11 John Newton: School Pastime for Young Children:
or the Rudiments of Grammar (1669) 15
1.2.12 Thomas Lye: The Child's Delight (1671) 16
1.2.13 Christopher Cooper: Grammatica Linguce
Anglicance (1685) 16
1.2.14 GuyMiege: The English Grammar (1688) 17
1.2.15 Joseph Aickin: The English grammar (1693) 17
1.2.16 A. Lane: A Key to the Art of Letters (1700) 17
1.3 Models of the English grammars 18
1.3.1 William Lily and John Colet: A Short Introduction
of Grammar (1549) 18
1.3.2 Petrus Ramus: Grammatica (1572) 19
1.3.3 John Wilkins: An Essay Towards a Real Character,
And a Philosophical language (1668) 21
viii Table of contents
2 The parts of speech 23
2.1 Parts of speech: Definition and inventory 23
2.2 Nouns and adjectives 29
2.2.1 Definition 29
2.2.1.1 General definition 29
2.2.1.2 Distinction between nouns and adjectives 30
2.2.1.3 Distinction between common and proper nouns 31
2.2.2 Morphological categories 32
2.2.2.1 Number 32
2.2.2.1.1 Regular plural formation 3 3
2.2.2.1.2 Plural formation with i-mutation 35
2.2.2.1.3 Plural formation with {-en} 35
2.2.2.1.4 Plural formation with voicing of fricatives 36
2.2.2.1.5 Plural formation with zero 37
2.2.2.1.6 Summary 37
2.2.2.2 Case 39
2.2.2.3 Gender 47
2.2.2.4 Comparison of adjectives 54
2.2.3 Summary 60
2.3 Pronouns 61
2.3.1 Definition and classification of the pronoun 61
2.3.2 Inventory of pronouns 64
2.3.2.1 Personal pronouns 65
2.3.2.2 Possessive pronouns 70
2.3.2.3 Demonstrative pronouns 74
2.3.2.4 Relative pronouns 76
2.3.2.5 Reflexive pronouns 79
2.3.2.6 Interrogative pronouns 79
2.3.3 Summary 80
2.4 Articles 81
2.5 Verbs 84
2.5.1 Definition 84
2.5.2 Classification 85
2.5.3 Description of the form inventory 87
2.5.3.1 Morphological categories 88
Table of contents ix
2.5.3.2 Inflectional endings 88
2.5.3.3 The tense system 91
2.5.3.3.1 The classical model and alternative models 91
2.5.3.3.2 Morphological vs. syntactic formation of the tenses 93
2.5.3.3.3 Formation of the preterite and the past participle 94
2.5.3.3.4 Variants 97
2.5.3.4 The moods 98
2.5.3.4.1 The influence of classical models 98
2.5.3.4.2 Imperative 101
2.5.3.4.3 Infinitive 103
2.5.3.4.4 Optative 104
2.5.3.4.5 Potential 105
2.5.3.4.6 Subjunctive 106
2.5.3.4.7 Summary 109
2.5.3.5 Modal auxiliaries 111
2.5.3.6 Primary auxiliaries 113
2.5.3.7 Defective verbs 116
2.5.3.8 Impersonal verbs 116
2.5.4 Summary 124
2.6 Participles 125
2.6.1 Definition and status 125
2.6.2 Morphological categories 126
2.6.3 Forms of the participle 127
2.7 Adverbs 129
2.7.1 Definition and status 129
2.7.2 Semantic classes and other classifications 130
2.7.3 Formation patterns 132
2.7.4 Comparison of adverbs 132
2.8 Conjunctions 133
2.8.1 Definition 133
2.8.2 Classification 134
2.9 Prepositions 137
2.9.1 Definition and status 137
2.9.2 Classification 139