Distribution of Word Classes in Old English and Old High German: a Preliminary Contrastive Study Based on „The Battle of Maldon”, „Hildebrandslied” and „Ludwigslied”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2478/v10015-007-0005-3Keywords:
word classes distribution, Old English, Old High German, West-Germanic, contrastive analysis, distribution of pronouns, subject omission, inflectional vs. analyticAbstract
This paper presents an example of a historical study based on comparable corpora. It aims to analyse and compare the distribution of different parts of speech in Old English and Old High German, thus providing a quantitative basis for further conclusions concerning different patterns of the development of those two West-Germanic languages. A particular attention has been devoted to the frequencies of prepositions and pronouns, as there are considerable differences between the languages in this respect. In addition, the article is a an attempt to show the importance and relevance of computational data for contrastive historical linguistics and their role in supporting or disproving traditional theories.
References
Baker, P. S. 2003. Introduction to Old English. Oxford: Blackwell.
Google Scholar
Battle of Maldon. 2004. Labyrinth Library. http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/a9.html (date of access: 26 April 2004).
Google Scholar
Biber, D. 2004. ‘‘Lexical bundles in academic speech and writing.’’ In: Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B. (ed.), 165–178.
Google Scholar
Classen, E. 1930. Outlines of the History of the English Language. London: Routledge.
Google Scholar
Fortson IV, B. W. 2004. Indo-European Language and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell.
Google Scholar
Gardner, F. F. 1971. An Analysis of Syntactic Patterns of Old English. The Hague: Mouton.
Google Scholar
Hildebrandslied. 1996. Bibliotheca Augustana. http://www.fh-augsburg.deĘharsch/germanica/Chronologie/08Jh/Hildebrand/hil_intr.html (date of access: 10 May 2004).
Google Scholar
Kamińska, A. 2005. A Contrastive Study of Old English and Old High German Grammar: a Corpus-based Analysis of a Fragment of ‘The Battle of Maldon’, ‘Hildebrandslied’ and ‘Ludwigslied’ Łódź: Uniwersytet Łódzki (unpublished MA dissertation).
Google Scholar
König, E. and J. van der Auwera (eds). 1994. The Germanic Languages. London and New York: Routledge.
Google Scholar
Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B. (ed.) 2004. Practical Applications in Language and Computers (PALC 2003). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Google Scholar
Ludwigslied. 1996. Bibliotheca Augustana. http://www.fh-augsburg.de/Ęharsch/germanica/Chronologie/09Jh/Ludwigslied/lud_intr.html (date of access: 10 May 2004).
Google Scholar
Quirk, R. and C. L. Wrenn. 1959. An Old English Grammar. London: Methuen & Co.
Google Scholar
Schmidt, W. 1984. Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache. Berlin: Volk und Wissen.
Google Scholar
Visser, F. Th. 1963–1973. An Historical Syntax of the English Language. Leiden: EJ Brill.
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
