Description
Book SynopsisA famous English hymn does not start with
He who would be valiant, but
He who would valiant be with
valiant in dislocated position in the clause. The aim of this study is to analyse syntactic dislocation in English congregational song between 1500 and 1900 and to examine its motivations and developments. Poetic factors, like metre and rhyme, can be assumed as primary causes. Moreover, two contrasting dislocation patterns emerge, which show the interplay of poetic requirements and syntactic criteria. The first pattern occurs mainly in metrical psalms, while the second pattern is typical of hymns. With these patterns as a basis of comparison, syntactic dislocation is a decisive factor that makes congregational song conservative both compared to secular poetry and to religious prose.
Table of ContentsContents: Syntactic dislocation – English congregational song – Diachronic, corpus-based study – Syntax of English – Poetic factors – Metre and rhyme – Metrical psalms – Hymns – Religious verse – Statistics – Corpus linguistics – Text linguistics.
