The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

296 The syntax of early Englishprecise as to dates: stages (i) and (ii) are attested from Old English onwards,stage (iii) from Middle English and (iv) from early Modern English onwards.We highlight the new grammatical details Brinton provides by italicizing them,thus distinguishing them from the features already provided by van der Gaafand Visser (see (3) above).(6) i. Old English →haveNPto infinitive: full predicate (Brinton 1991: 22–5)• have functions as a full verb meaning ‘possess’• the infinitive is an adjunct to the NP, which is the direct object of have• the NP is ‘normally a concrete object which can be possessed’ (p. 22)• have and infinitive have separate subcategorization frames• lack ofsubject identity (between subject ofhave and infinitive) possible 3• infinitive is not obligatory• order invariably ‘have NP to-infinitive’ unless NP is fronted• have can be substituted by other verbs ofpossession• meaning of have may have modal colouring 4ii. Old English →predicative structure (nb: construction (i) also remains) (Brinton 1991:26–9)• the meaning of have is generalized; it expresses a combination ofobligation and possession• the infinitive functions as an object complement• the NP object is frequently ‘factitive’ or negative, i.e. it denotessomething that cannot be possessed• argument structure determined by the infinitive• subject identity between subject of have and infinitive• infinitive is obligatory• order still as in (i)iii. Middle English →periphrastic structure (a further development of (ii); (i) and (ii) alsoremain) (Brinton 1991: 32–8)• semantically, the meaning of possession is no longer possible• syntactically, have is developing into an auxiliary• increase in ‘quasi-objects’ and factitive objects; appearance of it,reflexive pronouns and clauses as object3E.g. in an examples such as,hæfst u æceras to erigennehave you acres to plough (ÆGram 135.2)the ploughing does not necessarily have to be done by the main verb subject u.4I.e. modal colouring may but need not be present in the clause containing have anda to-infinitive; if present, it may involve obligation but also, as we will see, possibility(cf. (10a)) or ability (cf. (10b)).