The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

other case forms. Unambiguous examples of this new use first begin to appearin late Middle English. In (9), we give some instances where it is clear that theNP has been reanalysed as the subject of the infinitival clause, with the COMPposition being empty.(9) a. But a man to lyve pesibly with harde & overthwarte men . . . is a gretgrace & a commendable and a manly dede.‘But for a man to live peacefully with hard and hostile men . . . is an actof grace and a commendable and manly deed.’ (Imit.Chr. 2.3.14)b. Me, here to leue, & e, hennys us go, hit is to me gret care & endeles wo‘For me to stay here and for you to go away from here like this, isimmensely hard and painful for me’ (Rel. Lyrics 128.3)c. No thing . . . so bitter is . . . As mon for God & heuen blis to suffre dethwith gode wille‘Nothing is so bitter as when a man, for God and to attain the bliss ofheaven, suffers death with good will’ (Stanzaic Life of Chr. 6078)d. What profite is it wallis to schyne wi preciose stonys and crist to die forhunger in e pore man‘What use is it for walls to glitter with precious stones and for Christ todie from hunger in the poor man [while Christ dies . . .]’(Pecock, Visser 1963–73: § 912)In (9a), front-placement of the whole infinitival clause (a man to lyvepesibly . . .) shows that the NP a man cannot have the benefactive role, just asfront-placement is not possible in the German and Dutch clauses of (4):(4)a. For you to smoke is bad.b. *Für dich zu rauchen ist ungesund.c. *Voor jou om te roken is slecht.Changes in infinitival constructions 217In (4a), the sequence for you, rather than being a complement of the adjectivalpredicate bad, forms a constituent with the rest of the infinitive and you is interpretedas the subject of the infinitive. (9b) is similar to (6); it is not possible tohave a double benefactive phrase. Me and e must function as subjects of theinfinitives (in spite of their dative form) since to me has already taken up thebenefactive role. In (9c) mon cannot have a benefactive role since it is precededby as; it can only be interpreted as subject of the infinitive. In (9d), finally, wallisis inanimate, and as a rule only animate NPs can function as benefactives.It seems fairly clear that the examples in (9) are due to a reanalysis wherebythe benefactive dative originally governed by the matrix verb, as in (10a), hascome to be interpreted as the subject of the infinitival clause, as shown in (10b).(10) a. NP V NP [ CP[ IPPRO to V ]](‘benefactive construction’, traditionally called ‘organic for’)b. NP V [ CP[ IPNP to V ]](‘subject construction’, or ‘inorganic for’)