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Deflexion and the development of the genitive in English

Allen, Cynthia

Description

This article looks at the role of deflexion in the development of the genitive in English and offers an empirical base for evaluating some claims which have been made about how this development proceeded. It focuses primarily on the claim that it was impossible for the genitive to remain as a morphological case once the other case distinctions were lost in the nominal system. This claim is based on a dubious typological argument and evidence is presented that the genitive retained some...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorAllen, Cynthia
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-13T23:14:18Z
dc.identifier.issn1360-6743
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/88538
dc.description.abstractThis article looks at the role of deflexion in the development of the genitive in English and offers an empirical base for evaluating some claims which have been made about how this development proceeded. It focuses primarily on the claim that it was impossible for the genitive to remain as a morphological case once the other case distinctions were lost in the nominal system. This claim is based on a dubious typological argument and evidence is presented that the genitive retained some inflectional characteristics in Middle English. The article also looks at how the so-called 'his genitive' found in some earlier texts fits into the general picture of the development of English possessives.
dc.publisherCambridge University Press
dc.sourceEnglish Language and Linguistics
dc.titleDeflexion and the development of the genitive in English
dc.typeJournal article
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.description.refereedYes
local.identifier.citationvolume7
dc.date.issued2003
local.identifier.absfor200408 - Linguistic Structures (incl. Grammar, Phonology, Lexicon, Semantics)
local.identifier.ariespublicationMigratedxPub18256
local.type.statusPublished Version
local.contributor.affiliationAllen, Cynthia, College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.bibliographicCitation.issue1
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage1
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage28
local.identifier.doi10.1017/S1360674303211023
dc.date.updated2015-12-12T08:38:17Z
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-11244348895
CollectionsANU Research Publications

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