Categorial heterogenity: Old English determiners

Abstract

This paper examines the syntactic properties of two structures illustrated in (1) and (2): 1) his þone readan gim // his the red gem // ‘his red gem’ / (coblick,HomU_18_[BlHom_1]:9.125.121), 2) þæs his cwides // that his saying // ‘that saying’ / (coblick,LS_17.1_[MartinMor[BlHom_17]]:215.79.2742). Example (1) features a possessive – determiner sequence, which is characterized by the obligatory occurrence of both an adjective and simple determiners of the paradigm se/seo/þæt (Mitchell 1985: §103-112). The reversed order (determiner – possessive) does not display such restrictions. In particular, the adjective is optional and compound determiners (þes/þeos/þis) are also licit in these sequences, as shown in example (2). The analysis proposed in this paper accounts for these facts by assuming that Old English determiners are not a homogeneous group because they combine both adjectival (specifier) and pronominal (head) properties.