The merger of OE pyncan and pencan
Group publication title: Creator: Keywords:Old English ; Middle English ; ‘impersonal’ constructions ; merger
Abstract:
The development of Modern English think is often explained by the morphological merger of the two verbs þencan ‘to think’ and þyncan ‘to seem’ in early Middle English. This paper exemplifies that it is not the confusion between personal construction of þencan and ‘impersonal’ constructions of þyncan but the loss of contrast between < -e- > and < -i- > in the Northern dialect and other dialects, which leads to the merger of the two verbs that occurred with the present forms þence and þince, as well as the merger between < -u- > and < -ou- > in the preterite forms þohte and þuhte.
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jana Kochanowskiego w Kielcach
Date issued: Identifier: Language: Is part of:Token : A Journal of English Linguistics
Has part: Type: Format: