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Historical Linguistics 2022: Selected papers from the 25th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Oxford, 1–5 August 2022
Edited by Holly Kennard, Emily Lindsay-Smith, Aditi Lahiri and Martin Maiden
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 369] 2025
► pp. 250–263

A discourse analysis of left-dislocation in Old English

| John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
This paper examines the correlation between the position of resumptive demonstratives and personal pronouns in left-dislocation and their functions in the discourse. It shows that these structures typically introduce new topics, hence two thirds show no antecedent and topic continuity. When antecedents are present, they are fairly common in percentage terms in Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies I. They are non-nominative and linked with object demonstratives occurring high. By contrast, personal pronouns show a more general tendency to persist as topics both in Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies I and in Cura Pastoralis. Moreover, their function does not seem to be directly linked with low position.
Keywords: antecedence, Old English, left-dislocation, discourse, resumptive
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodological points
  • 3.Diachronic analysis
    • 3.1Previous studies
    • 3.2Data and discussion
  • 4.Conclusions and caveats
  • Author queries
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
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References (16)
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