INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS IN LANGUAGE CHANGE: PRESENT PARTICIPLE

CONVERBS IN ENGLISH AND NORWEGIAN

Author(s): Kristin Killie
Source: Neuphilologische Mitteilungen , 2006, Vol. 107, No. 4 (2006), pp. 447-469
Published by: Modern Language Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43344252

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 INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS IN LANGUAGE CHANGE:
PRESENT PARTICIPLE CONVERBS IN ENGLISH AND NORWEGIAN1

Abstract
The present paper discusses why verbal present participle converbs have become
an established feature of English grammar, while they have become increasingly
marginalized in Norwegian. Both language-external and language-internal factors
are taken into account. It is argued that in English the use of present participle con-
verbs was supported by language-internal developments such as the development
of the progressive and the gerund, while there were no similar trends in Norwegian.
In (Denmark-)Norway there was also a strong purist movement, which campaig-
ned against the use of Latinate syntax, including present participle clauses. There
was no similar campaign in England. The diverging development of present parti-
ciple converbs in the two languages can - at least partly - be explained as a result
of these two facts.

1. Introduction: aims and organization

In this paper I discuss the history of verbal present participle converbs in English
and Norwegian. More specifically, I discuss why such converbs have become an
established feature of English grammar, while they have become increasingly
marginalized in Norwegian. Both language-external and language-internal factors
will be taken into account.

The paper is organized as follows. In section 2 I define the category of present

participle converbs, using examples from present-day English. Then section
3 gives some historical background to the use of present participle converbs in
Germanic. The divergent development of such converbs in English and Norwegian
is discussed in section 4, while section 5 provides a brief summary.

2. What is a converb?
In recent years there has been some interest in the category of converbs (see for
example the papers in Haspelmath & König 1995). Haspelmath (1995: 3) defines
a converb as a non-finite verb form whose main function is to mark adverbial
subordination, i.e. it is the head of an adverbial subclause. Converbs are derived
from verbs and are therefore verbal adverbs. However, they may also be verbal
in the sense that they take verbal complementation such as direct objects, subject
and object complements, and adverbiais. Some examples from English are given
in (l)-(3).

1) Walking down the street , Jonathan looked nervously at everybody he

met. (time)

1 I wish to thank the readers of this manuscript. I also thank Andrew Linn for some
intresting exchanges and Kevin McCafferty for helping me with some of the translations.

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 448 Kristin Killie

2)She had to do all the work

the cakes and doing all the s
3) Next morning I woke at m
pagne (P.G. Wodehouse, Hum
170) (addition/accompanying

Itis above all the ability to tak

nature of a converb (Blaisdell
expressed; the main thing is t
verb. The subject of a converb c
matrix clause, but English con
be "absolute", as in (4) and (5).

4) John decided to see a doct

ing . (cause)
5) The match having been cancelled , the supporters of our team were most
disappointedus. (cause)

The sentences in (l)-(5) also illustrate another property of English converb clauses,
namely the fact that they may express a range of semantic distinctions. According
to Kortmann (1991 and 1995: 216), English converb clauses can express time
(including simultaneity, anteriority, and posterity), condition, cause, concession,
contrast, instrument, manner, purpose, result, addition/accompanying circumstance,
exemplification/specification, etc.
All the converb clauses in (l)-(5) have a present participle as their head. It is only
this type of converb that will be discussed here. In what follows the term "converb"
refers to a present participle converb which takes verbal complementation.
Adverbial -ing forms that are not verbal in this sense are referred to as participles.

3. The origin and use of converb s in Germanic

The category of converbs is highly interesting from a comparative Germanic
perspective, given that the Germanic languages show varying use of converbs
both synchronically and diachronically. Thus, while current English uses converbs
extensively, the other Germanic languages use them much more sparingly
(Kortmann 1995: 189, 192). However, all the older Germanic languages seem
to have made extensive and varied use of converbs (Callaway 1901: 330). Some

2 This is probably because also non-verbal elements may to some extent be qualified
by adverb-like structures, for example in phrases such as red in the face, our house in the
countryside , our house there , etc. The failure to take this fact into account has been claimed
to invalidate much of the research that has been carried out on the English gerund (Fanego
1996a: 109-111,2004:21-22).

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 Internal and External Factors in Language Change 449

examples from Old English and Old Norse are given in (6)- (1 1).3 Such uses have
become less and less frequent in all languages except English, where they have in
fact become more and more frequent from the first half of the sixteenth century
onwards (Kohnen 2003; cf. also Görlach 1991: 126-127).
(6) iEffrem ļ)a spraec mid grecisum gereorde, god herigende (¿Elfric's Lives
of Saints 3. 522) (specification)
'Effrem then spoke with Greek tongue, God praising'
(7) and ķaet fole... ham ge wende, dancigende pam JElmihtigan ealra his
goda OECHom II. 578.28, cited in Mitchell 1985: 600) (accompanying cir-
cumstance)
'and that people... home went, thanking the almighty God for all his good
deeds'

(8) ļ)onne wacie wé ane niht pone celmihtigan biddende

'then we will watch one night, to the almighty praying' OElfric's Lives of
Saints 3. 334) (time, accompanying circumstance)

9) spakr maõr hraeõisk guõ i ollum verkům sinum vitandi sik hvergi mega
fly ja návista hans (Nygaard 1966, his translation) (cause)
4 a wise man fears God in all his works knowing that he cannot avoid his
presence'
10) tekr hann vel vi8 honum bjóôandi honum til âgœtrar veizlu (from Hans-
sen, Mundal & Skadberg 1975: 158) (accompanying circumstance)
'takes him well with him, inviting him to a better meal'

11) hon misg0r8i etandi af tréssins ávexti (?time 'when she ate', ?cause
'because she ate') (from Hanssen, Mundal & Skadberg 1975: 158)
'she sinned eating of the tree's fruit'

Present participles seem to be native to the Germanic languages, but they are
assumed originally to have been exclusively adjectival and to have had no verbal
properties (Nygaard 1966: 247; Kisbye 1971: Hanssen, Mundal & Skadberg 1975:
157), as in (12) below. They were also used in adverbial function, but were in those
cases derived from intransitive verbs and commonly denoted manner in a wide
sense, i.e. including accompanying circumstance and state of mind (Lund 1862: §
149; Falk & Torp 1900: §68, 2 b, §139, l.b; Callaway 1901: Nygaard 1966: 238;
Kisbye 1971: 27). Some examples are given in (13) and (14).
12) hversu hraeddr ok skjálfandi maõrinn mun verõa
'how frightened and shivering man may become'

3 As the examples in (6)- (8) show, the English present participle suffix at this stage is -ende
(with the variants -ande and -inde) This suffix is of course cognate with the corresponding
suffixes in the other Germanic languages. However, during the Middle English period the
English present participle suffix gradually developed into -ing. Why this happened is a
much-debated issue in English historical linguistics, but it remains a mystery. As for the
dating of the change, estimates range from the 12th century ( Oxford English Dictionary ,
entry -ing2) to the 15th (Houston 1989: 176; Fanego 2004: 12).

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 450 Kristin Killie

13) hann fagnaôi henni hlœja

158)
'he greeted her laughing'
14) kom hann pá hlaupandi
'came he then running'

It is assumed that the use of present participles with verbal complementation in

older Germanic texts is due to influence from Latin models (Einenkel 1887: 273;
Falk & Torp 1900: 100; Callaway 1901: 297-299, 307-313; Blatt 1957; Gordon
1966: 64-66; Nygaard 1966: 247; Moessner 1997). In translating Latin texts,
scribes often mechanically rendered the original text word by word. In doing so,
they frequently transferred Latin patterns into the target text. Close translations
(or "stencil translations", cf. Workman 1940) of this kind were very common; in
fact, Workman (1940: 89, 163) finds that three out of four English 15th-century
translations are close translations, though the degree of closeness varies. The
point in providing translations that were so structurally similar to the original was
presumably to provide a faithful rendering of the source text, both semantically
and stylistically (Blatt 1957: 51). Verbal present participles, including converb
constructions, appear to be one result of this strategy. Latin makes quite extensive
use of appositive participles (the so-called participium coniunctum) with verbal
complementation (Callaway 1901: 351), and it was first and foremost these that
ended up as W-endeAing + DO constructions in the target text.4 However, some
gerunds in the ablative and occasionally certain other constructions did as well
(Callaway 1901).5 What happened was probably that the translators used a native
form, the present participle, but endowed it with characteristics it did not originally
have, namely verbal properties (Callaway 1901: 351; Diderichsen 1968: 8-9).6

4 The term "appositive participle" has been used differently by different scholars. While
to some appositive participles correspond to converbs, to others the term includes converbs
as well as adjectival participles, i.e. participles heading adjectival clauses (cf. Callaway
1901: 144-149 for a discussion). Callaway belongs to the latter group. What all appositive
participles have in common is the fact that the auxiliary be and the participle do not form a
VP together; rather the clause containing the present participle is in apposition to the clause
that contains the auxiliary. Absolute constructions such as those in examples (4) and (5)
are normally excluded from the category of appositive participles (cf. Callaway 1901: 143;
Houston 1987: 183).
5 According to Blatt (1957), there have been two waves of influence from Latin. The first
took place during the early days of the national literatures. Then there was a second wave of
Latinate influence during the Renaissance. S0rensen (1957: 134), who describes the English
situation, claims that "[t]the hightide of translation was probably reached in the fifteenth
century, when the proportion of translated prose to original works was extraordinarily high".
Many of the translated works from this period were translations of French texts, but it is
assumed that Latin may have influenced English also via French (S0rensen 1957: 134).
6 According to Callaway (1901: 351), "Anglo-Saxon was favorable to the appositive
participle with pronounced adjectival (descriptive) force, but was unfavorable to the
appositive participle with strong verbal (assertive) force" (1901: 351). He goes on to
conclude that "all present participles with a direct object are due to Latin influence" (ibid.).

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 Internal and External Factors in Language Change 45 1

In addition to rendering Latin appositive participles (and some other similar

constructions) word by word into the translated text, it appears that some scribes
were generally highly influenced by Latin style. Thus, they occasionally used a
converb construction in the translation even in cases where the original had no such
construction. Some writers also appear to have been influenced by foreign syntax
to the extent that they used con verbs in native texts (Callaway 1901: 311-313;
Workman 1940: 4-5, 20, 59). Thus, S0rensen (1957: 133) notes that there were
two important channels of influence from Latin into English: translation and the
practice of modelling English grammar on Latin.
The point that Latin converb use was transferred into older Germanic texts is
convincing, and the hypothesis is supported by the stylistic distribution of converbs
in older Germanic. Constructions such as those in (6)-( 1 1) are frequent in translations
and are characteristic of the so-called "learned style", which has a great deal of
hypotaxis, and which is closely associated with the Latin language (Blatt 1957;
Falk & Torp 1900: 100; Nygaard 1966: 247; Kisbye 1971: 24).7 The use of present
participles is different in the so-called "popular style" (Nygaard 1966), which is
dominated by parataxis rather than hypotaxis. Adverbial participles in such texts do
not normally have verbal complementation, but are of the kind illustrated in (13) and
(14), which was said to represent the original participle use. This is for example the
case in the Icelandic sagas (i.e. those that were originally written in the vernacular,
cf. Blatt 1957: 48). Hence, it is natural to assume that converbs are a Latin heritage.
As mentioned above, the question I wish to address in this paper is why converbs
came to be a rather marginal stylistic device in the other Germanic languages,
while they became an established feature of English. In fact, in English the verbal
properties of converbs have even been extended beyond those of its Latin models
in the sense that present-day converb clauses may include tense, aspect and voice
markers, as in (4) and (5) above. They have thus been affected by the general,
increased "complexification" of the English verb phrase (cf. section 4.2.1).

7 Wolf (2002: 1004), who discusses the influence of translation in Old Icelandic and Old
Norwegian, claims that participial constructions are particularly frequent in the so-called
"florid style":

The works that reveal most noticeably foreign influence are those written in what has been
called the "florid style". The emergence of this style is connected with general developments
in European Latin writing in the 13th century, in which there was a growing preference for the
elaborate and the bombastic. It is characterized by ornate phrasing and rhetorical mannerisms: a
profusion of adverbs and adjectives (especially of the type ending in - ligaJ-lega ) and compound
nouns, often abstract, with frequent repetition for the sake of parallelism and antithesis;
abundant alliteration; and a preference for participial verbal forms in imitation of Latin usage ,
but often freely constructed and without any foundation in the Latin sources. An abundance of
metaphors serves as pedagogical tools, as do digressions. The florid style was regarded as an
advanced manner of writing, and there were practitioners of the style in the latter half of the
13th century (...). but its golden age was the 14th century...", (emphasis added)

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452 Kristin Killie

It has also been shown that

and registers. Thus, even thoug
no longer occur only in formal
narrative texts (Kortmann 19
to the 16th century. Thus, Kohne
there is a tremendous increase i
in private letters. Concurrent w
from occurring almost exclusiv
above), English converbs have c
approx. one third of the cases).
Latin source patterns, having un
affected by more general chan
English converb has become a n
the use of present participles in
Germanic use exemplified in (1
Assuming that converbs are an
English was influenced by Latin
languages were not. It is the aim
of this problem. As mentioned
converbs in Norwegian and Eng
develop in opposite directions w
be argued that the decrease in
traced back to the Danish purist
and continuous emphasis on par
was a purist movement in Engl
have been different. However, t
was probably also supported by
place in that language.

8 To be sure, converbs occur in

are highly marked and "literary". T
in the Oslo Corpus of Tagged Norw
in Blatt' s terminology (1957: 47), i
other Germanic languages.

(i) Gallante menn ble observert beer

Corpus of Tagged Norwegian Text
Gentlemanly men were observed ca
(ii) ... satt ... med toâringen pâ fa
dinosaurer pâ gul vet... ( Aftenposte
... sat ... with the two-year-old on
playing with dinosaurs on the floor

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 Internal and External Factors in Language Change 453

4. Explaining the development of converts in Norwegian and English

4.1 Sociolinguistic factors
4.1.1 The Danish purist movement and the development of style in Norwegian
In studying the development of Norwegian, it is important to remember that Norway
does not have a history which is separate from those of its neighbouring countries.
Its history is closely intertwined with those of Iceland, Sweden and Denmark,
due to colonization and unions. Of the various unions it is the one with Denmark
from 1380-1814 which is assumed to have exerted the greatest influence on the
Norwegian language. Some of the sociolinguistic events which will be discussed
here, and which I will suggest may have influenced the development of converbs
in written Norwegian, also belong to this period. The events in question affected
the use of converbs in written Danish, but indirectly also in Norwegian given two
factors: (1) Danish was the official language of Denmark-Norway. Norwegians who
could write therefore wrote in Danish and they were therefore probably influenced
by changes that took place in Danish, including those promoted by the Danish
purist movement. (2) One of the Norwegian written standards, that is, Bokmâl (also
referred to as Dano-Norwegian), is a direct descendant of the Danish language.
The Danish purist movement was part of a larger movement that involved
increased interest in Danish, especially in the written Danish standard.9 From the 17th
century onwards there was some interest in the grammar of the Danish language,
and this interest increased significantly in the 1740s. The best-known representative
of this movement was Jens H0ysgaard (1698-1773). In the years 1740-1770 he
published a series of grammatical treatises. In his Accentuerete og Raisonnered
Grammatica from 1747, he among other things discusses the use of the present
participle in Danish, arguing that its only "natural" use is (1) as a noun, as in De
formuende b0r hjelpe de trœngende 'The wealthy should help the needy' (lit. The
having should help the needing), and (2) as an "Adverbium qvalitatis", especially
when accompanying an intransitive verb, as in Han kómer l0bende 'He comes
running'.10 In other cases, H0ysgaard claims, it should be used "med forsigtighed og
skj0nsomhet", i.e. 'with caution and judiciousness' (cf. Bertelsen 1979: 430).
Another important figure was Prof. Jacob Baden (1735-1804). He was the first
person to give lectures in Danish language. This happened at the University of
Copenhagen from 1782 onwards.11 Baden also published a grammar in 1785,

9 This standard can be traced back to late 14th century chancery writing (Kristiansen
2003: 69).
10 Like the adverbial use described here, the use of the participle to denote an agent noun
is also found in the older Germanic languages, cf. Old English scippend ('the Creator'),
hœlend ('healer, saviour, Jesus') and Old Norse s0kjandi ('prosecutor') and vegandi
('warrior, killer').
11 It has been claimed that the real change in the status of the Danish language at the
university came only around 1830 (Kristiansen 2003: 83); however, Baden's lecturing on
Danish must have been an important symbolic act.

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454 Kristin Killie

which was based on his lectures

present participle in essentially
used either (1) as a noun, and (2
and denoting a state (1785: 222)
However, the interest in Danis
has a long tradition of governm
a government decision introduc
schools. In 1775 Danish became
('Latin schools'), which had form
a number of Danish school gram
students the rules of Danish a
grammarians.
In the mid- 1700s, a number o
scene (Indreb0 2001: 386-392). T
wanted to make the scientific
(Kristiansen 2003: 82). For this
Danish, and that Danish had t
inaccessible by foreign influenc
of Latin
and French loanwords,
important to our purposes here,
Latin style and establish a "natu
on parataxis, and the goal was a
speech of the common man. Re
new ground in his popular phil
the following description of Eils

Den tunge Saetnings- og Perio

forsvinder hos Eilschov saa a
endnu hans f0rste Arbejder; m
som i en Bog fra i Gaar.13

(The heavy clause and senten

berg's prose disappears in Eils
prevails in his earliest work,
easy and lively as in a book f

Eilschov died early, but writers

his work. Important names her

12 The quote is from one of Krom

relevant publication.
13 The period from the Middle A
(1944-1970, vol. Ill: 36) as a "latin
the last influential representative o
writings, they occur less frequently

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 Internal and External Factors in Language Change 455

and also Jacob Baden (cf. Skautrup 1944-1970, vol. II: 307ff, vol. Ill: 143-150).
According to Skautrup (1944-1970, vol. Ill: 147), Sneedorff became the leading
figure of the purist movement. In the years 1761-1763 he even issued a periodical
called Den patriotiske tilskuer ('the patriotic spectator'), in which he among other
things voiced his purist opinions. According to Dahlerup (1921: 84), this journal
was very popular reading among the higher classes, and was therefore highly
influential. Sneedorff is assumed to have been central in the campaign against the
Latinate style, and in favour of a new one. Skautrup describes his achievements in
the following way (cf. also Skautrup 1944-1970, vol. Ill: 273):

... ligesom han i syntaksen gjorde sig fri af de latinské konstruktioner (...) og
s0gte en enklere saetningsbygning med staerkere brug af parataksen. I denne
omformning af sproget, en hjemligg0relse og en forenkling, i virkeligheden
denf0rste tilnœrmelse til menigmands talesprog, om end stadig akademisk,
ligger hans betydning. Han var ikke ene om denne bedrift, og den blev ikke
realiseret pâ éngang i 1761-63. Formen er kendelig allerede i hans tale pâ
Sor0 Akademi 1752 i anledning af kongens f0dselsdag, og tendensen er
klar hos de fleste purister fra Eilschow ogfremefter og ligesâ hos samtidige
som Schytte , Kraft, Gulldberg o g Baden mil., men Sneedorff kom gennem
"Den patriotiske Tilskuer" for samtiden som for eftertiden til at stâ som
prosastilens fornyer, den der havde inledt en ny epoke i sproget. (Skautrup
1944-1970, vol. III: 270, emphasis added)

('... just as he in the syntax distanced himself from the Latin constructions
and sought to create a simpler syntax with more use of parataxis. His signifi-
cance lies in this remoulding of the language, a nativization of the language
and a simplification, in reality the first approximation to the language of
the common man , though still academic. He was not alone in this project,
and it was not realized all at once in 1761-63. His style is recognizable
already in his speech at Sor0 Academy in 1752, given on the occasion of
His Majesty's birthday, and the tendency is clear with most purists from
Eilschov on and also with contemporaries such as Schytte, Kraft, Gulldberg
and Baden etc. However, through "Den patriotiske Tilskuer" ('the patriotic
spectator'), Sneedorff emerged - both to his own times and to later times
- as the renewer of prose style, the one who had introduced a new era in the
history of the language'.)

It seems to be generally acknowledged that Sneedorff played an important role in

the development of a new prose style in Danish (see e.g. Andersen 1909: 166). Note
that this development is characterized as "the first approximation to the language of
the common man" (cf. the quote above). Skautrup specifically points to a change
in the use of participial constructions, claiming that while Holberg frequently uses
participial constructions and accusative cum infinitives , Sneedorff instead uses
"simple relative clauses" and subclauses introduced by at ('that') (1944-1970: 274).
From the other italicized parts in the quote above, it is also clear that Sneedorff was
far from being alone in his syntactico-stylistic project. We seem to be justified in
speaking of a movement. This also emerges from the following statement:

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456 Kristin Killie

... hele bevaegelsen hadde havd

styrket den nationale selvf0le
relse - i den litteraere offentl
aera var indledet. (Skautrup 1

('...the movement had a libera

national pride as well as (as an
literary public with a strong
inaugurated'.)

In this quote Skautrup uses a nu

pride", "stylistic liberation", "a
that this change in style was a
completed in a few years. It is dif
such as this. Although Skautrup
project of introducing a new st
he and most other commentator
we would assume that the chang
extended period. It would be in
the development of appositive -
researched area), but to provide
For want of other explanations
Danish style. The fact that the
important factor in explaining
factor was that the relevant deve
place in the language, cf. section
direct, given that the number o
all limited. However, if the puris
abandoned the traditional acade
style, this will have affected th
subsequent generation of writer
present participle converbs (and
than what was the case earlier.
in the subsequent output. Accor
movement must be seen against
Danish language at the time. Th
prescriptivist attitudes gained a

Alt til saman: arbeidet ât gram

riksstyret um fast skrivemât
st0rre sans i Danmark for ve
mâlet. Agen for "rett" skriftm
Denne auka vyrdnaden for ko
etter som tilh0vi var, laut det
(Indreb0 2001: 387)

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 Internal and External Factors in Language Change 457

('All this taken together: the work of the grammarians and writers of text-
books, the requirement of the Norwegian Council that schools use a stan-
dard way of spelling, the agitation of the language purists - gave the Danish
a higher appreciation of the cultivation of form, of unity and firmness (i.e.
a lack of variation) in the written language. There was increased respect for
"correctness" in the written language.
This increased respect for correct written form spread to Norway. And in
the circumstances, it also here led to higher respect for flawless Danish.')

If all the commentators discussed above are correct, then, it appears that the language
purists of the 18th century were in fact able to influence the syntax and style of
written Danish. What is more, their influence also reached Norway. In fact, Indreb0
(2001: 386, 387) argues that the purist movement continued to exert considerable
influence after the resolution of the Dano-Norwegian union in 1814. At this stage,
Danish did not only continue to be important in Norwegian society; it actually
acquired an even stronger position. There are at least two main reasons for this
(cf. the discussion in Indreb0 2001: 382-392). Firstly, Norway desperately needed
a written standard. Shortly before the dissolution of the union with Denmark, in
181 1, the first Norwegian university was established in Oslo. After the dissolution
Norway acquired its own parliament and government, as well as a number of other
important administrative bodies. All these institutions needed an official language
in which to perform their business, and the obvious choice was Danish, given that
there was no tradition for writing official documents in Norwegian.14 Because of
this, the use of Danish became much more pervasive in Norwegian society than it
had been before, and consequently its position was strengthened. Secondly, Norway
had entered into a new union, this time with Sweden. The fear that Swedish may
"contaminate" the "mother tongue" made Norwegians very consciously cultivate
a very pure Danish. For these reasons, then, Danish purism continued to exert an
influence after the dissolution of the Dano-Norwegian union.
Via Danish prescriptive rules concerning "good" use of language disseminated
into Norwegian (to the extent that the two languages can be kept apart), and in
particular into Bokmâl. However, there was also another allegedly important
promoter of simple styles within the Norwegian context, namely Ivar Aasen.
Ivar Aasen is the father of "Nynorsk" ('Neo-Norwegian'), i.e. the other written
Norwegian standard, which was created in the mid- 19th century on the basis of the
Norwegian dialects (as a reaction to the widespread use of Danish in Norway).
Aasen strongly advocated the use of a natural, Norwegian style:

14 However, after several hundred years of language mixing and diglossia (or rather
multiglossia) one does not seem to have known for certain what Norwegian was anymore.
Thus, the Danish language in Norway was increasingly referred to as the "Norwegian
language" or the "mother tongue", though some disputed the legitimacy of this choice of
term (cf. Indreb0 2001: 382-385).

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458 Kristin Killie

Aasen kravde ein naturleg n

pâverka Stilen som râdde fo
laatande laerde Stilemaaten",
Tankernes Forbindelse", som
som vart skrive, uskynlegt f
sams var med laera og som e
fast uppbygt og samstundes
rein for latinismar og germa
matisk med; men i vyrdeleg
yvermannen ât Aasen.
Laera og fyred0met til Aasen
ren seinare i norsk. Unorsk o
for mâlfusk. Det vart sj0lvgj
stil, lyt byggja pâ norskt, i
461)

( 4 Aasen demanded a natural

Latinate style which prevaile
style", this "funny fashion
thoughts", which damaged t
the written language incom
wrote a style which was in a
sic. Everything in Aasen is
same time forceful; his synt
At times a strict grammatic
pure Norwegian syntax ther
The teachings and example o
more recent stylistic develop
Norwegian disguise was rega
what was to be considered go
wegian rather than Latin fou

It is of course impossible to dete

prose style solely on the basis
did enjoy great respect and is
However, it could not have be
on other people's style. Even t
he did not use that style much
"academic" Danish.15 Given Aase
that he was able to influence N
his recommendations rather th

15 According to Andrew Linn (pe

expression of the myth-making pr
Aasen (other expressions of this "
abounds in subjective, impressioni

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 Internal and External Factors in Language Change 459

Summing up, it appears that, thanks to the Danish purists, to the high status of and
widespread use of Danish in Norway after 1814, and possibly also to Aasen and his
followers, the Norwegian language has gone through a long-lasting "purification
process". During this process, language users have come to favour a simpler, more
paratactic style over the complex, heavily hypotactic and Latin-based style that
was so common a few centuries ago. Further, the use of subordinate clauses has
come to involve the use of finite rather than participial clauses.

4.1.2 The English purist movement and the development of style in English
There was of course a purist movement in England, too, though it started approx.
two centuries before the Danish one. The question, then, is why converbs did not
(as in Danish and Norwegian), gradually disappear from written English as a result
of this movement. The answer, I believe, lies in the different foci of the purist
movements in the two countries. Thus, while the targets of the purist movement
in Denmark-Norway were both Latinate (and Greek) vocabulary and Latinate
syntax, the English debate appears to have been more focused on Latinate - and
Greek - imports into the vocabulary, the so called "Inkhorn terms". The "Inkhorn
Controversy" was rather heated for some time. However, in spite of the many
objections to the exaggerated use of Latin and Greek vocabulary, the general view
appears to have been that Latin and Greek words, as well as words from other
languages, represented an enrichment to the language. The problem with loanwords
was not use, but overuse. Due to this generally sympathetic attitude to foreign
elements, the English language today abounds in Latin and Greek vocabulary.
As for syntax and grammar, the attitude seems to have been the same. To be
sure, there was some discussion of Latinate syntax, or style. Some objected to long
Latinate sentences and took pains to write shorter ones. The goal of these people
was a more "English", speech-based style (cf. Gordon 1966: chapters 7 and 8).
However, the English generally seem to have held Latin syntax, rhetoric and style
in high esteem, finding that English had a great deal to learn from this language
in terms of elegance and logic. Indeed, as noted by Blatt (1957: 49) and others,
the Renaissance translators of Latin texts openly declared that one of their goals
was the "Amelioration of the English Language". One of the Latinate features that
were adopted for this purpose was an extensive use of verbal present participles,
including both converbs and relative clauses. The adoption of Latinate clause
patterns into English was apparently never really contested, at least if we can trust
the following statement by Knowles (1997: 71), in which he analyses the style in
one of Caxton's texts:

If you try to divide the text into sentences, you will find it impossible. That
is because it is not written in sentences. Some scholars (see, for example,
Blake 1969) have concluded that Caxton was not a good writer. But texts
constructed in this way are found from Old English times onwards, and
are based on the word groupings of the spoken language. By the 1530s we

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 460 Kristin Killie

find word groupings remodel

this time texts can be divide
unlike Latin vocabulary, has
aside some twentieth-century
challenged. At most, there ha
sentence more or less close to the Latin model.16

Ohlander (1936: 114-116) also finds that Middle English writers modelled their
sentences on the syntax of the spoken language. What gives Middle English
texts their oral flavour is (1) their strong reliance on parataxis, and (2) their large
proportion of asymmetric coordination (cf. also Workman 1940: 33-41, 53).17
Workman (1940: 43-45) argues that there was a shift around 1470-1480: from this
time on, texts written in the vernacular became more symmetric and made increasing
use of hypotaxis. (Before this time, such features were typical of texts translated
from Latin and French.) In Workman's view, what we see is the development of
planned discourse, as opposed to the earlier practice of "composing by narrow
units" (1940: 41, 52). While earlier the focus was more or less exclusively on the
content, now a sense of form was developing. Writers came to regard their texts
as literary works (1940: 55). They also found new ways of anchoring the narrative
in time and space, and of placing events in a logical relation to other events.
Workman sees precisely this development as the most important development
in early English prose: "the greatest difficulties and the greatest changes in early
English prose appear in the arrangement and expression of the common patterns
of thought: cause and effect, likeness and difference, attendant circumstance either
in time or in condition, relative importance, etc." (1940: 33). The increased use
- and the subsequent naturalization - of converbs in English was probably one
(important) aspect of this development, given that converbs are typically used for
the very same purposes as those described here by Workman. Workman's focus
is not specifically on converbs, but he suggests that such structures became more
common around 1470-1480 (1940: 53-56). In addition, his examples from the late
15th century contain a number of converbs, while those from before this time do
not. One illustration of the transition between the two styles under discussion is
given in (15) and (16) below (Workman 1940: 54-55). These excerpts are from the
chronicles, and they provide an early (1465) and a later (1485) version of the same
story (viz. Jack Cade's rebellion).

16 Thus, while Holberg was strongly criticized for his Latinate syntax, this kind of syntax
was endorsed by the English. Danish and English "critics" apparently had diametrically
opposed views as far as Latinate style is concerned. For more information about the smaller
adjustments to the English written sentence, cf. Gordon (1966).
17 Asymmetric coordination involves the coordination of units which differ with regard to
important dimensions such as tense, aspect, etc., and which can therefore not be coordinated,
according to current rules. Workman (1940: 34) gives the following example from Caxton:
Alas what do ye but sleep and are all disordered.

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 Internal and External Factors in Language Change 461

(15)
And than the comynes of Kent a rose and hade chosen hem a capteyne the
whiche namyd hym sylfe John Mortymer, whose very trew name was John
Cade, and he was an Iresheman; and so he come to the Black hethe withe
the comynes of Kentt. And the kynge with all his lordis made hem redy with
all her power for to with stonde hem. And the capteyn hiryng that the kynge
was comynge, and so the nyght a fore the capteyne with drwe him and his
peple; and so the xviij day of June the kynge toke his wey taward the Blacke
Hethe. And Sir Umfrey Stafford, knyght, and John Stafford, squyer, with
her peple went in the fowarde, and they were slayne and myche of her peple.
And the kynge came to the Blacke Hethe with his lordys.

(16)
Item, this yere was a grete assemble of the comones in kent, which came
downe to blak heth in June, and ther made their feld, abidyng there vij
daies. Whereof when the kyng herde, beying at leiceter , he assemblid his
lordes; and cam in all haste agayne the Kentisshemen, and at his comyng
sent dyuers lordes to theym to kinowe their Entent. And when these lordes
came to their Capeteyn namyd Jak Cade, otherwyse Mortymer, cosyn to
the Duke of York as the saide Capitayne named hym self, he seyd he and
his people were commen to redresse many poyntes wherby the kynges sub-
gettes and comons were grevously wrongid; but his fynall purpoos was to
robbe, as after it shall appere. Wherfore the kyng and his counsaill, seyng
the dowblenesse of this Capitayn , the xviij day of the said moneth addresid
his people toward theym; but whan the kynges people cam to the blak heth
the Capitayne was goon. Wherefore it was agreed that Sir Humfrey Staf-
ford, knyght...

As can be seen, the earlier version of this story relies much more on parataxis than
the later version: it makes almost extreme use of and co-ordination. By contrast,
the later version contains much more hypotaxis, including subordination by way of
both finite and non-finite clauses. Thus, Workman (1940: 55) notes that "[i]n the
story of 1485, the thoughts are grouped into periods, in which time, cause, purpose,
attribute and circumstance are accurately expressed by the form". Most important
to our purposes, such attendant circumstances are in several cases signalled by way
of con verb clauses (cf. the parts in italics).18 From the late 1400s onwards, this
strategy has become more and more common.
According to Workman (1940: 59), the new style in English prose was probably
the result of influence from Latin and French. 19 It is clear that the bulk of the

18 To be sure, there is a construction that some might regard as a con verb construction in
the earlier text as well ( hiryng that the kynge was comynge). However, this use is really odd.
It does not seem to function as a con verb and it is part of a really asymmetric construction.
From a modern point of view, a finite clause would have been better here ( And the captain
had heard...). By contrast, the three examples in the later text are rather like Modern English
converbs.
19 Swan (2003: 193) hypothesizes that the linguistic contact situation with French may
have "reinforced the Latin tigger effects".

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 462 Kristin Killie

literature that was available at t

162-164). Workman (1940: 163
that everybody who read during
latter half, read more or less wid
assume that this extensive readi
English prose style and English

4.2 Linguistic factors

We have now looked at some soc
the demise of converbs in Norw
structures in English. However
structure to be borrowed into a
language which are consistent
Vachek 1962 and the references
Thus, Smith claims that "'failu
with the way in which an innov
the language" (1996: 153, cf. als
In what follows I will argue t
that supported the development
corresponding trends in Danish

4.2.1 English
As mentioned earlier (cf. footnote [3]), in Middle English the participle suffix
changed from - ende to -ing. This turned the English -ing suffix into a highly poly-
functional form, with nominal, adjectival, adverbial, prepositional and verbal
uses. Most important to our purposes here is the fact that -ing participles were
increasingly used with verb-like functions and properties. Three different categories
are of interest here: 1) the progressive, 2) the gerund, and 3) converb clauses and
relative participle clauses (i.e. Callaway's "appositive participles", cf. footnote
[4]). Examples of gerunds are given in (17) below, while (18) gives examples of
progressives.

(17a) She regretted having told him the truth, (direct object)
(17b) Telling him the truth was the only decent thing to do. (subject)
(17c) In aiming for such a theory , I shall begin with a number of inter-
related assumptions, (object of a preposition, adverbial at a higher level)
(from Kortmann 1995: 200)
(18a) She was telling him the truth.
(18b) I am aiming for such a theory.

The structures under discussion here have very different functions at the sentence
level. Thus, while the progressive is verbal, the gerund is nominal and the converb

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 Internal and External Factors in Language Change 463

adverbial. However, the structures in question are syntactically rather similar,

in the sense that all take adverbiais and, crucially, objects (and they potentially
also occur with a subject). Interestingly, all these categories experienced a huge
growth in frequency at approx. the same time, i.e., from the 15th and 16th centuries
onwards. We have already seen that the use of converb clauses (or appositive
participles in general) began to rise in vernacular texts in the late 15th century.
The use of the progressive began to rise in the 14th century (Scheffer 1975: 214-
218), and from around 1500 there has been a continuous and tremendous rise in
frequencies (Dennis 1940, Strang 1982). As for the gerund, it is hypothesized to
have developed out of regular verbal nouns in - ing , which for some reason acquired
verbal properties (Kisbye 1971: 5 Iff; Kastovsky 1985: 241-243). Houston (1989:
176-178) reports that verbal nouns occurred increasingly with direct objects from
about 1450. Fanego (1996a: 118-120) finds that the use of verbal nouns in -ing
increased considerably between the 16th and the 17th centuries, and that the most
dramatic increase was found in the use of -ing nouns followed by an object. In fact,
it appears that during the Early Modern period (cl500-cl700) the -ing suffix was
used less and less in prototypical nominal contexts. Thus, while the -ing form came
to be preferred in verbal syntagms (e.g. Revising the book is going to be difficult ),
other suffixes were preferred in more nominal syntagms ( The revision of the book
is going to be difficult) (Fanego 1996a: 121). The same restriction (though it is
not absolute) still holds (Emonds 1973: 187). These facts probably testify to the
increased and increasing verbalization of the -ing suffix.
Given the shared properties of these various -ing categories, viz. their similar
morphological and syntactic properties and the fact that their frequencies went up
at approx. the same time - it seems likely that they may have influenced each other.
Suggestions to this effect have been put forth in the literature on the gerund. For
example, it has been suggested that the gerund has acquired its verbal properties
from the progressive (e.g. Poutsma 1923; Wurff 1993: 373; cf. Jack 1988: 24-27
for an account). This fact has been closely linked to the coalescence of the -ende
and -ing suffixes; the idea is that this formal merger made possible the transference
of verbal properties from the progressive to the gerund. However, this hypothesis
is controversial. Jack (1988: 26-27) argues that in the north of England, the two
developments took place independently of each other. The (verbal) gerund arose
even though the suffix of the participle was -ande rather than - ing ; hence the formal
merger could not have been what caused the (verbal) gerund to develop (cf. also
Houston 1989: 180). Houston (1989: 179-180) claims that even if the timing and
dialectal distribution had been right, it is nevertheless unlikely that formal identity
in itself would be enough for syntactic features to be transmitted. There should
be some functional overlap as well, i.e. some overlap in grammatical function
(Houston 1989: 179-180). Houston argues that the verbal gerund developed out of
the appositive participle, or more specifically, out of the present participle converb.
This hypothesis rests on the fact that the gerund acquired its verbal properties in

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 464 Kristin Killie

the syntactic position of compl

(Koma 1987: 315; Houston 19
The prepositional syntagms of
adverbiais (Koma 1987: 316-317
the gerund shares a discourse
Houston (1989) argue that it is
verbal traits of the appositive p
position or function, the verba
object and subject and object c
2004: 43-45), the use of (verba
from a now obsolete type of a
(19).

(19) 1711-1712 Spectator 394 [quoted from Jespersen Meg V: §§9.8.3]: /

having a great esteem for your honour and a better opinion of you than any
of the quality , makes me acquaint you of an affair that I hope will oblige you
to know, (cited in Fanego 2004: 45, example [51])

It appears, then, that there are many possible channels of influence between the
various constructions involving verbal present participles.
In addition to these very specific proposals concerning channels of influence,
there are some less specific ones. For example, even though Jack (1988, cf. the
discussion above) claims that the verbal properties of the gerund cannot be traced
directly to the progressive, he nevertheless concedes that it is quite possible - even
likely - that the merger of -and and -ing and the huge increase in the use of the
progressive promoted the use of the gerund (Jack 1988: 27; cf. also Fanego 1996a:
135). A similar view is put forth by Kisbye (1971: 31-32):

It is only natural that the already existing -ing suffix of the verbal noun
should have attracted attention in this connexion. An originally abstract
noun in -ungl-ing later -ing, it came to develop the additional function of a
verb almost concurrently with the -end > -ing shift of the present participle.
How exactly this expansion in the functional range of the old noun took
place, is not altogether clear, but one of the chief factors is doubtless the
syntactical confusion arising out of the formal coalescence with the present
participle.

That there was a great deal of "syntactical confusion" between nominal and verbal
functions in Early Modern English is well-known. Thus, Fanego (2004: 32) notes
that "the English gerund long remained a genuinely hybrid form". Some examples
of hybrid constructions are provided in (20)-(23) below, and these examples are by
no means unique (cf. Elsness 1993: 12-15; Wurff 1993: 364-366; Fanego 1996a:
102-104, 133 and 1996b: 55).

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 Internal and External Factors in Language Change 465

(20) euen while I was in wryting of thy s letter (1533 St. Thomas More. Wks.
(1557) 962 H4 [Visser 1963-1973: §1871], cited in Fanego 1996a: 103)
(21) then cam the men rydyng, carehyng of tor chy s (El 1553-59 Machyn
Diary 101, cited in Fanego 1996a: 104)
'then came the men riding, carrying of torches'
(22) ... and after dinner came two Cauelliers, and a Moore being one of their
slaues to the watering place, where our men were filling of the caske... (Hel-
sinki Corpus, Period II/NN TRAVCOVERTE 12, cited in Elsness 1993:
14)
(23) The quickly doing of it, is the grace (1610 Ben Jonson, Alchemist (Ev-
erym.) IV, ii, p. 62, cited in Wurff 1993: 366)

It is extremely difficult to trace the precise relations between the various participle
constructions, i.e. the channels of - and direction of the - influence between them.
However, as argued above, it does seem likely that there was such influence. We
have already looked at some points that support such a view, viz. the concurrent
increase in numbers and the syntactic "confusion" between nominal and verbal uses
of -ing. It is also interesting to note that at some stage all the three constructions
had become verbal to such an extent that they partook in the syntactic development
referred to above as the "complexification" of the English verb phrase (Jespersen
1909-1949, vol. IV: 94; Houston 1989: 189-190; Denison 1998: 143-158 and 2000:
129-134; Fanego 2004: 8). This development involves increased use of auxiliaries
such as have and be in expressing distinctions of voice and aspect. New and longer
combinations of auxiliaries have become possible, so that the English verb phrase
has become progressively longer (Denison 1993 and 2000). This is a development
which essentially belongs to the Modern English period, though its roots go back
to Middle English (Denison 1998: 143-158 and 2000: 129-134; Fanego 2004: 8).
All the three constructions under discussion here have increasingly come to include
voice and aspect markers. Houston (1989: 189-190) suggests that the gerund
acquired the ability to passivize and take auxiliary verbs from the appositive
participle, but provides no evidence for it.
If the influence between the various - ing constructions under discussion cannot
be put down to a direct inheritance of properties resulting from formal merger, we
may ask what the nature of that influence may have been. It is possible that what
happened was to some extent that high numbers of one construction influenced
the frequency of other constructions. More specifically, the increase in one Ving
+ DO/complement construction (the progressive?) led to increased frequencies
of Ving + DO/complement strings in speakers' input. These increased input
frequencies helped promote the use of objects also with the other types of -ing
constructions. In turn, the higher frequencies of Ving + DO/complement with these
other constructions may have led to yet another upsurge in Ving + DO/complement
use with the original Ving + DO/complement pattern. In this way, the various Ving
+ DO/complement patterns reinforced each other. The use of voice and aspect

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 466 Kristin Killie

markers with progressive, geru

may also at least partly be a re
phenomenon referred to by Las

More generally, there are hist

with respect to some category
more X. This could be imaged
into being of X produces mor
ists call autocatalysis... (198

In particular, if we assume a
the normal way of things on
the appropriate flow-path, the
increase... (1987: 301)20

4.2.2 Norwegian
Having argued that there were
supported the development of
and developments existed in N
to be no. To be sure, both Old
present participle in a progressi
1966: 241-242; Pettersen 1975-1
DO constructions upon which
However, such verbal uses of the
way that the English progressiv
had a gerund-like construction.
Norwegian was most probably
converbs in this language, unlik

Summary
Summing up briefly, it appears that at the time when English converbs became
naturalized, there was a large number of -ing constructions in the input, including
constructions in which the - ing element was followed by an object. By contrast,
in Norwegian there were no native, verbal uses of -ende participles which may
have caused -ende participles to acquire verbal properties. This is probably one
important reason why the two languages developed in different directions as far as
the use of converbs is concerned. These tendencies were supported by prescriptivist
activity, which helped promote the spread of the converb in English and its demise
in Norwegian.

University of Tromsoe Kristin Killie

20 A similar phenomenon is discussed by Aitchison (1987) under the term "snowball".

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 Internal and External Factors in Language Change 467
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