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COPYRIGHT 2002 Adam Mickiewicz University Press
ABSTRACT
The focus of my paper is syntactic. It analyses different functions and positions of uninflected words, more precisely prepositions and adverbs, in fifteenth-century English correspondence. By Late Middle English grammatical relationships and meanings previously expressed by means of affixation (inflectional endings and prefixes) had been largely taken over by prepositions and adverbial particles which had become necessary elements in most noun and verb phrases.
Due to their analytic character, constructions containing prepositional and phrasal verbs have been considered of particular interest and are analysed in considerable detail in the paper. Moreover, the use of adverbs in negations, and prepositions and adverbs in relative structures is examined. In order to make the discussion complete, compound prepositions and adverbs are discussed as counterexamples to the general tendency towards a more analytic expression of grammatical relationships.
Medieval constructions containing prepositions and adverbs are often highly idiomatic and differ from Present-day English ones not only in terms of word order but also with regard to meaning. Therefore, some attention is paid throughout the paper to the semantic development of the discussed words.
The Cely letters (1472-88) constitute the basis for the analysis, but some examples are also drawn from the Paston and Plumpton letters.
The present article is hoped to contribute to a better understanding of the language of fifteenth-century written unofficial documents.
0. Introduction
The focus of this paper is syntactic. It analyses different functions and positions of prepositions and adverbs in fifteenth-century English correspondence. The Cely letters (henceforth CL), a collection of the earliest extant commercial letters in English (1472-88), constitute the basis for the analysis (the size of the corpus is almost 85,000 words), (1) but some examples are also drawn from the Paston and Plumpton letters. (2)
By Late Middle English grammatical relationships and meanings previously expressed by means of affixation (inflectional and derivational affixes) had been largely taken over by prepositions and adverbs which had become necessary elements in most noun and verb phrases. Interestingly, the occurrences of the most frequent prepositions, OF (3) (of(f), ov (4)), TO (to), AT (at(t)) and IN (in, yn, i, y), amount to over 8,000 words, i.e., nearly ten per cent of all the words in the whole collection of the CL.
My paper is divided into three parts: It will first discuss the functions and distribution of prepositions, then the structure, functions, comparison and distribution of adverbs. Later on, the focus will shift to periphrastic structures involving prepositions or/and adverbs. Particular attention will be paid to expressions and constructions that have either been changed or altogether lost from the language.
1. Prepositions
1.1. Functions and distribution
In the material analysed, prepositions, in most cases, retain their full prepositional force (marking the grammatical and semantic relation between two notional words, the latter of which is a substantive or pronoun). In CL prepositions take noun phrases as their complements. Prepositional phrases formed in this way act as complements or adjuncts to verbs and modifiers to nouns and pronouns. As can be seen in the following example, such uses of prepositions closely resemble those found in PDE.
1) Ryght worchepffull syr, I recomend to your goode masterschep, etc., laytyng your masterschep wett the caus of my comyng to Callys was to corn vnto you for a goshauke, as you promysyd me at my laste beyng wyth ^you^ in London. (61: 85)
Prepositions often occur in collocations with particular verbs referred to as prepositional verbs. However, these are not as strictly fixed as in today's English. Many of these collocations allow for some variation of the preposition, e.g.,
2) Daultons mother comendys hyr to you and thankys yow for the knyuys that 3e sente to hyr. (RCII 117: 512)
3) Syr, my Loord comendys hym harttely wnto yow, and thankys yow of your letter, and syche tydyngys as he knowys a wryttys yow parte. (RCII 121: 564)
Prepositions may also be necessary elements in idiomatic prepositional phrases, e.g.,
4) Firthermore sir, as for the byllis of John Eton tat Fedyan axith, in gudd fayth we cannott yett fynde them; Y trowe nor neuer shall. (JC 100: 22)
5) Also syr, he leyde arndys on me by mothe to sey to you... (JR 57: 75) (5)
6) For sothe, I can haue of Rychard Tywne, mecer, at London ix s. viij d. (RCI 50: 271)
Not infrequently, prepositions, which are part of a collocation with a verb, occur at the end of a clause, e.g.,
7) Item, syr, I vnderstonde that yowre masterschypp wold [th]at John Dalton schuld bye the horsse that he wrote to yow off. (WLC 163: 216)
8) 3e schall onderstond mor at your comyng - yt ys of meyrth the cavsse I woold haue you for. (JD 44: 26)
9) I woll speke wyth John Vandyrhay and soche merchantys as I am acostom to delle wyth. (GC 22: 35)
At times the same preposition occurs twice in the same construction, e.g.,
10) and they hawe graunttyd and gewen a saffcondutt generall duryng the space of x monthys to all maner merchauntys, of what nacyon or contrey they be off, bryngyng vetell ynto Flaunders, or ellys nott (WLC 238: 1537)
11)
Furthermor syr, at they makyng heroff all that nov bene in Leyceter in recomaunde them vnto yow and desyred me so to wreet, and that we wold ffayne haue yow heere agayne, etc. (JD 180: 134)
No specific reason for such doubling of prepositions can be inferred from the examples, apart from, perhaps, emphasis. It can also be indeliberate.
Conversely, in certain constructions where prepositions would be considered necessary according to the grammatical rules in modem English, no preposition is employed, e.g.,
12) and I hawe delyuerd Joysse v s. x d. Fl. ffor al maner costys here, as hallff passage and brege money, etc., and ffor hys costys yn Ynglond, xx s. ster. acordyng to yowre wrytyng, etc. (WLC 181: 367)
13) Syr, ther ys in the same chambyr [iij.sup.c] xlix Cotys of my fadyrs in the sayd chambyr, praysyd xiiij noblis, howlde fellys allso. (GC 92: 114)
In example 12 one could expect the preposition OF following maner, but apparently the writers did not judge the preposition to be necessary. In (13) AT has been omitted.
However, the omission of a preposition in the discussed constructions seems optional and there are clauses where it is retained in the same environment, e.g.,
14) Syr, he hath bowght won as on Synt Telen Day, besyde Odenborow at a ffa3er, and he standys yn yowre stabull. Hys color ys maner off a gray coler. (WLC 163: 217)
15) Forst syr, and 3e con, sell [iiij.sup.c]lvj wynter London of my ffadyrs Rychard Cely hys: they be praysyd at xij noblis, xx d., and they be howlde ffelys. (GC 92: 112)
Prepositions are an uninflected part of speech and cannot take any inflectional suffixes. They do not show any derivational affixation either. However, there are examples of compound prepositions in, e.g.,
16) The messenger that brought them I herde hym sey he departede from the Kynge at be Tower of London vpon Frydey last past. (WD 171: 50)
17) Owr father rydys into Cots old vythin viij dayes, and I go to my Loorde. (RCII 47: 146)...
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