The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

Verb–particles in Old and Middle English 197In line with our earlier analysis we could maintain that the particle here is amodifier of the PP (see section 6.3.3). If this interpretation is correct, theclause does not involve a particle as such, but a modified PP, which can freelyoccur to the right of the non-finite verb. There are also some instances with anobject NP, as in (34) given above, and (36):(36) a. and man ne mihte swa eah macian hi healfe upand one not could so however make them half up‘and not even so could half of them be put up’ (ÆLS(Swithun) 431)b. a wolde seo Sexburh æfter syxtyne gearum don hire swustorthen wanted Sexburh after sixteen years do of-her sisterban of ære byrgene upbones from the burial-place up‘After sixteen years Sexburh wanted to take up her sister’s bones fromtheir burial-place’ (ÆLS(Æthelthryth) 73)Both (36a) and (36b) have word orders that still retain an OV character, yetthe particle follows the non-finite verb. We may be dealing here with aninnovation, in which the position of the particle is no longer linked to the positionof the verb before movement. Pintzuk’s (1991) material is taken from thewhole of the Old English period, and it may be significant that practically allthe clauses such as (36) come from late Old English texts.Evidence for V-movement in subordinate clauses also comes from the positionof pronominal objects and one-syllable adverbs. These, like particles, arerare after the non-finite verb, but occur often after an inflected verb in a subordinateclause (Pintzuk 1991: 95). As with particles, this is mainly found inlate Old English texts. There are apparently no cases in main clauses of a pronominalobject after a particle.We have seen in this section that the general distribution of particles supportsan analysis in which the particle marks the base position of the verb inall types of clauses. Verb movement is then responsible for ‘stranding’ the particle.When the verb is non-finite, it is not subject to movement and the particleprecedes it. In section 6.6 we will consider some puzzling cases which donot seem to fit in with this hypothesis.6.5 The universal base hypothesisSo far we have described the distribution of particles, concentratingon the way this evidence has been used to support an OV base word order forOld English (section 6.4.2). We have also seen that within these assumptionsthere is evidence that the finite verb moves in subordinate clauses too (section6.4.3). In recent theoretical developments, there is a prominent school ofthought in which underlying VO order is thought to be universal (Kayne