Changes affecting relative clauses in Late Modern English
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
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Cited by 2 other publications
Bacskai‐Atkari, Julia
2024.
Subject‐Object Asymmetries and the Development of Relative Clauses between Late Middle English and Early Modern English.
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