Binomials in the History of English
Fixed and Flexible

This book places binomials - word pairs - in the context of phonology, stylistics, semantics, translation theory and practice in various periods.

Joanna Kopaczyk (Edited by), Hans Sauer (Edited by)

9781107118478, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 July 2017

392 pages, 32 b/w illus. 73 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.4 cm, 0.68 kg

'Binomials in the History of English contains chapters providing detailed, interesting, and highly informative historical descriptions of binomials in English: fixed structures such as to and fro or knife and fork that are joined by a coordinator. Individual chapters contain descriptions of the form and function of these structures in texts taken from all the major periods of English, ranging from the roles that they played in Old English poetry and law to their stylistic uses in modern English novels.' Charles Meyer, University of Massachusetts, Boston

Binomials, such as for and against, dead or alive, to have and to hold, can be broadly defined as two words belonging to the same grammatical category and linked by a semantic relationship. They are an important phraseological phenomenon present throughout the history of the English language. This volume offers a range of studies on binomials, their types and functions from Old English through to the present day. Searching for motivations and characteristic features of binomials in a particular genre or writer, the chapters engage with many linguistic levels of analysis, such as phonology or semantics, and explore the important role of translation. Drawing on philological and corpus-linguistic approaches, the authors employ qualitative and quantitative methods, setting the discussion firmly in the extra-linguistic context. Binomials and their extended forms - multinomials - emerge from these discussions as an important phraseological tool, with rich applications and complex motivations.

1. Defining and exploring binomials Joanna Kopaczyk and Hans Sauer
Part I. Old English: 2. Pragmatic and stylistic functions of binomials in Old English R. D. Fulk
3. Fixity and flexibility in Wulfstan's binomials Don Chapman
4. Binomials, word pairs and variation as a feature of style in Old English poetry Michiko Ogura
5. Binomials or not? Double glosses in Farman's gloss to the Rushworth Gospels Tadashi Kotake
6. Lexical pairs and their function in the Eadwine Psalter manuscript Paulina Zagórska
Part II. Middle English: 7. Binomials in Middle English poetry: Havelok, Ywain and Gawain, The Canterbury Tales Ulrike Schenk
8. Binomials in Caxton's Ovid (Book I) Elisabeth Kubaschewski
9. Binomial glosses in translation: the case of the Wycliffite Bible Marcin Krygier
Part III. Early Modern English: 10. Binomials in several editions of the Kalender of Shepherdes, an Early Modern English almanac Hanna Rutkowska
11. Binomials and multinomials in Sir Thomas Elyot's The Boke Named The Gouernour Melanie Sprau
12. 'I do make and ordayne this my last wyll and testament in maner and forme Folowing': functions of binomials in Early Modern English Protestant wills Ulrich Bach
13. 'Shee gave Selfe both Soule and body to the Devill': the use of binomials in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 Kathleen L. Doty and Mark Wicklund
14. Binomials and multinomials in early modern English parliamentary acts Anu Lehto
Part IV. To the Present: 15. Developments in the frequency of English binomials, 1600–2000 Sandra Mollin
16. Binomials in English novels of the late modern period: fixedness, formulaicity and style Jukka Tyrkkö
17. On the linguistic and social development of a binomial: the example of to have and to hold Ursula Schaefer.

Subject Areas: Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF], Linguistics [CF]