One Language, Two Grammars? - part 5

172 One Language, Two Grammars? Table 8.8 Reflexive and non-reflexive (active) uses of he committed (himself) ‘he bound himself’ associated with following complements introduced by the preposition/ infinitive marker to in selected British and American newspapers BrE t90–02, g90–00, d91–00, i93–94, m93–00 AmE L92–99, D92–95, W90–92, N01 I himself II Ø 127 10 29 80 III total 137 109 IV % himself 92.7% 26.6% Table 8.9 Reflexive and non-reflexive (active) uses of he committed (himself) ‘he bound himself’ associated with following complements introduced by the preposition/ infinitive marker to in selected years of the Los Angeles Times 1 L92–95 2 L96–99 I himself 9 4 II Ø III total 29 38 31 35 IV%himself 23.7% 11.4% of AmE for the zero variant.7 This chapter is confined to the analysis of twosetsofrelevantcasestudies.Wewillstartbypresentingtheverbscommit and brace, which are used simply to exemplify the kind of striking contrast that may have evolved between the two varieties in the twentieth century. The second set of predicates (disport, get in(to) trouble, pledge, organize) has beenchosentoillustratefourfurtherconstraintsontheuseorsuppressionof the reflexive pronoun. Drawing on pertinent changes in recent dictionary entries as well as informal surveys, Shapiro (1999) notes that over the last few decades the verbcommit‘pledge/bindoneself’haslargelygivenupitsearlierobligatorily reflexive use in AmE. These observations are confirmed by the large-scale analyses displayed in Table 8.8. At the same time, the evidence in this table shows that this change has barely affected BrE. Moreover, the comparison undertaken in Table 8.9 between four earlier and four later years of the Los AngelesTimessuggeststhattheerosionofthereflexivepronouniscontinuing at a striking rate in AmE. In the case of brace (o.s.) (and discounting the particle verb brace (o.s.) up), neither BrE nor AmE made regular use of the zero variant in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries either (see Table 8.10). In the meantime, however, the reflexive use has been eroded dramatically and unilaterally in AmE (see Table 8.11). 7 I suspect that in at least a number of instances there may have been concomitant cultural changes turning a basically other-directed verb into a predominantly self-directed one. Reflexive structures 173 Table8.10 Reflexive andnon-reflexive(active) usesofthe verb brace(o.s.)immediately preceding phrases introduced by to (preposition or infinitive marker), for or against in historical British and American corporaa I II non-reflexive reflexive III IV % total reflexive BrE 1 authors born between 1800 and 1869 59 1 (MNC/B, NCF2, LNC/B) 2 ETC/B (*1870–*1894) 19 – 60 98.3% 19 100% AmE 1 authors born between 1800 and 1869 46 2 (MNC/A, EAF2, LNC/A) 2 ETC/A (*1870–*1894) 44 – 48 95.8% 44 100% a The analysis excludes any examples representing nautical jargon. Table 8.11 Reflexive and non-reflexive (active) uses of the verb brace (o.s.) immediately preceding to (preposition or infinitive marker), for or against in selected British and American newspapers BrE t92, g92, d92, i93, m93 AmE L92, D92, W92, N01 I reflexive 534 151 II non-reflexive 35 599 III total 569 750 IV % reflexive 93.8% 20.1% In this connection, it is instructive to observe that Smith (2004: 586), presumably a British linguist, still classes an example like (5) as completely unacceptable. (5) The driver braced for impact. Generally speaking, the trend towards the suppression of the reflexive pronoun has affected high-frequency and well entrenched verbs much earlier and to a greater extent than low-frequency ones. For instance, compare the high-frequency verb prepare, which for a long time has rarely been accompanied by reflexive pronouns, with its far less common near-synonym brace, analysed in Table 8.11. Compare also such common verbs as undress and hide, which have usually dispensed with the reflexive for at least two centuries, with their infrequently occurring synonyms disrobe and ensconce.8 While disrobe stopped using the reflexive pronoun much later thanundress,theovertlyreflexivestructureisstillobligatorywithensconce.In view of these general tendencies it comes as a surprise to find that with the verb disport, which is used five times as frequently in British as in American 8 According to Smith (2004: 583), the obligatory use of the reflexive pronoun – in reflexive contexts – with the low-frequency verb conceal is explained by its status as a predominantly other-directed predicate. 174 One Language, Two Grammars? Table 8.12 Reflexive and non-reflexive (active) uses of the verb disport in selected British and American newspapersa I reflexive II non-reflexive III total IV % reflexive BrE t90–01, g90–00, d91–00, 310 (13/297) 39 (9/30) 349(22/327) 88.8% m93–00 (1,492 million words) (59.1%/90.8%) AmE L92–99, D92–95, W90–92, 29 (3/26) 9 (3/6) 38 (6/32) 76.3% N01 (845 million words) (50%/81.3%) a Thefiguresinbracketsdistinguishbetweenthepresenceofconcreteandmostlyhumanwith-phrases and all remaining cases. newspapers, BrE has preserved a markedly larger share of the reflexive variant than AmE (cf. Table 8.12). Beyond the frequency contrast, BrE and AmE appear to be equally sensitive to the presence or absence of with-phrases, as in (6). (6) ... who alleges that the Great Helmsman ... disported with numerous young women. (L98) As is shown by the bracketed figures in Table 8.12, the use of such prepo-sitional complements provides a context favouring the omission of the reflexive pronoun. In this respect, it certainly contrasts with the mere presence of locative or temporal adjuncts or the total absence of any post-verbal material. Asymmetries like these seem to be a regular feature of many other verbs. For instance, take the case of indulge. While you still often indulge yourself just like that, you almost always indulge in something. In other words, there are many cases where increased argument complexity is likely to discourage the use of reflexive pronouns. A related kind of asymmetry has been observed with the type get (o.s.) in(to) (...) trouble, which involves two grammatical choices yielding a total of four permutations as set out in (7a–d). (7) a. They got themselves into (great) trouble. b. They got themselves in (great) trouble. c. They got into (great) trouble. d. They got in (great) trouble. From the stylistic point of view, the more highly marked and more complex options (the presence of the reflexive pronoun and the use of into) constitute more highly valued choices than the zero variant and the use of in. Assuming that general stylistic tendencies favour combinations of features from roughly thesamestylisticlevelwewouldpredictthat(7a)and(7d)shouldbepreferred over(7b)and(7c).NoticethattheComplexityPrinciplewouldmakethesame prediction: The more explicit reflexive structure should be preferred in the presence of the more complex preposition into rather than with in. Reflexive structures 175 Table 8.13 Reflexive and non-reflexive (active) uses of the type get (o.s.) in(to) (...) trouble in selected British and American newspapersa/b I reflexive II non-reflexive III total IV % reflexive BrE t00–01, d91–00, 133 (110/23) 1896 (1712/184) m93–00 AmE L92, D92–95, 83 (27/56) 1566 (852/714) W90–92 2029(1822/207) 6.6% (6.0%/11.1%) 1649 (879/770) 5.0% (3.1%/7.3%) a The analysis is based on all relevant examples of trouble retrieved within a window of five words to the right. b The figures in brackets distinguish between the use of the prepositions into and in. Table 8.14 Reflexive and non-reflexive (active) uses of the verb forms pledging/to pledge immediately preceding the preposition/infinitive marker to in selected British and American newspapersa/b II non- I reflexive reflexive III total IV % reflexive BrE t90–01, g90–00, d91–00, m93–00 AmE L92–95, D92–95, W90–92 161 (97/64) 1281 (2/1279) 1442 (99/1343) 16 (8/8) 663 (1/662) 679 (9/670) 11.2% (98.0%/4.8%) 2.4% (88.9%/1.2%) a Theanalysisexcludesanyexamplesinwhichtheto-phraserepresentingapersonalreferentis the first of two arguments. b The figures in brackets distinguish between nominal complements and non-finite (mostly infinitival) ones. Consider now the results of the corpus analysis summarized in Table 8.13.9 While the overall share of the reflexive does not show a clear advantage of BrE over AmE, the two contexts distinguished in the bracketed information and illustrated by examples like (7a/c) and (7b/d) do display moderately robust contrasts in the expected direction. Intriguingly enough, however, the results are incompatible with either the general stylistic preference laws referred to above or the Complexity Principle. In both BrE and AmE, the choiceofthereflexivehappenstobeclearlyfavouredbytheuseofinoverinto. So rather than attracting the reflexive pronoun the increased grammatical complexity associated with into is seen to repel it. The analysis devoted to the verb pledge is summarized in Table 8.14.The totals for BrE and AmE seem to indicate a distinct contrast between the two regional varieties. On closer analysis, however, we find that the contexts 9 Other variation phenomena involving the choice between in and into are presented in Chapter19byRohdenburg/Schlu¨ter.Inallofthecasescontrastingthetwonationalvarieties which have been analysed so far it is AmE that shows a greater preference for in than BrE. 176 One Language, Two Grammars? Table 8.15 Reflexive and non-reflexive (active) uses of the verb forms organize (organise)/organizes (organises)/organizing (organising) immediately preceding infinitival purpose clauses in selected British and American newspapersa II non- I reflexive reflexive III total IV % reflexive BrE t90–04, g90–04, d91–00, i93–94, i02–04, m93–00 AmE L92–99, D92–95, W90–92, N01 104 (28/76) 119 (18/101) 223 (46/177) 46.6% (60.9%/42.9%) 31 (13/18) 222 (23/199) 253 (36/217) 12.3% (36.1%/8.3%) a The figures in brackets distinguish between to organize (organise) and all remaining uses. distinguished in (8a-b) (and represented in the bracketed figures of Table 8.14) display extremely divergent tendencies. (8) a. He pledged himself to the support of his club. b. He pledged (himself) to support/to supporting his club. In (8a–b) a distinction is drawn between nominal complements and non-finite ones. The latter category is represented overwhelmingly (in something like 80 per cent of all cases) by infinitival complements. We can see now that the overall contrast between BrE and AmE is exclusively accountedforbythemodestdivergencefoundwithnon-finitecomplements. While the reflexive variant is only weakly, though differentially, available with infinitival (and gerundial) complements, it almost invariably occurs with nominal complements. Informal observations indicate that this kind of contrast between nominal complements and infinitival ones may be found with several other verbs. Yet it is not clear at present how this asymmetry should be interpreted. This brings us to the analysis of the verb organize in Table 8.15. The evidence reveals a striking contrast between BrE and AmE in the expected direction for both kinds of context distinguished in the bracketed informa-tion and illustrated in (9a-b). (9) a. They intended to organize (themselves) to defend their rights. b. Theymayorganize/wereorganizing(themselves)todefendtheirrights. Noticethatinthedataanalysedtheverborganize(o.s.)immediatelyprecedes an infinitive. It is examples like (9a) containing the marked infinitive of organize that are much more likely to preserve the reflexive pronoun than all other uses of the verb, as, for instance, in (9b). No doubt the intervening pronoun is used at least to some extent to avoid the immediate succession of two marked infinitives. This tendency ties in with a number of related avoidance strategies sub-sumed under the horror aequi Principle (cf., e.g., Rohdenburg 2003a: 236–42, Schlu¨ter 2005: 293–4, 320, Vosberg 2006, Rohdenburg 2006a: 155–8). The ... - tailieumienphi.vn