Forskargruppe i mellomalderfilologi: Dagmar Haumann, IF
Hovedinnhold
No free seating: Old English adnominal adjectives
Prof. Dagmar Haumann, IF
Traditional wisdom has it that the positioning of adnominal adjectives in Old English is rather flexible in the sense that they may precede (1), follow (2) or flank (3) the noun they modify:
(1)
Forhwon ne recst þu us [þone hwitan half]
why not give you us that white loaf
'why do you not give us the white loaf (of bread)' (Bede 2, 5.112.9)
(2)
þa gemette he [gebeoras bliðe] at þam huse
then met he companions merry at the house
'then he met his merry companions at the house' (ÆLS (Oswald), 225)
(3)
Ða easternan tungelwitegan gesawon [niwne steorran beorhtne]
the eastern astrologers saw new star bright
'the oriental astrologers saw a new bright star' (ÆCHom I, 7 (234.71))
In my paper, I will show that the positioning of adnominal adjectives is not random but follows from systematic interpretive contrasts between pre- and postnominal adjectives, which are largely independent of adjectival inflection. The placement of adnominal adjectives in Old English is investigated in relation to recent comparative and theoretical studies on word order and word order variation.