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| en:eebo:competing_forms [2016/08/18 10:38] – veronikapojarova | en:eebo:competing_forms [2016/08/19 19:28] – [Lesson 3: Competing forms.] veronikapojarova | ||
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| - | ====== Lesson 3: Competing forms. ====== | + | ====== Lesson 3: Competing forms ====== |
| Language change often takes place as a result of one emergent form replacing an already existing one. Variation within language leads to the advent of a new form, which may or may not go on to replace the older one. This process generally takes place over the course of decades or centuries, and therefore is observable in the EEBO corpus. One of the most widespread changes taking place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was the adoption of a new third person singular ending < -(e)s>. | Language change often takes place as a result of one emergent form replacing an already existing one. Variation within language leads to the advent of a new form, which may or may not go on to replace the older one. This process generally takes place over the course of decades or centuries, and therefore is observable in the EEBO corpus. One of the most widespread changes taking place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was the adoption of a new third person singular ending < -(e)s>. | ||
| ====== Third person singular endings < -eth> and < -es> ====== | ====== Third person singular endings < -eth> and < -es> ====== | ||
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| The graph shows that in the fifteenth century, the dental < -(e)th> ending was essentially the only available one for the present tense of the third person singular. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Northern forms with < -(e)s> began to appear and by as early as 1640 they were in the majority. The question is whether the process was the same for other verbs, or whether verbs with lower frequencies were more (or less) resistant to the adoption of a new ending. | The graph shows that in the fifteenth century, the dental < -(e)th> ending was essentially the only available one for the present tense of the third person singular. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Northern forms with < -(e)s> began to appear and by as early as 1640 they were in the majority. The question is whether the process was the same for other verbs, or whether verbs with lower frequencies were more (or less) resistant to the adoption of a new ending. | ||
| - | === Task: Do try this at home === | + | === Task: Try another verb === |
| <WRAP round help 50%> | <WRAP round help 50%> | ||
