The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

300 The syntax of early English(13) a comen er uaren. fif usend rideren./ a Aurelie hafdethen came there ride five thousand riders who Aurelius hadan horse to fihtenon horse to fight‘then there came riding five thousand knights whom Aurelius had (dealingswith) to fight on horseback’ (Layamon Brut (Clg) 8221)In examples such as (13), the verb have expresses a ‘relation’ between thesubject and object, and the infinitive expresses additional details of the relation.It is clear that have is not strictly possessive here: it has been bleached ofmeaning. But this bleaching in fact has been there from the very beginning.Again no development is visible. Thus, the following Old English example showsthat in that period too, habban could be used to express a relation betweensubject and object, a relation that was unspecified and that could equally wellbe expressed by the existential verb be (for the close relation between the verbs‘be’ and ‘have’ in this respect in many languages, see Allan 1971),(14) And her beo swye genihtsume weolocas . . . Hit hafa eac is landand here are very abundant whelks it has also this landsealtseaas, & hit hafa hat wætersalt-springs and it has hot water‘And here there are abundant whelks . . .This country also has salt-springs and hot water’ (Bede 1.0.26.12)So far, we have not found any evidence for the changes that have been proposedas markers of distinction between the various stages. As noted above,the change that may provide firm evidence is the word order change. In thepresent-day construction the auxiliary status of have to and the concomitantsense of obligation are clearly only present when the order is strictly auxiliary-–infinitive (–NP), as in I have to do nothing, which is different from I havenothing to do. It is time now to have a closer look at the word orders that couldappear in this construction in the earlier stages. Brinton (1991) dates the firstindications of a change in word order to stage (iii), the Middle English period.But in all the examples she quotes of the new word order, there is only an accidentalconnection between have and the infinitive. (15) illustrates this (thefuller context, not quoted in Brinton, is given in brackets),(15) (but full lytyll undirstood they that travayle that) Sir Launcelot had toendure hym (Malory Works 1217.21; Brinton 1991: 38d)It is evident that have and the infinitive belong to two different clauses. In theseexamples have clearly has no obligative sense. According to Brinton (1991: 38),however, the new order is exclusively modal in meaning.Fischer (1994a) provides a more detailed study of the role of word order,and of the different word order types that appear throughout the period