Changes in argument structureimpersonal constructions in Middle and Early Modern English, with special reference to verbs of Desire: a corpus-based study

Résumé

The class of verbs of Desire (Levin 1993) comprises verbs whose syntax and semantics have undergone important changes in the course of their histories. In earlier English, they could be used impersonally in constructions characterised by the lack of a subject marked for the nominative case (e.g. OE, hine langode ‘he longed’). This thesis explores the development of the verbs of Desire long (< OE langian), lust (< ME lusten) and thirst (< OE þyrstan), based on a comprehensive survey of the entries in the Oxford English Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary and on corpus data retrieved from EEBOCorp 1.0 (1470s–1690s). The results obtained reveal the loss of impersonal uses with these verbs and their gradual replacement by personal patterns, in particular a pattern where the verb governs a prepositional complement representing the Desired as a metaphorical Goal (e.g. 1517, ye longe for euerlastynge lyfe).