The position of the adjective

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 475.

2.3.1.1. In some adjectives there is variation between -ic and -ical, cp. lyric vs. lyrical, theoretic vs. theoretical. In these and certain other cases the short forms have a limiting value (and are consequently used mainly attributively), whereas the long forms have a descriptive value and are therefore less restricted as to position. Etymologically, the short ending -ic goes, in many cases by way of French -ique, back to Latin -icus (a derivational suffix, cp. civicus / civis) and Greek -ikós, and it is attested in Latin loan words in OE. In late Latin the suffix was sometimes extended by means of the ending -alis to -icalis, the origin of -ical which crops up in ME. The long form was then increasingly used at the expense of the short one and far beyond what was warranted by the (Latin / French) etymological background. The reason for this was probably the almost general use of -ically in adverbial formations <…>. But in lyric vs. lyrical, etc. the variation has been exploited semantically.

2.3.1.2. When adjectives ending in -en denote 'material', i.e. with a limiting value, they are used attributively.

It might be added that the -en suffix, which means 'made of', 'consisting of', dates back to the earliest attested stages of English, cp. OE stœnen 'of stone', gylden 'of gold' etc. Normally, final unaccented -(e)n disappears in the course of ME for mechanical reasons, and when -en is nevertheless retained in some cases (and remained a productive suffix for a long time), the explanation is perhaps to be looked for in the inflected forms, where -(e)n was not in final position and therefore was not lost.

Finally, the medial fricative in earthen /з θn/ deserves a comment. In view of the rule discussed in 1.1.4. concerning variants of medial fricatives in voiced surroundings in OE, we should in this case have expected the pronunciation */з n/. Although the adjective eor en seems to have existed in OE, ModE earthen must be regarded as an independent formation, -en having been added to earth, after /θ/ and / / had become distinctive entities (phonemes), i.e. at least after the transition to ME.

2.3.2. It is not hard to understand that adjectives like abed, afloat, akin, asleep and atop are not used attributively if it is taken into account that most words of this type were originally prepositional phrases: alive is thus a reduced form of OE on life (the nasal having disappeared in ME in unaccented preconsonantal position).

Such an etymology is not shared by alone, however, the origin of which is ME al one, but either the word must have been felt as belonging to the group or -al must have prevented other uses than the predicative one, cp. Danish alene, Dutch alleen, German allein, which are also not used attributively, which is perhaps an analogical formation based on the aloud: loud, around : round pattern or which might be due to a misinterpretation of the word in such a way that a- was taken to be the indefinite article (a lone ranger). The attributive form corresponding to alive, viz. live, can be explained along similar lines.

2.3.3.1. The origin of the predicative (adjectival) use of (the normally adverbial) well (Are you well again?) is probably to be looked for in the position of the word in impersonal constructions, cp. OE wel is me. A noun in the dative case in such constructions could be construed as a nominative after the loss of the inflexional endings, cp. ME wel beo þe time þat þu were ibore 'well shall be time when you were born', where wel can be regarded as a predicative adjective.

2.3.3.2. The reason that the adjective poorly can be used only in predicative position (I am rather poorly myself) should again be seen in the light of the adverbial basis of the word in question: the adjectival use has probably developed from expressions like to look poorly, cp. to look ill (OED).

2.3.4.1. Compounds consisting of noun + adjective are very often legal and also ecclesiastical and political expressions of Norman provenance: court-martial, attorney-general, bishop elect, body politic, etc., and French influence, too, is responsible for the postposed adjectives in time immemorial and devil incarnate. Even if -s is normally added to the substantival element in the plural in such compound expressions, there is, nevertheless, much vacillation, cp. attorneys-general, courts-martial vs. attorney-generals, court-martials. Naturally, this vacillation is best seen as a conflict between the wish to add -s to the noun proper and the modern tendency to deal with compound expressions in toto, cp. the group genitive (1.3.7.), but it is an interesting fact that French usage was often imitated in ME as, e.g., in places delitables where both noun and adjective add -s (2.2.2.). Examples are found also in EarlyModE, and this usage may at least have delayed a final clarification of the rules for the treatment of such compound expressions.

Latin influence probably accounts for the word order in God Omnipotent and God Almighty.

2.3.4.2. A comparable type of word order is sometimes used when addressing a person as dear: sister dear, John dear. There are parallel examples in OE (Beowulf leofa), but in either case the adjective is felt to be a kind of afterthought which eventually becomes closely associated with the noun.

2.3.4.3. Moreover, the adjective often follows thing, especially in the plural: a thing divine, things English. This construction has perhaps been formed on the analogy of something old, where the adjective cannot immediately precede thing <…>.

2.3.4.4. Expressions with matters and a postposed adjective, e.g. matters political, may have been formed in imitation of things (2.3.4.3.), but the construction belongs to the type of French expression discussed in 2.3.4.1.

2.3.5. It is hardly surprising, in view of the preceding paragraphs, that a good portion of the ModE adjectives whose contents change according to whether they are in preposition or postposition stem from French, cp. apparent, due, opposite, present, proper and square. Most adjectives borrowed from French behave exactly like English ajectives, and there is a small group of postposed adjectives of French derivation (2.3.4.1.), but in the group under discussion the word order options have been exploited semantically, a differentiation having taken place in connection with the transition from postposition to preposition. Examples of this differentiation are: the present exchange rate vs. the girls present; a proper thing to do vs. England proper, cp. above.