The History of the Present English Subjunctive

‘If the recent history of the subjunctive in British and American English is the tip of the language-historical iceberg, then Moessner‘s meticulous corpus study covering the time from Old English to the beginning of the eighteenth century is essential reading for anyone interested in the iceberg‘s vast submerged base.‘ Christian Mair, Universität Freiburg Traces the development of subjunctive use across the periods of Old English, Middle English, and Early Modern English Locating the subjunctive at the interface of mood and modality, this book presents a systematic description of the use of English subjunctive in main clauses, noun clauses, relative clauses and adverbial clauses. It explores the factors that governed its competition with other verbal expressions in texts ranging from the 9th to the beginning of the 18th century. Employing close reading alongside analysis of corpus data and the use of descriptive statistics, it offers new insights into the research landscape of the English subjunctive use and into the fields of historical English linguistics and corpus linguistics. Key Features - Extracts data from parallel corpora of three historical periods - Uses descriptive statistics - Combines quantitative and qualitative data analyses - Provides both synchronic and diachronic analyses - Illustrates results by authentic examples accompanied by modern English translations - Includes new insights into the fields of historical English linguistics and corpus linguistics Lilo Moessner is professor emerita of RWTH Aachen University, Germany, where she held a chair of Historical English Linguistics and Medieval Studies. Cover image: (c) iStockphoto.com Cover : [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-3799-8 Barcode