Northern Influences over the Emergence of the Definite Article the: With Special Reference to the Old English Glosses to the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Rushworth Gospels

• 영문명: Northern Influences over the Emergence of the Definite Article the: With Special Reference to the Old English Glosses to the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Rushworth Gospels
• 발행기관: 한국영어학학회
• 저자명: 윤희철
• 간행물 정보: 『영어학연구』제29권 1호, 181~204쪽, 전체 24쪽
• 주제분류: 어문학 > 영어와문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2023.02.28

영문 초록

The definite article the in English is generally known as a Middle English innovation arising from the Old English demonstrative se for nominative singular masculine. However, textual evidence from the interlinear Old English glosses to the Lindisfarne Gospels and those to the Rushworth Gospels proves that þe (= the) preexisted in Old English. Most of those glosses, which represent the Northern varieties of Old English, indicate that the morphological paradigms of distal demonstratives in those varieties tend to favor the þ-forms rather than the suppletive s-forms. Both glosses furthermore exhibit frequent confusion about grammatical gender and the use of weakened þ-forms. A combination of these morphological properties in Northern dialects could act as a language-internal trigger for the emergence of the indeclinable the as a unified form of a definite article in English.

목차

1. Introduction

2. Properties of OE Demonstratives

3. þ-Form Demonstratives in the Northern Dialects of OE

4. Implications of the Northern Demonstrative Paradigms

5. Summary and Conclusion

References

키워드

definite article Old English glosses Northumbrian dialect distal demonstratives grammatical gender confusion