Dissertation Abstract
Inferential Change and Syntactic Modality in English
by
Stephen Joseph Nagle
Degree: PH.D.
Year: 1986
Pages: 00139
Institution:
Source: DAI, 47, no. 11A, (1986): 4076
This study investigates changes in the Old English,
Middle English (ME), and Early Modern English modal from the perspective of the
abductive/deductive model outlined by Andersen (1973, 1974) based on the work
of C. S. Peirce. Lightfoot's (1974) well-known proposal that the modals were
categorially restructured in the sixteenth century is maintained in this work,
but I challenge both his view of the independence of various ME changes and the
proposal by Steele et al. 1981 for an earlier categorial reanalysis. With
Roberts (1985) and Lightfoot, I hold that the ME modals continued to be
underlying verbs, not auxiliaries, and I propose an abductive change in the
subcategorization of the modals and the preterit-present paradigm in early ME which
itself occurred gradually in speech communities and deductively resulted in the
various gradual ME surface changes. These changes then constituted inductive
pressure for a subsequent change with more rapid surface manifestations (i.e.,
the sixteenth century restructuring), which reflects the operation of a special
type of inference called abductory induction by Peirce (1940). This often
overlooked inferential type might better be called inductory abduction, since
it still entails the formation of a hypothesis, which is the basis of
abduction.
This
study suggests that an inferential approach to language change holds certain
implications for theories of grammar and change and in particular provides
insight into the gradual/rapid issue. If purely abductive changes are prima
facie 'possible', inductory abductive innovations are more 'probable' and may
occur and actualize rather rapidly. I further argue that viewing language
change within a cognitive framework obviates the need for preoccupation with
elusive postulates such as Lightfoot's Transparency Principle.
In
addition to the expansion of Andersen's model to elucidate developments in the
modal, I examine the rise of various quasi-modal constructions in ME and the
emergence of a group of 'primary' quasi-modals (e.g. need, dare) from former
preterit-present verbs and weak verbs, and I find significant support in them
for the specific two-stage analysis I have proposed for change in the modal.
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS
Accession
No: AAG8704638
Provider: OCLC
Database: Dissertations