Task 2: Patterns of Interrogatives
Do Used in Questions
By the sixteenth century, the forming of questions still followed different patterns. This inconsistency shall be illustrated by the following examples:
1) Why do you not knowe my speache? (William Tyndale (transl.), The New Testament, 1534: VIII, 20).
2) Seest thou not his eyes, how they bee fylled with blood and bytter teares? (John Fischer, Sermons, 1521: 400).
3a) Do you bring me hither to trie mee by the Lawe, and will not shewe me the Lawe? (The Trial of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, 1554: 71).
3b) Come you hither to checke us Throckmorton, we will not be so used, no, no.(The Trial of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, 1554: 64).
4) But al that us good, grauntest thou to be good [by] perticipation or partaking, or not? (George Colville (transl.), Boethius, 1556: 78). The examples are taken from: Nevalainen 2006, 108
a) Look at the truncated versions of the examples and determine the grammatical function (Interrogative particle (IP), auxiliary do (Aux), subject (S), negator (Neg), verb (V), object (O), adverbial (Adv)) of each sentence fragment!
1) Why do ye not knowe my speache?
…………………………………………………………..
2) Seest thou not his eyes […]?
…………………………………………….
3a) Do you bring me hither […]?
………………………………………………
3b) Come you hither […].
…………………………………
4) […] grauntest thou […]?
……………………………….
Write down your solution on a sheet of paper and compare your solution with the one below.
(solution)
b) Point out the reason, why the use of periphrastic do correlates with the strict attention to the popular, new word order! To answer this question, consider your solution to exercise a). Please use a separate sheet of paper!