A Modern English Grammar On Historical Principles

''A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles'' (''MEG'') is a seven-volume reference grammar of Modern English, largely written by Otto Jespersen. The first volume ("part"), ''Sounds and Spellings'', was published in 1909; two through five were on syntax; six was on morphology; and seven returned to the topic of syntax. It took until 1949 for all seven to be completed.

Scope

A history of linguistics in the Nordic countries describes ''MEG'':

The most outstanding, and without doubt the most influential of the Danish contributions to descriptive grammar was Otto Jespersen's 'MEG''(1909–1949). . . . though it is certainly not untouched by the neogrammarian education of its author, it is mainly a descriptive study illustrating Jespersen's general ideas of descriptive linguistics. . . .

''MEG'' is " monumental seven-volume grammar of English" that emerged around the same period as did two other multivolume reference grammars of English, both by Dutch scholars: Etsko Kruisinga's ''A Handbook of Present-Day English'' (1909–1932), and Hendrik Poutsma's ''A Grammar of Late Modern English for the Use of Continental, Especially Dutch, Students'' (1904–1926). In each of these three, the author "used thousands of examples from literary texts to illustrate points of grammar".

Similarly to ''MEG'', Kruisinga's ''Handbook'' starts with a volume on phonology and orthography, but, unlike ''MEG'' or Poutsma's work, " asno historical pretensions". By contrast, ''MEG'' – whose author wrote elsewhere that "The distinctive feature of the science of language as conceived nowadays is its historical character" – delivers on its promise of "historical principles".

''MEG'' is unlike the other pair in another way. American English "does not figure in outsma's ''Grammar''to any significant extent", and is similarly uncommon in Kruisinga's ''Handbook''. By contrast, in ''MEG'', "the total number of comments on merican Englishamounts to 224, of which 50 are on phonology (including stress), 9 on spelling, 83 on morphology and syntax, 64 on lexical items, and 18 on word-formation". Those on syntax include a discussion (''MEG'' IV:260–261) on ''shall'' versus ''will'' in American English.

Jespersen propounded the system underpinning ''MEG'' in his book ''The Philosophy of Grammar'' (1924).

Part by part

The work was eventually published in a total of seven of what would normally be termed volumes. But the term ''part'' was largely used instead (and ''volume'' used additionally for four of those five parts concerned with syntax).

Part I. ''Sounds and Spellings''

This first installment was first published in 1909. (For a more detailed publishing history of this and the other parts, see " Publishing details" below.)

The chapters are:

Corrections were made for the 1949 edition.

Part II. ''Syntax (first volume)''

This was first published in 1914. Although Jespersen might have been expected to proceed from phonology and orthography to syntax via morphology, he postponed morphology, explaining that the prospect of dealing with syntax was more enticing and there was a greater demand among his friends for reading his ideas on syntax.

In his preface, Jespersen describes his system of exemplification and citation, "collected during many years of both systematic and desultory reading" (''MEG'' II:vi); most of this is unremarkable, but:

In quotations from works of fiction I have now and then abbreviated a proper name or replaced it by ''he'' or ''she'', just as I have here and there left out a few unimportant words; but I have taken such liberties only with quotations from recent books and where I was quite sure that they could in no wise impair the value of the passage for the purpose for which I used it. (''MEG'' II:vii)

The chapters are:

Later editions add an appendix presenting additions and commentary by Jespersen; for the 1949 edition, Niels Haislund added pointers in the main text to this appendix.

Part III. ''Syntax (second volume)''

First published in 1927. The chapters of a later edition – "Reprinted in Great Britain 1961" and lacking any acknowledgment of revision – are:

"(Appendix to Volume III) Predicatives after particles" appeared as the final (23rd) chapter of Part IV.

A detailed review of Part III by Martin B. Ruud starts by saying that a grammarian "must be a realist, a philosopher, an historian, even an antiquarian, and something of an artist as well", and that Jespersen here again demonstrates these qualities. The review then describes particular chapters, or sequences thereof. Of chapter 2, Ruud introduces Jespersen's novel term ''content clause'' and describes Jespersen's distinction between ''X questions'' and ''nexus questions'' (roughly corresponding to what are now more commonly termed open interrogative and polar interrogative clauses respectively). He is glad that Jespersen: "continues to oppose resolutely . . . the use of the term 'dative' in Modern English", commenting: "indeed, where there are no criteria of form how can one speak of something that is either form or nothing at all?" Ruud then considers how the book illuminates lexicological matters, such as the common confusion of intransitive ''lay'' and transitive ''lie'' – Jespersen does not condemn this (made by authors such as Marvell, Byron and Emily Brontë, it can hardly be called "illiterate"), but instead explains the frequency of its occurrence.

George O. Curme starts his review of Part III:

There is nothing in the domain of philology more stimulating than a new volume by Professor Jespersen. . . . For many years he has been out on the confines of our knowledge fighting to extend its boundaries into the great unknown. The new volume brings us many more valuable contributions.

– whereupon he starts to describe how Jespersen's and his own views on grammar diverge. The pair disagree on the category of ''here'' in "leave here" and that of ''poor'' in "the poor", on the virtue of replacing the familiar term ''noun clause'' with ''content clause'', on whether ''can, must, shall'', etc are verbs, and more. Curme's objection to Jespersen's denial of the existence in Modern English of a dative case is expounded at some length; but simply, the identity of form in "They chose ''him'' a wife" to that in "They chose ''him'' king" does not deter Curme from saying that the former is an example of the dative. And this is before Curme "turns to what interests him most in Professor Jespersen's new volume – his treatment of relative pronouns".

Part IV. ''Syntax. Third volume. Time and Tense''

First published in 1931. The chapters are:

This part also has a long "Abbreviations and list of books". The great majority of the books listed are works (largely of fiction) that Jespersen credits for examples. Thus for instance an example of past tense ''dare not'' is attributed to "Caine M 378" (''MEG'' IV:12): this is page 378 of what "Abbreviations and list of books" explains is Hall Caine's '' The Manxman'' (London, 1894) (''MEG'' IV:xii).

Curme's review of Part IV starts by commenting on its treatment of expanded (i.e. progressive) tenses, a treatment that he finds of interest, but inadequate. Unlike Jespersen, Curme uses the term '' aspect'' as well as '' tense''; he rejects Jespersen's denial that English has no "real future tense".

Part V. ''Syntax. Fourth volume''

First published in 1940.
The chapters are:

Also included is "Additions to the list of abbreviations in vol. IV".

The preface thanks the Carlsberg Foundation for its continuing support; the prefaces to Parts VI and VII do the same.

Francis states of ''nexus'', a concept important to Jespersen, that it makes its first appearance in Jespersen's book ''Essentials of English Grammar'' (1933) and that it "is nowhere dealt with within the first three Syntax volumes of ''MEG''". In view of the coverage of nexus in the second volume – remarked on in a review – this must be mistaken. But aside from the matter of earlier appearances:

e fourth Syntax volume of ''MEG'' . . . is wholly devoted to nexus and contains eleven chapters, nearly 200 pages, on infinitives. This is one of the most complex areas of English grammar, and remains one of Jespersen's most distinguished accomplishments as a grammarian.

In a review of Parts V and VI, Simeon Potter determines that "The dependent nexus is the main theme of Part V: a simple nexus as object; a simple nexus as regimen of a preposition; a simple nexus as tertiary; nexus-substantives; the gerund; the infinitive; clauses; an implied nexus (agent-substantives and participles)." He criticizes the book in places, but his praise includes the observation that:

No one has discussed ellipsis, that cardinal problem for the syntactician, with greater ingenuity than Jespersen. Aposiopesis, prosiopesis, suppression, subaudition, ''sous entendu'', latent phrase and incomplete clause have all been illuminated in their turn.

Part VI. ''Morphology''

This was first published in 1942.

Jespersen "was content to delegate the major part of the work to ielsHaislund and . . . Paul Christophersen and Knud Schibsbye" who had to work with his lecture notes from 1925. Jespersen did carefully examine the result. His preface to Part VI gives more detail, stating which chapter, and often which section of which chapter, was written by which of the four; and, where he himself was one of the writers, then sometimes also when (in the period from 1894 to 1942) he had written it. However:

In consequence of the manuscripts having in some instances passed to and fro between others and myself it would now be difficult for me to decide which particulars are due to me and which to my co-workers. But anyhow the full responsibility for any shortcomings rests with me exclusively. (''MEG'' VI:v)

The circumstances of editorial work on Part VI were not happy:

When writing the first four volumes of my Grammar I was in constant touch with friends in England, most of them competent scholars, whom I was able to consult on knotty points. If it had been possible I should very often have done the same with regard to this volume, but to my great regret the unfortunate happenings to my country during this miserable war have prevented me from asking the advice of native Englishmen. A few pages, however, were revised by the then lecturer in the University of Copenhagen, Mr. A. F. Colburn, before he was forced to leave Denmark. Something is rotten in the state of the world. May Heaven direct it! (''MEG'' VI:vi)

"This volume naturally falls into five parts", writes Jespersen, describing these (''MEG'' VI:5):

The chapters are:

While conceding that Part VI and Herbert Koziol's ''Handbuch der englischen Wortbildungslehre'' (1937) "admirably supplement each other and both are equally welcome", Simeon Potter finds that the former "contains numerous errors and perpetuates many incomplete statements of historical fact". He provides a great number of these and says that constraints on space preclude the provision of more.

Francis rates this "the most traditional and least original part" of ''MEG''. "Though there are a few excellent chapters", writes Hans Marchand of this part, "the book is not one of the best Jespersen has written."

Part VII. ''Syntax''

Published (posthumously) in 1949. The title page does not indicate that this is the fifth of five volumes about syntax.

Part VII was completed and edited by Niels Haislund, who describes in its preface how chapters 1–5 were written by Jespersen, and chapters 6–18 by Jespersen, Haislund, and Paul Christophersen (''MEG'' VII:iii–v). The main text of the book frequently refers to Jespersen in the third person.

The chapters are:

Also included is "Technical terms (mainly syntactical)", an index not only to ''MEG'' as a seven-part whole but also to ten other books by Jespersen and one paper by him.

The explanation via "stages of familiarity" of article use is indebted to Paul Christophersen.

Francis comments on Part VII that "It is not so easy to understand its relationship to the rest of the work", and that much of it revisits matters discussed in the previous four parts devoted to syntax.

Reception of the whole

A review by "A. G. K." of the first three parts of ''MEG'', together with Poutsma's ''A Grammar of Late Modern English'' and Kruisinga's ''A Handbook of Present-Day English'', describes ''MEG'' as having been "carried near to completion" (which in reality was still four parts and 21 years into the future). " omebody desiringsome larger work in which he may find systematically arranged all the more minute distinctions of grammmar and usage, each one abundantly illustrated by examples chosen from the best English usage of the present and the past" would, A. G. K. writes, find it in any of the three works. " e proportion of discussion to illustrative matter seems somewhat greater n Jespersen'sthan in Poutsma's grammar", says A. G. K., who adds that all three works are likely to present terminological obstacles for the reader, suggesting that these are likely to be the greatest in ''MEG'', although such innovations "should be merely a challenge to the interested student of English to view his subject from different points of view". A. G. K. concludes that no attempt to choose one work in preference to the other pair is needed, as "The three should stand together on the shelf in any well-equipped library where the student of English could go to them frequently."

H. A. Gleason sees ''MEG'', together with Kruisinga's ''Handbook'' and Poutsma's ''Grammar'', as the culmination of a "European scholarly tradition" of grammars mostly written by academics in Germany and the Netherlands and primarily aimed at Anglicists and other specialist readers. Yet ''MEG'', he points out, differs from the works by Kruisinga and Poutsma – and from R. W. Zandvoort's ''Handbook of English Grammar'' (1945), similar to the pair but much more compact – as its author "is the one great traditional grammarian who gave attention to the general framework of grammar and made considerable innovations. He based his treatment of syntax almost completely on meaning, with rather odd results at many places" – a treatment, Gleason adds, that "can be most conveniently seen in espersen'sone-volume ''Essentials of English Grammar''".

Writing when only Parts I to VI were yet published, Simeon Potter called the work an "imposing achievement", but:

work whoseparts may seem to hold together too loosely, lacking preconceived plan. Even the most assiduous reader may fail to gain from them any clear picture of the English language as a whole but this he will surely find elsewhere.

Francis regrets that "there is no overall index to the whole", and thus that looking for a particular issue is difficult; yet despite this:

''MEG'' remains a master-work. . . . Its great virtues, in addition to the profusion of illustrative citations, are originality and perceptiveness of approach and modesty and clarity of style. Few grammar books make such good reading.

In 1989 Randolph Quirk (primary coeditor of the 1985 book ''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'') said of ''MEG'': "With its wide range of data from literature of all periods and the illuminating explanatory comment, simultaneously along diachronic and synchronic dimensions, this book is a continual source of inspiration and value." Writing in ''The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language'' (2002), Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum called ''MEG'' "One of the most complete grammars for English in the first half of the twentieth century", one "which every serious English grammarian consults on a regular basis".

''MEG'' was described when new as "an inexhaustible mine of information . . . illustrated with a wealth of quotations that shows an extraordinary catholicity of taste in espersen'sreading matter". ''MEG'' has a wider range of sources than does either Lindley Murray's ''English Grammar'' (1795/1808) or Sweet's ''A New English Grammar, Logical and Historical'' (1891/1898), and has a particular emphasis on sources that were new at the time, thanks to Jespersen's method of amassing examples, a method he had learnt from the editors of ''A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles'' (later retitled '' The Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles''). ''MEG'' also depends less on sentences especially created in order to illustrate it than does Murray's or Sweet's grammar, or indeed Randolph Quirk et al's ''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'' (1985).

Furthermore, Jespersen's coverage in ''MEG'' of double negation (Thomas's field of special interest in her comparison) is far better thought out than are those of Murray and Sweet: with examples ordered first semantically (weakened affirmation versus possibly intensified negation), and then by syntactic type. Some examples are from spoken English, and Jespersen also mentions dialectal variations.

''MEG'' has continued to be mined for the great amount of data that Jespersen presents within it.

However, following ''MEG'' beyond its copious data to their interpretation can be problematic. Even aside from his more conspicuous theoretical concepts (nexus, junction, rank), which although thought-provoking have seldom been adopted, a number of Jespersen's dicta can surprise. As an example, he writes:

Most grammarians recognize the infinitive as object in cases like "I want to sing" and "I promise to sing"; cf. "I want this" and "I promise nothing". The only grammarian, as far as I know, who has ever objected to this view is Harold E. Palmer. . . . It will seem more strange that I recognize the bare infinitive as object after such verbs as ''can'' and ''will''. (''MEG'' V:169)

It now seems that Harold E. Palmer was ahead of his time. And as for what Jespersen concedes is "more strange", Frank R. Palmer points out that he makes the claim despite the ungrammaticality of *''can cricket''; Palmer comments that "There is no virtue in this line of argument."

As for the lasting impact of ''MEG'', descriptions differ. Margaret Thomas writes of the work: " espersen'sfelicitous powers of observation, broad-mindedness, originality, and erudition – all communicated in an easy and artless prose style – attract admiring readers to this day." Geoffrey K. Pullum describes ''MEG'' as "magnificent but mostly ignored". (Als
preprint
)

Publishing details

For the editions listed below, George Allen & Unwin published in London, in Copenhagen, Routledge in Abingdon (Oxfordshire), and Carl Winter in Heidelberg.

*Part I. ''Sounds and Spellings.'' Carl Winter, 1909. . Carl Winter, 1927. . Ejnar Munksgaard; George Allen & Unwin, 1949. . Routledge, 2006. . Routledge, 2013. .
*Part II. ''Syntax (first volume).'' Carl Winter, 1914. . Carl Winter, 1927. . Ejnar Munksgaard; George Allen & Unwin, 1949. . Routledge, 2006. . Routledge, 2014. .
*Part III. ''Syntax (second volume).'' Carl Winter, 1927. . George Allen & Unwin, 1928. . Ejnar Munksgaard; George Allen & Unwin, 1949. . Routledge, 2006. . Routledge, 2013. .
*Part IV. ''Syntax. Third volume. Time and Tense.'' Carl Winter, 1931. . George Allen & Unwin, 1932. Ejnar Munksgaard; George Allen & Unwin, 1949. . Routledge, 2006. . Routledge, 2013. .
*Part V. ''Syntax. Fourth volume.'' Ejnar Munksgaard, 1940. . George Allen & Unwin, 1946. Routledge, 2007. . Routledge, 2013. .
*Part VI. ''Morphology.'' Ejnar Munksgaard, 1942. . George Allen & Unwin, 1946. Routledge, 2006. . Routledge, 2013. .
*Part VII. ''Syntax.'' Ejnar Munksgaard; George Allen & Unwin, 1949. . Routledge, 2006. . Routledge, 2013. .

Notes

References

Works cited

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* (Als
preprint
via Fred Karlsson and Internet Archive.)
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External links

Part I, ''Sounds and Spellings''
(1949), at the Internet Archive
Part II, ''Syntax (first volume)''
(1949), at the Internet Archive
Part III, ''Syntax (second volume)''
(1928), at the Internet Archive
Part IV, ''Syntax. Third volume. Time and tense''
(1931), at the Internet Archive
Part V, ''Syntax. Fourth volume''
(1940), at the Internet Archive
Part VI, ''Morphology''
(als
here
(1942), at the Internet Archive
Part VII, ''Syntax''
(1949), at the Internet Archive

{{DEFAULTSORT:Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles
Books published posthumously
English grammar books
Otto Jespersen
1909 non-fiction books
1949 non-fiction books