Wherefore therefore: Causal connectives in Middle English prose as opposed to Present-Day English

Manfred Markus

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Wherefore therefore: Causal connectives in Middle English prose as opposed to Present-Day English

In: Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory

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Manfred Markus

Manfred Markus Universität Innsbruck

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 215–232

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004490758_018

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Abstract

After the publication of a number of excellent studies on causal links in Present-Day English it is time to tum to the differing usage of former periods of the English language. The results make possible general inferences about different ways of “logical” thinking in former times, but also offer some more specific insights into the diachrony of English causal cohesion, with lexicological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic repercussions.

The paper focuses on late Middle English argumentative prose texts (available in the Innsbruck ICAMET corpus), comparing the results to those obtained on modem data from, among others, the LOB corpus. Quantitatively, the ranking list of the ME causal links reveals frequent usage of for, but also of the adverbs so and therefore; in Present-Day English, because plays the dominant role, whereas it is rare in the ICAMET texts. The results for ME show a preference for adverbials rather than subordinating conjunctions. In terms of semantics, those adverbs and conjunctions are preferred which have a clear referential interpretation, namely CAUSE in the case of for, and RESULT in all other cases, and which require, moreover, a fixed order of CAUSE and RESULT. Pragmatically, it seems relevant that the adverbs are deictic, whereas the conjunctions are not. But the modem difference between demonstrative and relative deictic reference (therefore/thereby vs. wherefore/whereby) turns out to be grammatically irrelevant in ME.

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Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory

Papers from the Twentieth International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora (ICAME 20) Freiburg im Breisgau 1999

Series: Language and Computers, Volume: 33

Cover Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004490758

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 2000

Subjects
- Languages and Linguistics
  - Applied Linguistics

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Wherefore therefore: Causal connectives in Middle English prose as opposed to Present-Day English

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Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory

Papers from the Twentieth International Conference on English Language Research on Computerized Corpora (ICAME 20) Freiburg im Breisgau 1999

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