An Investigation Concerning the Base-Generation of Four Old English Conjunct and Disjunct Adverbials within the Structure of Old English Clauses

Abstract: This paper is concerned with an investigation of four Old English adverbials with respect to where they are base-generated within the substructure of clauses which serve as examples of Old English prose. There are three structures in which base-generation of clausal constituents is deemed to occur: the CP, the IP, and the VP. Function and derivational movement are the governing factors which regulate the possibility of base-generation occurring within a particular structure. The movements undergone by clausal constituents, from their places of origin within the ‘underlying structures’ to their syntactic realization in the ‘surface structures’ of Old English clauses, are founded upon the model outlined in Johannesson (2009a) which is based on the tenets of Government and Binding theory. As there are no native speakers of Old English, the functions of these adverbials within their clausal environments are determined by their Modern English interpretations. Due to time and space constraints, four Old English adverbials were analysed within the context of one-hundred and twenty clauses which were extracted from The Dictionary of Old English Corpus (2004). Cases deemed to be ambiguous are addressed and classified separately; only one such case was encountered in the course of this study. The results should exhibit proof that base-generation of the four Old English conjunct and disjunct adverbials investigated occurs within one of the aforementioned structures. Note that any conclusions drawn are based upon Modern English translations and that the results pertain to the genre of Old English prose.