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Explorations in English Historical Syntax
Edited by Hubert Cuyckens, Hendrik De Smet, Liesbet Heyvaert and Charlotte Maekelberghe
[Studies in Language Companion Series 198] 2018
► pp. 51–76

Chapter 2
Cognate noun constructions in Early Modern English

The case of Tyndale’s New Testament

| National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

This paper examines cognate noun constructions (CNCs) (e.g. smile a disarming smile) in Early Modern English, particularly in the first complete English translation of the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew by William Tyndale. Tyndale’s translation is produced during a period of significant expansion of CNCs in English. It is argued that CNCs in Tyndale are a marker of a particular English biblical register which involves archaic (early) English properties (cognate nouns in PPs) rather than a new tendency for cognate direct objects or the result of a translation effect alone. In other words, it is shown that Tyndale’s translation follows archaic/early English rules, thus deviating both from the new tendency for cognate direct objects and from the source text. This archaic characteristic of CNCs with cognate nouns in PPs instantiates a general tendency in Tyndale’s translation to use archaisms – as evidenced, for instance, in his dispreference of auxiliaries.

Keywords: Early Modern English, transitivity, cognate nouns, biblical English, translation effects, “sacral stamp”
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical and historical background
    • 2.1Theoretical background: Cognate nouns and CNCs
    • 2.2Historical background: Cognate nouns and their diachrony in English
  • 3.The data from Tyndale
    • 3.1CNCs in Tyndale vs. other biblical translations
    • 3.2Archaic “sacral stamp” vs. indirect effects of translation in Tyndale
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 13 August 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.198.03lav
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