Transformation of syntactic structures of the English language based on poetic fragments of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle
Abstract
The aim of this research is to establish the patterns in the evolution of English syntactic structures based on poetic fragments of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The article examines methodological approaches to the study of historical syntax, problems in the periodization of the history of the English language, and the specific features of syntactic structures in the Old English and Middle English periods. Previous studies have determined the state of the syntactic structure of the English language in the periods under consideration and have studied general trends in the development of English syntax. The scientific novelty of this work lies in the fact that, for the first time, a correlation has been established between the genre specificity of poetic texts and the nature of syntactic changes in the transitional period from Old English to Middle English. Furthermore, unique mechanisms for preserving archaic syntactic models in the poetic fragments of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle have been identified. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of syntactic constructions in the poetic works of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. As a result of the research, trends in the development of syntax from the Old English to the Middle English period have been identified, and the necessity of a complex approach, which takes into account the genre specificity of texts in the diachronic analysis of syntax, has been substantiated.
References
- Вахонина О. В., Батманов А. Д. Синтаксис английского языка в диахронии // Приоритетные научные направления: от теории к практике. 2016. № 32-2.
- Расторгуева Т. А. История английского языка. М.: Астрель, 2003.
- Смирницкая О. А. Эволюция видо-временной системы в германских языках // Историко-типологическая морфология германских языков / под ред. М. М. Гухман. М.: Наука, 1977.
- Ярцева В. Н. Развитие национального литературного английского языка. М.: Наука, 1969.
- Bergen L. van. Pronouns and Word Order in Old English, with Particular Reference to the Indefinite Pronoun Man: Unpubl. Dissertation. Manchester, 2000.
- Bredehoft T. A. Early English Metre. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005.
- Dance R. The Poetic Field, I: Old and Middle English Language and Poetry // The Oxford History of Poetry in English: in 4 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. Vol. 2. Medieval Poetry: 1100-1400 / ed. by H. Cooper and R. R. Edwards.
- Fischer O., Kemenade A. van, Koopman W., Wurff W. van der. The Syntax of Early English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
- Freidin R. Foundations of Generative Syntax. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1992.
- Kemenade A. van, Struik T. Information structure and OV word order in Old and Middle English: A phase-based approach // The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics. 2022. № 25 (1).
- Lauridsen F. B. Old English Syntax and Its Relation to German: A Comparative Study // Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English. 2021. № 7.
- Lightfoot D. W. Principles of Diachronic Syntax. N. Y. – L.: Cambridge University Press, 1979.
- Noel B.-R. Analyzing Sentences: An Introduction to English Syntax. L.: Routledge, 2021.
- O’Neil D. Syntax, Prosody, and the Brut: Metrical Continuity in the Early English Alliterative Tradition // Enarratio Publications of the Medieval Association of the Midwest. 2022. Vol. 23.
- Taylor A., Pintzuk S. Verb order, object position, and information status in Old English // Syntax over Time: Lexical, Morphological, and Information-Structural Interactions / ed. by Th. Biberauer, G. Walkden. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
Author information
About this article
Publication history
- Received: February 5, 2025.
- Published: April 24, 2025.
Keywords
- исторический синтаксис английского языка
- поэтические фрагменты англосаксонской хроники
- эволюция синтаксических структур
- переходный период языка от древнеанглийского к среднеанглийскому
- жанровая специфика хроники
- historical syntax of the English language
- poetic fragments of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
- evolution of syntactic structures
- transitional period of language from Old English to Middle English
- genre specificity of the Chronicle
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
© 2025 Gramota Publishing, LLC