Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Old English Syntax and Its Relation to German : A Comparative Study

Bang Lauridsen, Freja LU orcid (2021) In Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English p.54-74
Abstract
At first glance, the syntax of ancient Old English appears reminiscent of the syntax of the Present-Day German language. A number of shared syntactic traits such as Subject Object Verb constituent order, Verb Second, and a complicated inflectional system have caused the two languages to be compared by scholars, who often have referred to German as simply a present-day version of the now far-gone Old English. Exploring both similarities and dissimilarities of the two languages, this article examines the relationship between the two languages’ syntax to show that although structurally similar once, modern-day English has lost most of the syntactic traits linking it to the German language and their common Proto-Germanic roots. These... (More)
At first glance, the syntax of ancient Old English appears reminiscent of the syntax of the Present-Day German language. A number of shared syntactic traits such as Subject Object Verb constituent order, Verb Second, and a complicated inflectional system have caused the two languages to be compared by scholars, who often have referred to German as simply a present-day version of the now far-gone Old English. Exploring both similarities and dissimilarities of the two languages, this article examines the relationship between the two languages’ syntax to show that although structurally similar once, modern-day English has lost most of the syntactic traits linking it to the German language and their common Proto-Germanic roots. These syntactical differences not only show that Old English was never just a modern-day variant of German but also show that the two languages are developing in separate directions – or at least in separate paces. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Syntax, Germanic, Diachronic change, Comparative, German, English, Old English, Old High German, Morphology
in
Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English
issue
7
pages
21 pages
publisher
Aarhus University
ISSN
2446-3981
DOI
10.7146/lev.v0i7.125185
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
5d41cae8-70f7-4532-b961-af57e17caa62
date added to LUP
2023-10-26 18:27:21
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:14:03
@article{5d41cae8-70f7-4532-b961-af57e17caa62,
  abstract     = {{At first glance, the syntax of ancient Old English appears reminiscent of the syntax of the Present-Day German language. A number of shared syntactic traits such as Subject Object Verb constituent order, Verb Second, and a complicated inflectional system have caused the two languages to be compared by scholars, who often have referred to German as simply a present-day version of the now far-gone Old English. Exploring both similarities and dissimilarities of the two languages, this article examines the relationship between the two languages’ syntax to show that although structurally similar once, modern-day English has lost most of the syntactic traits linking it to the German language and their common Proto-Germanic roots. These syntactical differences not only show that Old English was never just a modern-day variant of German but also show that the two languages are developing in separate directions – or at least in separate paces.}},
  author       = {{Bang Lauridsen, Freja}},
  issn         = {{2446-3981}},
  keywords     = {{Syntax; Germanic; Diachronic change; Comparative; German; English; Old English; Old High German; Morphology}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{54--74}},
  publisher    = {{Aarhus University}},
  series       = {{Leviathan: Interdisciplinary Journal in English}},
  title        = {{Old English Syntax and Its Relation to German : A Comparative Study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.7146/lev.v0i7.125185}},
  doi          = {{10.7146/lev.v0i7.125185}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}