“Development of Any from Middle English to Early Modern English: A Study Using the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts”
Bibliographical details
Iyeiri, Yoko. 2002. “Development of Any from Middle English to Early Modern English: A Study Using the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts”, in English Corpus Linguistics in Japan, ed. Toshio Saito, Junsaku Nakamura, and Shunji Yamazaki, pp. 211-23. Amsterdam: Rodopi. (ISBN 90-420-1369-9)
Decline of multiple negation and the rise of non-assertive forms
Middle English experiences the rise of non-assertive any, side by side with the decline of multiple negation. This paper observes the process of the expansion of any in Middle and Early Modern English by analyzing the Helsinki Corpus.
The development of non-assertive forms is considered to have taken place first in non-assertive contexts other than negation. The previous literature tends to state that their development in negative sentences is essentially a phenomenon in the Modern English period. By examining the Helsinki Corpus, however, the present study shows that some initial expansion of non-assertive any is observable in late Middle English. It also discusses the development of any in different text types, genres, and dialects in Middle English.
Related publication(s)
- Iyeiri, Yoko. 2006. “The Development of Non-assertive any in The Paston Letters“, in Textual and Contextual Studies in Medieval English: Towards the Reunion of Linguistics and Philology, ed. Michiko Ogura, pp. 19-33. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
