The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

162 The syntax of early EnglishIt is only after about 1300 that clauses with VO order begin to vastly outnumberthose with OV order, also with pronominal objects. As a result, itbecomes somewhat difficult to make a meaningful comparison of the frequenciesof OV and VO order in particular linguistic environments. As thereview in Fischer (1992a: 372 f.) makes clear, studies of Late Middle Englishword order have therefore tended to concentrate on the distribution of OVtokens over various syntactic contexts, taking for granted the fact that VO ismuch more frequent in each context. Several studies of individual works andauthors have found that OV in Late Middle English indeed seems to favourcertain contexts over others. However, these studies are few and different inmethodology, and they do not add up to a systematic sampling of texts writtenin the course of the Late Middle English period.In an attempt to remedy this, Foster and van der Wurff (1995) looked at thesurvival of OV order in all types of verb groups and clauses in a range of textsfrom the early fourteenth century to the late fifteenth century. Their resultsfirst of all show a considerable difference between prose and verse texts, withOV order being found in verse much more often, and in more syntactic contexts,than in prose, no doubt due to the the stronger tendency in verse toexploit linguistic resources for the sake of rhyme, metre and emphasis.However, more immediately relevant to our present concerns is the behaviourof OV order in late Middle English prose texts. There, its frequency drops fromabout twenty per cent of all transitive clauses in the middle of the fourteenthcentury to only one per cent in the middle of the fifteenth century. Clearlythen, VO order had become the norm by the mid-fifteenth century (perhapssomewhat earlier in Northern texts).When we consider the syntactic contexts in which OV order is still found inlate Middle English, we also see a difference between texts from the fourteenthand the fifteenth centuries. In the fourteenth century, OV order can still befound with pronominal as well as nominal objects, and in VPs containing onlya finite verb as well as ones containing an auxiliary and a non-finite verb. Wegive examples in (55)–(59).(55) I n’am but a lewd compilator of the labour of olde astrologiens, and have ittranslatid in myn Englissh oonly for thy doctrine‘I am only an ignorant compiler of the work of old astronomers, and havetranslated it into my Enlish only for your instruction.’(Chaucer Melibee 61)(56) alle that him feith berith and obeieth‘all that have faith in him and obey him’ (Chaucer Astrolabe 58)(57) me ssel hine loky and ureie zo holylicheone must it observe and honour so religiously‘one must observe and honour it so religiously’ (Ayenb. 7.22)