Composite Predicates in English: Processes of Specialization

by Eva Berlage

Overview

Composite Predicates (CPs) are of particular interest to linguists in that only some of them are semantically restricted in present-day English, while others are not. This book explores the semantic-syntactic evolution of twenty-four different CPs in English from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, showing why some specialize over time while others do not. It highlights that the semantic scope and evolution of the morphologically and semantically related simple verb acts as a powerful predictor of whether or not a CP becomes semantically restricted in the course of time. In all those cases where CPs undergo specialization, semantic changes take place earlier than syntactic ones. Finally, large-scale corpus-analyses reveal that the CPs, which, in comparison to their morphologically simple verbs, can be considered analytic constructions, decrease from the nineteenth to twentieth century or show consistently low frequencies. This finding runs counter to the trend of English to become increasingly analytic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107155640
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/15/2025
Series:	Studies in English Language
Pages:	235
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

Eva Berlage is Junior Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Her notable publications include Noun Phrase Complexity in English (2014).

Table of Contents

Abbreviations and symbols; 1. Introduction; 2. The evolution of CPs: theories, concepts and their relevance; 3. The CPs under investigation, the simple verbs and the hypotheses; 4. Methodology; 5. The evolution of the simple verbs; 6. The semantic evolution of type-I-CPs; 7. The semantic evolution of type-II-CPs; 8. Syntactic changes and a comparison of semantic and syntactic changes; 9. Theoretical discussion; 10. Conclusion and outlook.