The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

Changes in infinitival constructions 229iliary of the passive voice, usually beon was used, but wesan and weoran alsooccur. 9(22) a. and he ne mot na beon eft gefullodand he not may never beon later baptized‘and he may never be baptized later’ (ÆLS(AshWed) 141)b. biterlice scel hit him-on wyran forgolden on am toweardan lifebitterly shall ith on-him become revenged in the future life‘bitterly it shall be revenged on him in the life to come’(HomU 42(Nap 52) 7)There is some discussion in the literature as to whether the passive infinitiveafter modals was a native construction or not. Callaway (1913: 83, 194, 238)inclines to the view that the construction was Latin-influenced, while Mitchell(1985: § 922) is far more guarded. Bock (1931: 200) believes that in general thepassive infinitive in Old English is a Latin-inspired phenomenon, except possiblyafter modals. It is only after modals that the passive infinitive occursmore frequently in native than in Latinate prose. And in this position it evenoccurs in poetry (albeit not frequently) (for more details see Callaway 1913and Fischer 1991: 143–6).Although we cannot conclusively settle the question of Latin influence, somethings are clear. First of all, the passive infinitive found after modals presentsthe only position in which it is frequent in native Old English; in all other positionsit is rare, and if it does occur, it occurs mainly in Latinate prose (see Fischer1991: 145). Secondly, even if the passive infinitive after modals is modelled afterLatin, it is an understandable development because the resulting constructionresembled existing ones in which a modal was followed by the copula beon andan adjective. 10 Thirdly, the passive infinitive filled a paradigmatic gap in that allother tenses and moods of the verb in Old English had active as well as passiveforms. And finally, there was a much greater need for passive infinitives aftermodals than in other positions because an active infinitive could not be usedhere. This last factor needs some explanation. In most cases where present-dayEnglish uses a passive infinitive (see below for examples), Old English would usean active one. This did not present an interpretive problem because the NP precedingthe infinitive would not be interpreted as the subject of that infinitive butrather as its object because of the verb-final character of Old English subordinateclauses. It is clear from the (made-up) active variant of (22a) given in(22a), that an active infinitival form after a modal yields a completely differentsense than when a passive infinitive is used there.9For possible differences between these auxiliaries, see Mitchell (1985: § 786 ff.).10The beonadjective construction had stative meaning, and it seems quite likely thatthe earliest passive constructions were also stative, with the past participle used anddeclined like an adjective.