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<p style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif" class="MsoNormal"><font> </font></p>
<font style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">From: </font><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif" class="gI"><span class="gD">Pat Barrett</span> <span class="go"><a href="mailto:pbarrett@cox.net">pbarrett@cox.net</a></span></span><font style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br>
Subject: </font><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif" class="gI">LL-L "Grammar" 2012.02.23 (01) [EN]</span><br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><big style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br>
</big><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>When I first saw this, I scrambled to my linguistic
dictionaries and a couple of other books but couldn't find anything. I even went
to notebooks on the history of French syntax where Martin Harris discussed
Germanic sentence structure but found nothing.</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>But I had just started a book called The Shape of
English by Roger Lass and idly turned to the back of the book and my eye lit
upon the following section heading: "Loss of the 'Sentence-Brace' and I thought,
"Hmmmmmm" Here, I believe, is at least part of what you are looking for. I have
to idea how to get this to you other than to type it out. </font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>p. 327</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(iii) Loss of the 'Sentence-Brace'</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>The sentence-brace (G Satzklammer [parenthetical
sentence]) is an old West Germanic construction which involves the splitting,
under certain conditions, of an auxiliary from a main verb. In simple
intransitive clauses, the normal order of WGmc (and NGmc for that matter) is:
Subject + Auxiliary + Infinitive/Participle:</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(6.14)</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>
Modal +
Infinitive
Perfect</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>G Ich kann
schreiben
Ich habe geschrieben</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Afr ek kan
skryf
ek het geskryf</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Yi ix ken
srajbn
ix hob gesribn</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>E I can
write
I have written</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>But transitive clauses, or clauses containing
adverbials (or pretty much anything except subjects, auxiliaries, and main
verbs), have a different order in German and Afrikaans (and Dutch and Frisian):
the subject and auxiliary come in the first two places as usual, but the
infinitive or participle is extraposed to the end, coming after the object or
adverb - a 'brace' enclosing the non-subject material. Thus:</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>ich kann den Brief
schreiben I can write the letter</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>ich habe den Brief
geschrieben I've written the letter
German</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>ich kann jetzt
schreiben I
can write now</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>ek kan die brief skryf</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>ek het die brief geskryf
Afrikaans</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>ek kann nou skryf</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>The rule for brace-formation is roughly: a finite
verb (aux) in position 2; b objects, adverbs, etc. in position 3; c nonfinite
verbal material (i.e. the main verb) to the end.</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>English has lost the construction entirely (but see
5.7.2): *I can the letter write, *I have the letter written (the latter of
course is fine if it's not a perfect, but means 'I've got the letter finished').
Yiddish at first appears to have lost it too: using the same examples as
above:</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(6.16)</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>a. ix ken
srajbn ix ken srajbn
dos brif</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>b. ix hob
gesribn ix hob gesribn dos
brif</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>But if we have an adverb, or if the object of the
verb is a pronoun, we still have the brace:</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(6.17) </font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>a. ix ken es
srajbn
I can write it</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>b. ix hob es
gesribn I
wrote it</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>c. ix hob gestern
gesribn I wrote yesterday</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>The brace can also occur - optionally - in main
clauses in conditional constructions:</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(6.18)</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>a. as got zol vojnen ojf der erd,</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font> if God shall live on
earth</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font> volten di mensn baj im di
fenster ojsslogn</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font> would the men by him the windows
out-hit</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font> 'If God lived on earth, men
would break his windows'</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>b. as me ken nit bajsn,</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font> if one can not bite</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font> zol men nit scirn mit di
cejn</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font> shall one not grind with the
teeth</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font> 'If you can't bite, don't
growl'</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(The initial position of the auxiliary (zol,
volten) in the main clause is due to the fact that the subordinate ('if') clause
comes first; according to the verb-second rule, the preposed subordinate clause
takes up position 1, and attracts the finite verb to its immediate
right.)</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>As in the past/perfect case, we can see distinct
phases in the loss of a construction: Afrikaans and German have the original
firmly established; Yiddish has lost it overall, but retains it obligatorily
with adverbs and pronominal objects, and optionally in conditionals; English has
lost it entirely. Clearly the current state of Yiddish represents a point
'between' the two, in terms of historical type, a process of diffusion from
environment to environment caught in midstream.</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(iv) Loss of Split Word Order</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Since earliest West Germanic there has been a
strong tendency toward a split word-order: verb-second in main clauses and
verb-final in subordinate clauses. This tendency (strong in OE, perhaps somewhat
less so in the other dialects) became rigid in German and Dutch during the
course of the 16th c.. We can see the pattern in German and
Afrikaans:</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(6.19)</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>a. Relative Clause</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>
Das Auto [das ich gekauft habe] is neu</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>
Die motor [wat ek gekoop het] is nuut</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>
'The car [that I bought have] is new</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>b. Complement Clause</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>
Er dachte [dass er krank waere]</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>
Hy het gedink [dat hy siek was]</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>
'He thought [that he sick was]</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Compare this with Yiddish and English:</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(6.20)</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>
Dos kar [vos ix hob gekauft] iz naj</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>
The car [that I have bought ] is new</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>
Er hot gedaxt [dos er iz geven krank]</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font> He
thought [that he was sick]</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>The loss of both the sentence-brace and the in
principle very similar verb-final rule proceeded in the same way: by an
increasingly common process of rightward movement of preverbal material. There
is considerable evidence for this in OE; and even in modern German, which has
quite rigid brace and verb-final constraints, extraposition is allowed under
certain conditions: e.g. comparative phrases are normally moved to the right out
of the brace ('exbraciated'):</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(6.21)</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Expected:</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Wir haben [einen besseren Wein als diesen]
getrunken.</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>We have [a better wine than this]
drunk.</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>'We;ve drunk a better wine than this'</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Actual:</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Wir haben [einen besseren Wein] getrunken als
diesen.</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Verb-second subordinate clauses arose in English in
a similar way: by extraposing preverbal material like objects. The type
is:</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(6.22)</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>he saegde thaet he [thone mann] seah</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>he saegde thaet he seah [thone mann]</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>'He said that he saw the man'</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(in the last German sentence there's an arrow from
Wein to als and in the last OE sentence from he to thone)</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Both brace and verb-final subordinate clauses were
variable in OE, and became steadily less frequent, virtually disappearing in the
14th centurn; Yiddish maintained both until the late 19th c.</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> </div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>This doesn't get to all your questions, Vlad, and
there were no bibliographical references in these two passages, but this may
give a starting point for further investigation to your most interesting
questions.</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>(most of the Yiddish s should be sh
sound</font></div>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Pat Barrett <a href="mailto:pbarrett@cox.net" target="_blank">pbarrett@cox.net</a><br><a href="http://ideas.lang-learn.us/barrett.php" target="_blank">http://ideas.lang-learn.us/barrett.php</a></font></div>
<br style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
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