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en:eebo:morphology1 [2016/08/19 19:18] – [Second person possessive adjectives thy and thine] veronikapojarovaen:eebo:morphology1 [2018/07/30 14:51] (current) – vaclavcvrcek
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 ====== Second person possessive adjectives ====== ====== Second person possessive adjectives ======
 Before the regularization resulting in today’s form //your//, Early Modern English had two forms, //thy// and //thine//, both of which functioned as second person possessive adjectives, as in //thy beautiful face// and //thine eyes//. Before the regularization resulting in today’s form //your//, Early Modern English had two forms, //thy// and //thine//, both of which functioned as second person possessive adjectives, as in //thy beautiful face// and //thine eyes//.
-We might immediately think that the distinction is analogous to present day //my// and //mine//. However, it is not the case. Although in Early Modern English the two pairs of possessives behaved in the same manner, as in //I saw it with mine own eyes//, today the possessive adjective //my// occurs before a noun and has the role of determiner. On the other hand //mine// is a proper possessive pronoun which stands freely in a sentence.+We might immediately think that the distinction is analogous to present day //my// and //mine//. However, it was not as straightforward. In Early Modern English the two pairs of possessives behaved as they do today, i.e. the possessive adjective //my// (and EModE //thy//) occurs before a noun and has the role of determiner, whereas //mine// (and EModE //thine//) is a proper possessive pronoun which generally stands at the end of a clause or sentence. However, what is today a possessive pronoun proper was previously known to function also as a possessive adjective, as in //I saw it with mine own eyes// and //Thine eyes are fair//.
  
-In actual fact, the case appears to be that the case of the //thy/thine// allomorphs is identical to the //a/an// distinction, i.e. the difference lies in the pronunciation of the two allomorphs. That is to say that in Early Modern English, the use of the two forms was dependent on the phonetic environment, specifically the following speech sound. Therefore //thy// could be expected to appear before words beginning with a consonant, whereas //thine// occurred before vowels.+It appears to be the case that the //thy/ thine// allomorphs are distributed similarly to the //a/ an// pair, i.e. the difference lies in the pronunciation of the two allomorphs. That is to say that in Early Modern English, the use of the two forms was dependent on the phonetic environment, specifically the following speech sound. Therefore //thy// could be expected to appear before words beginning with a consonant, whereas //thine// occurred before vowels.
  
 ====== Searching the corpus ====== ====== Searching the corpus ======
-If we want the results to include both forms, the query can be expressed with the help of the vertical bar thus:+If we want the results to include both forms, the query in [[en:cnk:eebo|EEBO]] can be expressed with the help of the vertical bar thus:
  
 ''[word="thy"]|[word="thine"]'' ''[word="thy"]|[word="thine"]''
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 By going to Frequency -> Node forms, we can see all of the forms returned by our search, which is in this case just the two. Underneath **Filter**, we can click on “p” or “n” depending on whether we want a positive filter (we see only the results with the given form) or a negative filter (we see all the results but those with the selected form). This is useful with a larger number of node forms. By going to Frequency -> Node forms, we can see all of the forms returned by our search, which is in this case just the two. Underneath **Filter**, we can click on “p” or “n” depending on whether we want a positive filter (we see only the results with the given form) or a negative filter (we see all the results but those with the selected form). This is useful with a larger number of node forms.
  
-//EEBO_pic_05.png The frequency list of node forms// +{{:en:eebo:eebo_pic_05.png?direct&300|}}
  
 When we select a positive filter for the variant //thine// we get a list of results containing this form. Frequency -> Custom -> Multilevel Frequency Distribution allows us to explore the words which most frequently follow //thine//. In order to see a list of words which occur immediately following it (1st position to the right of the node), we select the position 1R. When we select a positive filter for the variant //thine// we get a list of results containing this form. Frequency -> Custom -> Multilevel Frequency Distribution allows us to explore the words which most frequently follow //thine//. In order to see a list of words which occur immediately following it (1st position to the right of the node), we select the position 1R.
  
-//EEBO_pic_06.png The multilevel frequency distribution settings// +{{:en:eebo:eebo_pic_06.png?direct&300|}}
  
 The list shows that thine is most often followed by a vowel, or a word beginning with <h>. This is most probably due to the fact that the initial <h> was often dropped, and this was not always reflected by the spelling. It is very plausible that what was in fact pronounced in these examples (//heart//, //hand//) was in fact a vowel. The form //thine// also frequently appears at the end of a clause or sentence, which is denoted by the presence of a comma or full stop (less often a semicolon). In these cases we speak of the possessive pronoun //The heav’ns are thine//, not the possessive adjective //I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand//. Once again we may use the positive/ negative filters to view the concordance view for the individual results, e.g. all cases of the phrase //thine eares//. The list shows that thine is most often followed by a vowel, or a word beginning with <h>. This is most probably due to the fact that the initial <h> was often dropped, and this was not always reflected by the spelling. It is very plausible that what was in fact pronounced in these examples (//heart//, //hand//) was in fact a vowel. The form //thine// also frequently appears at the end of a clause or sentence, which is denoted by the presence of a comma or full stop (less often a semicolon). In these cases we speak of the possessive pronoun //The heav’ns are thine//, not the possessive adjective //I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand//. Once again we may use the positive/ negative filters to view the concordance view for the individual results, e.g. all cases of the phrase //thine eares//.
  
-//EEBO_pic_07.png The frequency list of words in the 1R position to the node thine // +The frequency list of words in the 1R position to the node thine: 
 + 
 +{{:en:eebo:eebo_pic_07.png?direct&300|}}
  
 === Task 1: Compare thy and thine === === Task 1: Compare thy and thine ===
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 </WRAP> </WRAP>
  
 +----
 +
 +**If you are ready, you can continue to [[en:eebo:morphology2|Lesson 7]].**
 +
 +----

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