The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

66 The syntax of early Englishdiscussion is facilitated if we first discuss the status of pronominal objects ofprepositions. The order of a preposition and its object when the object is a fullNP is always: P–NP. When the object is a personal pronoun, or the locativepronoun ær, this order may be inverted, and the pronoun can also appearfurther to the left. We illustrate this here for ær:(76) a. and com . . . to am treowe, sohte wæstm æron ...and came to the tree sought fruit therein‘he got to the tree, sought fruit in it . . .’ (ÆCHom II, 30.237.72)b. æt u ær nane myrhe on næfdestthat you there no joy in not-had‘that you did not take joy in that’ (Bo 7.15.11)c. he ær wear from æm burgwarum in abrodenhe there was by the citizens in dragged‘he was dragged in there by the citizens’ (Or 3.9.73.8)Since ær is also used as a locative relative pronoun, this is where we findpreposition stranding in relative clauses:(77) o æt he gestod bufon am gesthuse, ær æt cild on wunodeuntil that he stood above the inn where the child in stayed‘until it (the star) stood above the inn where the child was staying’(ÆCHom I, 5.78.21)Apart from this type of relative clause, there is a simple generalization to bemade about PPs in wh-movement constructions: when there is no overtpronoun, as in e-relatives and infinitival relatives, we find preposition stranding,as in (78):(78) a. On am munte Synay, e se Ælmihtiga on becom, wearon the mountain Sinai which the Almighty on came, wasmicel unor gehyredgreat thunder heard‘On mount Sinai, on which the Almighty came, great thunder was heard’(ÆCHom II, 12.1.116.226)b. Gif ær onne sie gierd mid to reageanne, sie ær eac stæfif there then be rod with to beat be there also staffmid to wreiannewith to support‘If there is a rod to beat with, let there also be a staff to support with’(CP 17.127.1)When an overt NP, wh-constituent or relative pronoun, moves to Spec,CP, thepreposition moves along, as discussed in the various sections on questions andrelatives above, and briefly illustrated again here in (79). This is called piedpiping.