Chapter published in:
Late Modern English: Novel encounters
Edited by Merja Kytö and Erik Smitterberg
[Studies in Language Companion Series 214] 2020
► pp. 91–116

Changes affecting relative clauses in Late Modern English

| University of Konstanz

This paper presents the results of a corpus study comparing relative markers (relative complementisers and relative pronouns) in the King James Bible and its modernised version, focusing on subject and object relative clauses involving a human referent. The attested differences indicate changes affecting Standard (British) English during Late Modern English. The paper discusses three important aspects: in Early Modern English, (i) which was available for human subjects, (ii) that-relatives had a higher proportion, and (iii) the equative element as could introduce relative clauses as a complementiser. The paper argues that the disappearance or reduction of alternative forms to who/whom was driven both by internal and by external factors, and that significant differences can be observed between the standard variety and regional dialects.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Changes in Modern English
    • 2.1Methods
    • 2.2The results of the corpus study
    • 2.3Discussion
  • 3.Equative relative clauses
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 18 March 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.214.04bac
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