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Innovation in a conservative region: the Kentish Sermons genitive system1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2011

SARA MYERS
SARA MYERS*
Affiliation:
Linguistics and English Language, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Dugald Stewart Building, 3 Charles Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AD, [email protected]
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Abstract

The early Middle English Kentish Sermons shows a genitive system which is far advanced towards that of Modern English, an unexpected feature for a text from the conservative region of Kent. In this article I describe this genitive system, and examine how it developed. As the text is a translation from French, the question of French influence is central. Following brief descriptions of the sociolinguistic situation in England at the time (section 2) and of the Old English and Old French genitive systems (section 3), in section 4 I describe in detail the genitive system of the Kentish Sermons: genitive forms and functions, as well as the factors which affected their use. In section 5 I compare Kentish Sermon genitive phrases to corresponding phrases in the French original. There is evidence that a particular genitive function was strongly influenced by French models, but the system as a whole has its origins in the transition from Old to Middle English.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , November 2011 , pp. 417 - 439
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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