Article published in:
Latin influence on the syntax of the languages of EuropeEdited by Bert Cornillie and Bridget Drinka
[Belgian Journal of Linguistics 33] 2019
► pp. 210–250
Language contact and language borrowing?
Compound verb forms in the Old French translation of the Gospel of St. Mark
Brigitte L. M. Bauer | The University of Texas at Austin | Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
This study investigates the potential influence of Latin syntax on the development of analytic verb forms in a
well-defined and concrete instance of language contact, the Old French translation of a Latin Gospel. The data show that the
formation of verb forms in the Old French was remarkably independent from the Latin original. While the Old French text closely
follows the narrative of the Latin Gospel, its usage of compound verb forms is not dictated by the source text, as reflected e.g.
in the quasi-omnipresence of the relative sequence finite verb + pp, which – with a few exceptions – all trace
back to a different structure in the Latin text. Engels (VerenigdeStaten) Another important innovative difference in the Old French is the widespread use of
aveir ‘have’ as an auxiliary, unknown in Latin. The article examines in detail the relation between the
verbal forms in the two texts, showing that the translation is in line with of grammar. The usage of compound verb forms
in the Old French Gospel is therefore autonomous rather than contact stimulated, let alone contact induced. The results challenge
Blatt’s (1957) assumption identifying compound verb forms as a shared feature in
European languages that should be ascribed to Latin influence.
Keywords: Old French, Gothic, Latin, analytic (verb forms), synthetic (verb forms), compound (verb forms), brace constructions, translation, borrowing, Bible translation, have (auxiliary), be (auxiliary), word order
Published online: 30 March 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.00028.bau
https://doi.org/10.1075/bjl.00028.bau
References
References
Adams, James N.
Bauer, Brigitte L. M.
Forthcoming. “Finite Verb + Infinitive + Object in non-Standard Latin.” Latin vulgaire – latin tardif XII.
In preparation a. “Brace constructions in the history of Latin-Romance.”
In preparation b. “Language sources and reconstructing dead languages: discrepancies and evolution in Old French grammar.”
Blatt, Franz
Harris, Martin
Herman, Jószef
Hewson, John, and Vit Bubenik
Higgleton, Elaine P.
Kabatek, Johannes
Klein, Jared
[ p. 249 ]
Marchello-Nizia, Christiane
Meillet, Antoine, and Joseph Vendryes
Mohrmann, Christine
Nestle, Erwin, Kurt Aland, and Barbara Aland
Panayotakis, Stelios
Pountain, Chris
Sneddon, Clive
Thielmann, Philipp
Thomason, Sarah, and Terrence Kaufman
[ p. 250 ]