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The Reduced Definite Article th’ in Late Middle English and Beyond: An Insight from the Definiteness Cycle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2015

Jerzy Nykiel
Jerzy Nykiel*
Affiliation:
University of Bergen
*
University of Bergen, Department of Foreign Languages, Postboks 7805, 5020 Bergen, Norway, [jerzy.nykiel@if.uib.no]
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Abstract

I first show that the reduced form of the definite article th’ is present throughout Middle English and Early Modern English. Then I highlight the differences in the pragmatic functions of the reduced form and full form of the article in three prose texts taken from the late 15th century and the 16th century. Given the differences, late Middle English and the first century of Early Modern English are closer to having two definite articles rather than one. The development of the reduced form th’ is part of the DP cycle in that th’ emerges as the function of the weakens. Finally, I tentatively argue that th’ is reanalyzed as the head of DP around 1500, after being initially base-generated in nP, at which point th’ is closer to a nominal marker than to a definite article.*

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 105 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 2015 

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