"This is holden the surer and more easie way":

comparison of adjectives from Late ME to EModE

Merja Kytö

Fri. 9-10:40 B

The history of gradable adjectives is a treasure trove for the student of diachronic variation in English. In Old English the comparative and superlative forms of adjectives were indicated by inflectional endings as a rule (PresE higher, highest), while periphrastic forms occurred only occasionally (PresE more profitable, most profitable). During the Middle English period periphrastic gradation became common, and in the Early Modern English period for a word such as EASY, there were three alternatives forms, the instances of double gradation adding to the variation: EASIER, MORE EASY, MORE EASIER / EASIEST, MOST EASY, MOST EASIEST.

This study, based on the material drawn from the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts, aims at accounting for the variation and change in the use of the gradable adjectives at a crucial period of development, from the early 1400's to  the early 1700's. The influence of a variety of linguistic and extralinguistic factors is taken into consideration when observing the rate and directions of change.

The preliminary results obtained point to a minor increase in the use of the inflectional forms as against the periphrastic forms found in the comparative and superlative constructions attested in the Early Modern English period. However, the comparative and superlative forms followed different paths of development: while there are no drastic changes in the figures obtained for the use of inflectional versus periphrastic comparative forms (counting tokens), the inflectional forms begin to dominate in superlative constructions only from the 1570's on. The instances of double gradation remain in clear minority.

The results indicate that while the comparison of adjectives first followed the tendency of English to favour analytic forms as against synthetic, it was the synthetic forms that finally took over during the period when the Present-day usage became established.