Comparative Syntax of Old English and Old Icelandic | Linguistic, Literary and Historical Implications

Graeme Davis

ISBN 10: 3039102702 / ISBN 13: 9783039102709

Published by Peter Lang, 2005

About this Item

Comparative Syntax of Old English and Old Icelandic | Linguistic, Literary and Historical Implications | Graeme Davis | Taschenbuch | Studies in Historical Linguistics | Englisch | 2005 | Peter Lang | EAN 9783039102709 | Verantwortliche Person für die EU: Lang, Peter GmbH, Gontardstr. 11, 10178 Berlin, r[dot]boehm-korff[at]peterlang[dot]com | Anbieter: preigu.

Seller Inventory # 104031011

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Comparative Syntax of Old English and Old Icelandic | Linguistic, Literary and Historical Implications
• Publisher: Peter Lang
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3039102702
• ISBN 13: 9783039102709
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 220W x 150H x 11D millimeters 220 millimeters width by 150 millimeters height by 11 millimeters depth
• Weight: 272 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Bücher

About this title

Synopsis

Study of the syntax of Old English and Old Icelandic has for long been dominated by the impressions of early philologists. Their assertions that these languages were «free» in their word-order were for many years unchallenged. Only within the last two decades has it been demonstrated that the word-order of each shows regular patterns which approach the status of rules, and which may be precisely described. This book takes the subject one step further by offering a comparison of the syntax of Old English and Old Icelandic, the two best-preserved Old Germanic languages. Overwhelmingly the two languages show the same word-order patterns – as do the other Old Germanic languages, at least as far as can be determined from the fragments which have survived. It has long been recognised that Old English and Old Icelandic have a high proportion of common lexis and very similar morphology, yet the convention has been to emphasise the differences between the two as representatives respectively of the West and North sub-families of Germanic. The argument of this book is that the similar word-order of the two should instead lead us to stress the similarities between the two languages. Old English and Old Icelandic were sufficiently close to be mutually comprehensible. This thesis receives copious support from historical and literary texts. Our understanding of the Old Germanic world should be modified by the concept of a common «Northern Speech» which provided a common Germanic ethnic identity and a platform for the free flow of cultural ideas.

About the Author

The Author: Graeme Davis is Principal Lecturer in English Language at Northumbria University, UK. Following a Ph.D. in Anglo-Saxon Philology from the University of St Andrews, UK, he has worked in the field of early mediaeval Germanic syntax, developing tools for describing and comparing word-order patterns.