The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

Grammaticalization and grammar change 315nawiht/nowiht, which in Old English was used as a negated noun or anemphatic negative adverb. Not is clearly a semantically bleached version of itsOld English precursor, and is now used as a negative adverb with rapidlyincreasing frequency, as described in detail in Jack (1978a, b, c). But not isdeployed in exactly the same syntactic environments as na/no in Old Englishin its use as a sentence negator. This is evident from the fact that its distributioncontinues the pattern attested in Old English: the subject pronoun precedesnot, the nominal subject follows it.(33) a. et ne seide he nohtthat not said he not‘That he did not say’(Ken.Serm.214.25)b. nule nawt i leofmon oli na leas ing ta lihe enot-will not your beloved tolerate no false thing to deceive youlongelong‘your beloved will not allow any false thing to deceive you long’(St.Juliana (Bod) 33.332)(34) a. yet ne wolde he nat answare sodeynlyyet not wanted he not answera suddenly‘yet he did not want to answer suddenly’ (Chaucer Melibee 1032/2222)b. also ne accordith nat the pepleo to that I schal seynalso not agreed not the people to what I shall say‘the people did not agree to what I shall say’(Chaucer Boece IV, prosa 4. 219)It seems reasonable to assume, therefore, that not replaces na/no as the negativeadverb in Spec,NegP in the transition from Old English to MiddleEnglish.Negated preposed verbs now frequently occur with topics preceding them:(35) a. er ne erf he habben kare of eve ne of eldethere not need he have care of gifts nor of rewards‘there he needn’t be worried about gifts or rewards’ (Poema Morale 45)b. for of all his strenge ne drede we nawihtfor of all his strength not dread we not‘for of all his strength we don’t have any dread’ (Sward 255.8)c. is ne habbe ic nauht ofearnedthis not have I not earned‘this I have not earned’ (Vices&V 17.9)We take this as further confirmation of the ongoing weakening of ne. As partof this development, ne is beginning to be dropped altogether, which takes usto stage (iii) of Jespersen’s cycle: not is fast increasing in frequency, and theoriginal negative marker ne becomes optional. Indeed, at the close of theMiddle English period, it has to a large extent disappeared, as discussed in