The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

202 The syntax of early Englishstill show O–particle–V patterns quite frequently. In them we can still find particlesused in much the same way as they were in Old English:(40) & eft binnen seofen gearen his ban up genumen wurenand again within seven years his bones up taken were‘and again within seven years his bones were taken up’ (VespHom 132)In (40) the finite verb follows the non-finite verb (a characteristic OV pattern)and the particle precedes the non-finite verb. Now texts like the VespasianHomilies are not likely to be good indications of what Middle English syntaxwas like, but even early Middle English texts that do not seem to go back toearlier material still occasionally have particles before the verb:(41) a. at nan godes word upp ne mai springenthat none of-god word up not can spring‘that no word of God can spring up’ (Vices &V.(1) 69.17)b. hie bie ut-iworpen urh dieueles larethey are out-cast through devil’s teaching‘they are cast out through the teaching of the devil’ (Vices &V.(1) 73.19)It may be observed that examples such as those in (41) are compatible with theanalysis presented above for Old English on a universal VO base hypothesis.They would then reflect the same analysis with overt checking of the particleas was adduced for Old English above in (37).We should not think, however, that cases like (41) are frequent in MiddleEnglish. The figures that Hiltunen (1983: 110) gives for fifteen early MiddleEnglish texts (see note 3) show that V (. . .) part is the dominant pattern by far:Table 6.6. Verb and particle order in early MiddleEnglish texts (figures from Hiltunen 1983)part (. . .) VV (. . .) partmain clause 7 (4%) 169 (96%)coordinate clause 30 (14%) 197 (86%)subordinate clause 23 (14%) 138 (86%)These figures bring home the fundamental change that has occurred in particleposition in Middle English. Compared to the figures for Old Englishquoted from Hiltunen in sections 6.3.1, 6.3.2 and 6.3.3, part (. . .) V hasdropped from forty-one per cent to four per cent in main clauses, from sixtyper cent to fourteen per cent in coordinate clauses, and from eighty-four percent to fourteen per cent in subordinate clauses, and V (. . .) part has becomethe norm. Middle English particles freely follow the non-finite verb. Below are