Changes affecting relative clauses in Late Modern English
This paper presents the results of a corpus study
comparing relative markers (relative complementisers and relative
pronouns) in the King James Bible and its modernised version,
focusing on subject and object relative clauses involving a human
referent. The attested differences indicate changes affecting
Standard (British) English during Late Modern English. The paper
discusses three important aspects: in Early Modern English, (i)
which was available for human subjects, (ii)
that-relatives had a higher proportion, and
(iii) the equative element as could introduce
relative clauses as a complementiser. The paper argues that the
disappearance or reduction of alternative forms to
who/whom was driven both by
internal and by external factors, and that significant differences
can be observed between the standard variety and regional
dialects.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Changes in Modern English
- 2.1Methods
- 2.2The results of the corpus study
- 2.3Discussion
- 3.Equative relative clauses
- 4.Conclusion
-
Acknowledgements
-
Notes
-
References
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Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Bacskai‐Atkari, Julia
2024.
Subject‐Object Asymmetries and the Development of Relative Clauses between Late Middle English and Early Modern English.
Transactions of the Philological Society ![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
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