Composite Predicates in English by Eva Berlage
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.
Eva Berlage is Junior Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Her notable publications include Noun Phrase Complexity in English (2014).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781107155640 |
| ISBN 10 | 1107155649 |
| Title | Composite Predicates in English |
| Author | Eva Berlage |
| Series | Studies In English Language |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2025-04-30 |
| Number of pages | 244 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |