The book is a study of Middle English prepositions and adverbs with the prefix «be-» in prose texts. «Before, beyond, behind, beneath, between» and «betwixt» are analysed for the semantics, textual and dialectal distribution and frequency, synchronic and diachronic. The study draws on full texts from the «Innsbruck Corpus of Middle English Prose».

This book offers the first comprehensive study of Middle English prepositions and adverbs combining the prefix «be-» with a preposition, an adverb or a numeral recorded in prose texts. Six best established lexemes, i.e., «before, beyond, behind, beneath, between» and «betwixt» are analysed. The investigated aspects include the semantics of the prepositions and adverbs, their dialectal and textual distribution as well as their frequency of use viewed both from a synchronic and diachronic perspective. The study draws on the linguistic data retrieved from a collection of specially selected complete prose texts from the «Innsbruck Corpus of Middle English Prose». The description of the obtained results is enhanced with numerous tables and figures.

Autorentext

Ewa Ciszek-Kiliszewska is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of English at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznä (Poland). Her research interests focus on various aspects of English historical linguistics, in particular Old and Middle English semantics, dialectology, morphosyntax and word-formation.

Inhalt

Middle English prepositions and adverbs with the prefix «be-» in prose texts - «Before, beyond, behind, beneath, between» and «betwixt» - Semantics - Dialectal distribution - Textual distribution - Frequency - Synchronic and diachronic - «Innsbruck Corpus of Middle English Prose» - Conjunction - Grammaticalization - Subjectification.