The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

An outline of Old English syntax 57inverted main clauses) and it is not surprising that unambiguous subordinatingconjunctions are employed, in the almost complete absence offurther morphological or syntactic signals. Old English, beside unambiguoussubordinators, has other important clues such as word order and subjunctivemarking on the verb. Consider the examples in (54):(54) a. gif hit is hefigtyme on yssere worulde‘if it is difficult in this world’ (ÆCHom I, 3.56.3)b. sian he papanhad underfengafter he papal-office received‘after he received the papal office’ (ÆCHom II, 9.77.164)c. Secga eowrum hlaforde æt he unforht sysay your lord that he fearless be (subj)‘Say to your lord that he should be fearless’ (ÆCHom I, 37.568.30)The word order in (54a) is SVO (frequent in main clauses), but gif clearlymarks it as a subordinate clause. In (54b) sian could be an adverb or aconjunction, but in this case the OV word order is decisive for interpreting itas a conjunction. Finally, the subjunctive sy combines with OV word order inmarking (54c) as subordinate. Subordinate marking is achieved by the interplayof various signals then, and readers usually have little trouble recognizingsubordinate clauses because of these signals, in conjunction with the widercontext.In (54b) sian is used as a conjunction, but it can also function as anadverb. There are several more ‘ambiguous adverbs/conjunctions’, to borrowMitchell’s phrase (1985: § 2536), the most prominent among them a‘then/when’, used at a goodly rate in practically all Old English texts. Itappears often in so-called correlative constructions, like (55):(55) a se wisdom a is spell asæd hæfde, a ongan he eftwhen the wisdom then this story said had then began he againsingansing‘When Wisdom then had told this story, she began to sing again’(Bo 34.89.4)The OV word order in the first clause of (55) suggests a subordinate clause,while the VS word order in the second clause is typical of main clauses. Wesaw above that inversion of pronominal subjects is regular only in questions,negative clauses beginning with ne and this group of adverbs. These are preciselythe ones that can also be used as conjunctions. Inversion therefore playsan important disambiguating role. The lengthy discussion in Mitchell (1985: §2536 ff.) makes it clear, however, that there are occasional cases where theexpected VS word order fails, and therefore interpretative problems sometimesarise.