The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

168 The syntax of early EnglishWe assume that AgrOP in (72) has two elements adjoined to it: the adjunct so,base-generated in left-adjoined position, as all adjuncts are, and the object mypersone, which has moved to an adjoined position for case checking. The netresult is that the object ends up being separated from the lexical verb.Another type of sentence with non-adjacency between lexical verb andobject has an intervening auxiliary, as in (59), the relevant part of which werepeat in (73).(73) et he him moe excusi‘that he may excuse him’In dealing with the comparable Old English pattern of (50), we suggested thatin such cases movement of the object is still motivated by the need for featurechecking, but that the checking takes place not in the AgrOP directly dominatingthe VP headed by the lexical verb but in the AgrOP associated with theauxiliary verb. This idea readily carries over to Middle English examples like(73), resulting in a structure as in (74).(74)AgrOPSpecAgrO'him jAgrOVPmo e iAgrOV'VAgrOPt iSpecAgrO'AgrOVPV'excusit jThese then would be the structures associated with examples like (52)–(59),which are all from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Under a featurecheckinganalysis like this, OV order would not be expected to be restricted tocertain types of clauses or certain types of object only, since the mechanismsinvolved would make OV order available quite generally. The textual recordindeed suggests that, in this period, all kinds of object, whether nominal or