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The Future of for to

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2008

Elly van Gelderen
Elly van Gelderen
Affiliation:
Department of EnglishArizona State UniversityBox 87032 Tempe, AZ 85287–0302 [ellyvangelderen@asu.edu]
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Extract

I examine the development of for to and for in several stages of English. I argue that as prepositions grammaticalize, they acquire certain intrinsic features and occupy special positions. In Old English, for to is a P, related to Case, and has some future sense (through an extension of the locative meaning). Verbs do not subcategorize for complements with for (yet), however. In early Middle English, for to is used to introduce a complement with future meaning. Now, for (to) occupies C, which I assume is universally true for purpose/future indicators. In late Middle English, the situation solidifies, and more verbs select a complement with for (to) indicating purpose and futurity. In Early Modern English, for to disappears, but for separated from to takes over its function of introducing purposive adjuncts and future complements.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , Spring 1998 , pp. 45 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 1998

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