Cover not available

In:Late Modern English: Novel encounters
Edited by Merja Kytö and Erik Smitterberg
[Studies in Language Companion Series 214] 2020
► pp. 91–116

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Changes affecting relative clauses in Late Modern English

 | University of Konstanz
Published online: 18 March 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.214.04bac
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a corpus study comparing relative markers (relative complementisers and relative pronouns) in the King James Bible and its modernised version, focusing on subject and object relative clauses involving a human referent. The attested differences indicate changes affecting Standard (British) English during Late Modern English. The paper discusses three important aspects: in Early Modern English, (i) which was available for human subjects, (ii) that-relatives had a higher proportion, and (iii) the equative element as could introduce relative clauses as a complementiser. The paper argues that the disappearance or reduction of alternative forms to who/whom was driven both by internal and by external factors, and that significant differences can be observed between the standard variety and regional dialects.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Changes in Modern English
    • 2.1Methods
    • 2.2The results of the corpus study
    • 2.3Discussion
  • 3.Equative relative clauses
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (34)
References
Austin, Frances O. 1985. Relative which in late 18th-century usage: The Clift family correspondence. In Papers from the 4th International Conference on English Historical Linguistics: Amsterdam, 10–13 April 1985 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 41], Roger Eaton, Olga Fischer, Willem F. Koopman & Frederike van der Leek (eds), 15–29. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bacskai-Atkari, Julia. 2014. The Syntax of Comparative Constructions: Operators, Ellipsis Phenomena and Functional Left Peripheries. Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. Deletion Phenomena in Comparative Constructions: English Comparatives in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Berlin: Language Science Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ball, Catherine N. 1996. A diachronic study of relative markers in spoken and written English. Language Variation and Change 8(2): 227–258. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brandner, Ellen & Bräuning, Iris. 2013. The particle wo in Alemannic: Only a complementizer? Linguistische Berichte 234: 131–169.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan. 1973. The syntax of the comparative clause construction in English. Linguistic Inquiry 4(3): 275–343.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corver, Norbert Ferdinand Marie. 1997. Much-support as a last resort. Linguistic Inquiry 28(1): 119–164.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dekeyser, Xavier. 1984. Relativizers in Early Modern English: A dynamic quantitative study. In Historical Syntax, Jacek Fisiak (ed.), 61–88. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fleischer, Jürg. 2004. Zur Typologie der Relativsätze in den Dialekten des Deutschen. In Morphologie und Syntax deutscher Dialekte und historische Dialektologie des Deutschen, Franz Patocka & Peter Wiesinger (eds), 60–83. Vienna: Edition Praesens.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Gelderen, Elly. 2004. Grammaticalization as Economy [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 71]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. Renewal in the left periphery: Economy and the complementiser layer. Transactions of the Philological Society 107(2): 131–195. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herrmann, Tanja. 2002. Relative Clauses in Dialects of English: A Typological Approach. PhD dissertation, University of Freiburg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. Relative clauses in English dialects of the British Isles. In A Comparative Grammar of British English Dialects: Agreement, Gender, Relative Clauses, Bernd Kortmann (ed.), 21–124. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keenan, Edward L. & Comrie, Bernard. 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and universal grammar. Linguistic Inquiry 8(1): 63–99.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kjellmer, Göran. 2008. Alls, a relative pronoun? Nordic Journal of English Studies 7(2): 69–74. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kortmann, Bernd. 1997. Adverbial Subordination: A Typology and History of Adverbial Subordinators Based on European Languages. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kortmann, Bernd & Wagner, Susanne. 2007. A fresh look at Late Modern English dialect syntax. In “Of varying language and opposing creed”: New Insights into Late Modern English, Javier Pérez-Guerra (ed.), 279–300. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johansson, Christine. 2012. Relativization. In English Historical Linguistics: An International Handbook, Vol. I, Alexander Bergs & Laurel J. Brinton (eds), 776–790. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lechner, Winfried. 1999. Comparatives and DP-structures. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. Ellipsis in Comparatives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lezcano, Emma. 1996. The choice of relativizers in Early Modern English: Evidence from the Helsinki Corpus. SEDERI 7: 57–66.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
López-Couso, María José & Méndez-Naya, Belén. 2014. On comparative complementizers in English: Evidence from historical corpora. In Creation and Use of Historical English Corpora in Spain, Nila Méndez-Naya Vazques (ed.), 311–333. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lühr, Rosemarie. 1998. Verallgemeinernde Relativsätze im Althochdeutschen. In Deutsche Grammatik – Thema in Variationen. Festschrift für Hans-Werner Eroms zum 60. Geburtstag, Karin Donhauser & Ludwig Eichinger (eds), 263–281. Heidelberg: Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miller, Jim. 1993. The grammar of Scottish English. In Real English, James Milroy & Lesley Milroy (eds), 99–138. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montgomery, Michael & Bailey, Guy. 1991. In which: A new form in written English. American Speech 66: 147–163. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mossé, Fernand. 1991. A Handbook of Middle English. Baltimore MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nevalainen, Terttu & Raumolin-Brunberg, Helena. 2002. The rise of the relative who in Early Modern English. In Relativisation on the North Sea Littoral, Patricia Poussa (ed.), 109–121. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paul, Hermann. 1920. Deutsche Grammatik, Band 3: Syntax. Halle: Niemeyer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quirk, Randolph, Greenbaum, Sidney, Leech, Geoffrey & Svartvik, Jan. 1985. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rissanen, Matti. 1984. The choice of relative pronouns in 17th century American English. In Historical Syntax, Jacek Fisiak (ed.), 417–436. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1991. On the history of that/zero as object clause in links in English. In English Corpus Linguistics, Karin Aijmer & Bengt Altenberg (eds), 272–289. New York NY: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Romaine, Suzanne. 1982. Socio-Historical Linguistics: Its Status and Methodology. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tagliamonte, Sali, Smith, Jennifer & Lawrence, Helen. 2005. No taming the vernacular! Insights from the relatives in northern Britain. Language Variation and Change 17: 75–112. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs & Trousdale, Graeme. 2010. Gradience, gradualness and grammaticalization: How do they intersect? In Gradience, Gradualness and Grammaticalization, [Typological Studies in Language 90], Elizabeth Closs Traugott & Graeme Trousdale (eds), 19–44. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Brook, Marisa
2025. 98994 Comparative relativizers in American English: A puzzle from the margins of like . In English Sociosyntax, ► pp. 97 ff. DOI logo
Bacskai-Atkari, Julia
2022. Discourse-driven asymmetries between embedded interrogatives and relative clauses in West Germanic. In Language Change at the Interfaces [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today, 275], ► pp. 189 ff. DOI logo
Bacskai‐Atkari, Julia
2024. Subject‐Object Asymmetries and the Development of Relative Clauses between Late Middle English and Early Modern English. Transactions of the Philological Society 122:2 ► pp. 308 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue