条件節における英語仮定法の通史を目ざして

概要

論文の詳細を見る
It has generally been conjectured that subjunctive was more common in Old English than in later English, especially in conditional clauses. Visser (1966) is not an expection when he writes: "The modally marked forms of the present tense go on being used in Middle and Modern English in almost the same cases as in Old English, but with a gradually diminishing frequency. Whereas e.g. in Old English 'gif he seo' is more usual than 'gif he siehp', in later English 'if he sees' becomes more common than 'if he see.'" However, neither Harsh (1968) nor Nishide (1981) supports the assertion above. These statistical studies of English Biblical translations show that in Early Modern English subjunctive increased its frequency in conditional expression, though more extensive and detailed studies are needed to determine whether this phenomenon is only peculiar to Biblical English or acceptable as a historical change of English in general.
帯広畜産大学の論文
1981-06-25