Verb movement change from Early Modern English to Present Day English

Abstract

I denne opgaven har jeg forsøkt å avdekke forskjellen mellom EME (Early Modern English) og PDE (Present day English). I tillegg har jeg forsøkt å finne likheter mellom EME og moderne norsk. I oppgaven har jeg introdusert leseren for X-bar teori og forklart i korte trekk strukturanalyseformatet CP-IP-VP. Ved bruk av CP-IP-VP har jeg gitt en oversikt over både interogative og deklarative setninger i PDE og norsk. I gjennomgangen av norsk har jeg lagt ekstra stor vekt på ulikhetene mellom PDE og norsk i forhold til verbplassering. Til slutt i oppgaven har jeg analysert et utvalg med setninger fra 14- og 1500- tallet og sett på forskjellene mellom disse og PDE og norsk. Jeg kom frem til at denne oppgaven, på bare 4000 ord, er for liten til å gi noen helhetlig bilde på alle likhetene og ulikhetene mellom norsk, EMe og PDE. Likevel kom jeg frem til at EME og norsk er like ved at begge språkene tillater derivering av det leksikale hovedverbet i setningen, noe PDE ikke tillater.

In this paper we have tried to determine some differences between EME and PDE. In addition, we have tried to find some similarities between EME and Norwegian. We have introduced X-bar theory and explained the CP-IP-VP structure format. Using the CP-IP-VP, we have given an overview of some core concepts of the structure and movement of declarative and interrogative sentences in PDE. Then we introduced the core concepts of the structure an movement of Norwegian declarative and interrogative sentences, where we mostly focused on how they are different. Finally, we have compared Norwegian and PDE to a few sources written in the 15th or 16th century. Considering the limited scope of this paper, we did not have the capacity to explore very much about the differences between PDE and EME, and the similarities between EME and Norwegian. There are undoubtedly several differences and similarities that has not been covered in this paper. However, we did discover that one of the main differences between EME and PDE is the fact that the main head verb can and does undergo movement in EME, thus allowing construction where the main head verb is placed in the C position. This is quite different PDE, where the main verb is locked in the V position, but is very similar to Norwegian sentence structure, where the finite head verb is also allowed movement. Thus we can conclude that EME is indeed more similar to Norwegian in terms of verb movement rules than PDE.