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Books > Language & Literature > Language & linguistics > Grammar, syntax, linguistic structure
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The Rise of the To-Infinitive (Paperback, New edition)
Loot Price: R2,542
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The Rise of the To-Infinitive (Paperback, New edition)
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This book describes the historical emergence and spread of the
to-infinitive in English. It shows that to + infinitive emerged
from a reanalysis of the preposition to plus a deverbal
nominalization, which spread first to purpose clauses, then to
other nonfinite environments. The book challenges the traditional
reasoning that infinitives must have been nouns in Old English
because they inflected for dative case and can follow prepositions.
Dr Los shows that, even as early as Old English, the to-infinitive
was established in most of the environments in which it is found
today. She argues that its spread was largely due to competition
with subjunctive that-clauses, which it gradually replaced. Later
chapters consider Middle English developments. The author provides
a measured evaluation of the evidence that to undergoes a period of
degrammaticalization. She concludes that the extent to which to
gains syntactic freedom in Middle English is due to the fact that
speakers began to equate it with the modal verbs and therefore to
treat it syntactically as a modal verb. The exposition is clear and
does not assume an up-to-date knowledge of generative theory. The
book will appeal to the wide spectrum of scholars interested in the
transformation from Old to Middle English, as well as those
studying the processes and causes of syntactic change more
generally.
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