SELIM Teresa Moralejo, Selim 10 (2000): 123—143 THE SEMANTICS OF MIDDLE ENGLISH COMPOSITE PREDICATES1 1. INTRODUCTION. AIMS AND SCOPE The goal of this paper is to classify the Composite Predicates2 formed with the light verbs maken, don, haven, taken, yeven and nimen extracted from the Middle English section of the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts, Diachronic and Dialectal,3 on the basis of the semantic content they express. After describing the main semantic groups into which the Composite Predicates in our data may be subdivided, the prevailing semantic categories with each light verb studied are analysed. Finally, Composite Predicates which consist of the same deverbal object and different light verb are considered. Composite Predicates (henceforth, CPs), are structures which consist of a verb phrase followed by a nominal object. The syntactically main verb, usually do, have, give, make or take, is partially delexicalized and has accordingly been called a light or support verb. It acts as a basis to which the grammatical features of tense, person and number are attached. The nominal object carries the lexical content, acting as a non-verbal predicate. Sentence (1) below contains an example of a prototypical Present-Day English CP, have a look: (1) He told me to have a look at the report. 1 I would like to thank Dr. Luis Iglesias Rábade for his helpful comments and suggestions. The research which is here reported on has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science through its Dirección General de Investigación grant number PFF20000492. This grant is hereby gratefully acknowledged. 2 The term Composite Predicate ultimately goes back to Cattel (1984) and has been more recently adopted by Akimoto and Brinton (1999a), Matsumoto (1999), Kytö (1999) and Tanabe (1999). 3 Further information on the Helsinki Corpus may be found in Kytö (1993) and in Rissanen, Kytö and PalanderCollin (1993). Teresa Moralejo 104 Different semantic classifications of Present-Day English CPs have been put forward by Nickel (1968: 8), Akimoto (1990), Stein (1991), Dixon (1991: 354 ff.) or Quirk and Stein (1991). Stein (1991: 23) establishes the following semantic groups for CPs with give, have and take: perception, mental activity, verbal activity, consumption, bodily care, contact activity, physical action, involuntary reaction, potentially voluntary reaction and voluntary reaction, while Quirk and Stein (1991: 1989) replace voluntary reaction with tentative action. Nickel (1968: 8) distinguishes six semantic subclasses of nouns which combine with give, have, make and take. These are nouns denoting movement or rest, vision, the action of speaking, sounds, the action of cleaning and, finally, nouns denoting the action of drinking. Claridge (2000: 142 ff.) has classified the nouns that enter in combinations with light verbs into the following categories: entity, state, verbal activity, concrete activity, abstract activity and mental/emotional process. Focusing on the semantics of the deverbals rather than on the combinations themselves, Akimoto (1990) differentiates several semantic categories of nouns with which give, have, make and take tend to combine. In view of the data extracted from the ME section of the Helsinki Corpus, we propose the following tentative classification of Middle English (henceforth, ME) CPs, based on the dominant semantic categories in our data (groups with more than ten tokens). Due to the difficulties in establishing watertight compartments, it may be possible to ascribe some of the combinations to more than one group, and in addition, subgroups have been distinguished within some categories. 1. FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS. This group consists of structures which express the entertaining of a certain sentiment, being in a particular frame of mind, experiencing a certain sensation or emotion. 2. OFFENSIVE ACTION. CPs which express a hostile action, an action which implies some sort of physical or psychological damage make up this group. Middle English Composite Predicates 105 3. MENTAL ACTION. A wide number of combinations indicate the action or process of thinking, some sort of mental action or activity in general. The deverbals in this group can be further subdivided into nouns which express an action of guarding, of paying careful attention, care, or regard, deverbals which express the mental action of trusting, confiding, relying on a person or thing, and deverbals which express the formation of an opinion or notion concerning something by exercising the mind upon it. 4. SPEECH. CPs which express an action which involves the uttering or pronouncing of words or articulating sounds also occur in our data. 5. REDRESS. The reparation, amendment or correction of an error or fault is the semantic content indicated by a number of the structures analysed. 6. JUDGEMENT. Some of the units in our data indicate the action of taking legal steps to establish a claim or obtain judicial remedy, a legal process, or the taking of a judicial decision. 7. ENDEARMENT. A notable part of the structures recorded express the manifestation of good disposition or some sort of affection for someone or something. 8. MOTION. A subset of CPs refers to actions which involve changing place or position, the process of moving. 9. AGREEMENT. Combinations which denote the action of coming to an accord or an arrangement between two or more persons as to a course of action, a mutual understanding, a covenant, or treaty also occur in our data. 10. HOMAGE. CPs that indicate the acknowledgement of respect, reverence, dutiful respect, or honour, estimation or appreciation make up this subgroup. 11. TRADE. Several structures indicate the action of carrying on trade, buying and selling, of having commercial dealings with someone. Teresa Moralejo 106 2. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA After describing the major categories in our data, we next review the type of actions expressed by each of the light verbs analysed in this paper. For each verb, the groups are presented in order of decreasing frequency of occurrence. 2.1. DONCPS DonCPs tend to fall into the following semantic subgroups in our data: 2.1.1. OFFENSIVE ACTION This is the most numerous category. It contains combinations with deverbals such as bismer, damage, despite, disese, guilerie, harm, hurt, inconvenience, justice, loth, offense, outrake, peine, persecucioun, punishment, qued, sanchip, scathe, shame, shond, sorwe, unese, unresoun, unright, vengeaunce, vileinie, wene, wo, wough, wrake, wreche or wrong. Sentence (160) below contains a CP which belongs to this semantic group, don offense: (2) (^ (\Tercia mulier.\) ^) Ye false traitours! Vnto God ye do grett offens, To sle and mordere yong children þat in þer cradelle slumber! (ME4: CMDIGBY, 106)1 2.1.2. REDRESS Combinations with nouns such as almesdede, amend, amendment, alms, andetnysse, charite, dedbote, lak, penaunce, penitence, remedie, sacrifice, shrift, or reowsunge, as in (161) below, occur: 1 All the examples quoted have been extracted from the ME section of the Helsinki Corpus. Each quotation contains information on the subperiod to which it belongs, namely ME1 (from 1150 to 1250), ME2 (from 1250 to 1350), ME3 (from 1350 to 1420) or ME4 (from 1420 to 1500), the abbreviated title of the text from which it has been extracted and the page number where it can be found. The full titles of the texts as well as more information on them may be found in Kytö (1993). Middle English Composite Predicates 107 (3) Be þare þe Hælend on his godspelle cwæð, ‘Doð reowsunge, for þam ðe heofene rice neahlæcð’. (ME1: CMBODLE, 42) 2.1.3. ENDEARMENT CPs with ese, esinesse, favour, godnesse, god, grace, kindenesse, love, merci, milce, plesaunce, thanking or thanks belong to this category, exemplified with don ese in sentence (162) below: (4) Sche is agreyd to speke wyth me, and sche hopythe to doo me ease, as sche saythe. (ME4: CMPRIV, 441) 2.1.4. HOMAGE Combinations with buxomnesse, feute, homage, honour, manred, worship or reverence, as in example (163) below, make up this subgroup. (5) For certes, namoore reverence shal be doon there to a kyng than to a knave. (ME3: CTPROS, 291 C.2) 2.2. HAVENCPS CPs usually belong to the semantic fields which follow. 2.2.1. FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS This is the most numerous group with haven. Akimoto (1990: 869) also distinguishes this category of nouns in combination with haven as a light verb, and Tanabe (1999: 105) points out the tendency of haven to combine with nouns expressing emotions. Different feelings and emotions, such as pleasure, as in haven liking in (6), scorn, as in haven disdein in (7) or suffering, as in haven care in (8), may be expressed with havenCPs: (6) Ah þuncheð ham softe & habbeð mare delit þrin; þen ei oðer habbe i licunge of þe worlt. (ME1: CMHALI, 131) (7) Certes, wel oghte a man have desdayn of synne and withdrawe hym from that thraldom and vileynye. (ME3: CMCTPROS, 290 C.2) Teresa Moralejo 108 (8) (^Mercy.^) I haue moche care for yow, my own frende. (ME4: CMMANKIN, 163) Abhominacioun, affecioun, appetite, aue, blisse, comfort, compassioun, charite, deth, defaut, deinte, delectacioun, delice, deliting, desire, despite, devocioun, disport, drede, drednesse, embethanc, enclinaunce, envie, favour, feeling, fere, fervour, game, gladnesse, grevaunce, grure, hevinesse, jelosie, joy, liking, longing, love, loving, lust, merci, merveille, milce, mirth, morning, nede, nith, ofthinking, onde, ore, overhohe, peine, pite, pleie, plesaunce, pride, reuth, reuthnes, scorn, shame, sorinesse, sorwe, swetenesse, tene, torment, tribulacioun, win, wleatunge, wo, wough, wonder, wrong, yerning and zele also belong to this category. 2.2.2. MENTAL ACTION This is a numerous class which includes units that may express belief, as in haven confidence in (9) below, attention, as in haven hed in (10), or opinion, as in haven estimacioun in (11) below: (9) The preste, hauyng confidens in hys promysse, was wel content, (ME4: CMKEMPE, I 57) (10) uor he ne heþ none hede of longe ryote of tales y−slyked / ne y−rymed. (ME2: CMAYENBI, I 99) (11) "Thou hast," quod sche, "the ryght estimacion of this”. (ME3: CMBOETH, 447 C.1) Also in this category are CPs formed with belief, bisinesse, confidence, cure, deliberacioun, diligence, dreme, durstinesse, feith, forthinking, hope, ileve, keping, knouing, knouleche, knouleching, kunning, meditacioun, memorie, mind, mistrouing, opinioun, penaunce, premeditacioun, remorse, repentaunce, regard, suspect, suspecioun, sweuening, thought, trust, understanding, ward and witing. 2.2.3. MOTION Fal, cours, passage, climbing, or fare, as in (170) below, are nouns which express an action which involves movement and which have been found in combination with haven in our corpus. Middle English Composite Predicates 109 (12) Na for þam þt þe deofel hæfde æni… fare to ure Hælende oðer his mæð wære þt he him ahwær on neawste come, if he hit for ure lufe |P98 ne eðafede. (ME1: CMBODLE, 9698) 2.2.4. SPEECH Communicacioun, langage, speche, word or talking, as in (171) below, are examples of this category. (13) Thei graunted his peticioun, and broute him forth to þe castel of Flynt, where þe duk and he had but a smal talkyng, and þan rydyn to þe castell of Chestir. (ME4: CMCAPCHR, 213) 2.3. MAKENCPS Deverbals from the semantic fields which follow have been recorded forming CPs with maken in ME. 2.3.1. SPEECH A variety of makenCPs indicate the production or articulation of sounds. This is the case with declaracioun, in (172) below, as well as with answere, avaunt, bere, bost, compleint, crie, lesing, mencioun, mind, mon, morne, morning, notice, pleint, preier, proclamacioun, prophecie, protestacioun, questioun, rehersaille, relacioun, rem, replicacioun, sermoun, site, song, sorwe, weilawei or warning. (14) Wherfore me semeth convenyent, syth that I speke of the ascendent, to make of it speciall declaracioun. (ME3: CMASTRO, 670 C2) 2.3.2. OFFENSIVE ACTION Deverbals in this subgroup include breking, care, faisithe, manace, wasting, or, as in (173) below, perturbacioun and troubling: (15) he scholde be more feblid & more perturbacioun or troblyng schulde be made in hym. ME3: CMPHLEBO, 47) A number of CPs expresses the action of contending in battle, of striving for victory or struggling. This is the case with afray, conquest, debate, Teresa Moralejo 110 defense, enarminges, justes, resistence, strife, werre or assault, as in the following example: (16) And also þe friday folwynge in þe same Woke of Estarne, in þe same er of owre lord þe kyng xvj=e=, Thomas Bradle, John Spaldyng, William Schyngilwode, preest, & Richard langeford, with other mo vne−knowen, in þe feld of Stebenythe, vp−on þe land of John ereld by−syde Schordych, with force & armes, bowes & arwes, swerdes & bokelers & other wepene, & þere asawt madyn to þe sone of John ereld and to þe omen of Schordych. (ME3: CMDOCU3, 233) 2.3.3. AGREEMENT Accord, alliaunce, appointment, bargain, bond, composicioun, conspiracie, convencioun, covenaunt, covin, forme, saughte, treue or foreward, as in (175) below, frequently occur in our data. (17) the seide Bysshop Dean and Chapiter that tyme beyng hadde lycence to enclose the cimitary ther as hit more pleynly apperyth yn a composicion ther of made. (ME4: CMDOCU4, 84) 2.3.4. JUDGEMENT Maken combines with nouns such as arbitrement, award, dom, jugement, proces, rightfulness, serche, testament, sute, or statut and ordinaunce, as in (176). (18) Also þat þer schal non wardeins make non newe statut… ne newe ordinance with−oute assent of alle þe bretherhede, & þat it be don on on of þe foure dayes afor seid. (ME3: CMDOCU3, 53) 2.3.5. REDRESS Combinations with alms, amendes, amendment, aseth, offring, offrende, reformacioun, relef, restitucioun, sacrifice, shrift or penitence, illustrated in (177) below, belong to this subgroup. (19) þe blake cros limpeð to þeo þe makieði þe worlt hare penitence for ladliche sunnen. (ME1: CMANCRE, 30) 2.3.6. TRADE Middle English Composite Predicates 111 Alienacioun, dispense, feffment, fyn, marchaundie, paiement, raunson, sale, transmutacioun, yielding and assessing and levy, as in (178) below, form CPs in combination with maken. (20) assessyng and levy was made amonge the sayde Bysshoppis tenantis of ij dymes. (ME4: CMDOCU4, 81) 2.3.7. MOTION Coming, departing, haste, lepis, pilgrimage, stiring, wei, or, as in (179) below, breid, express actions which involve movement in combination with maken. (21) And ate laste I make abreid, Caste up myn hed and loke aboute, Riht as a man that were in doute And wot noght wher he schal become. (ME3: CMGOWER, I 317) 2.3.8. MENTAL ACTION This category gathers deverbals such as comparisoun, disencioun, division, eleccioun, estimacioun, force, strength, thought or beþenchinge and memorie, reflected in (180) below. (22) þet is to alle guode herten / þet eche daye zueteliche be zoþe loue makeþ memorie / and beþenchinge of his passion. (ME2: CMAYENBI, I 112) 2.4. TAKENCPS Taken favours combinations with deverbals belonging to the following semantic subgroups. 2.4.1. MENTAL ACTION This category includes combinations with deverbals such as avis, avisement, counseil, cure, direccioun, force, gome, hed, high, kep, red, repentaunce, regard, tent, thought, witnesse, yeme or attendaunce, illustrated in (181) below: Teresa Moralejo 112 (23) And all for lacke of our maysters and nouryces all wrapped in neclygence taketh none attendaunce to us. (ME4: CMINNOCE, 6) 2.4.2. FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS Care, compassioun, conscience, displesure, displesaunce, herte, joy, lust, merci, mon, pite, shame, sorwe or talent express feelings in combination with taken, whether pleasure, as is the case with taken lust, or suffering, as in taken displesure, in (182) below: (24) Also I praye yow feele my lady off Norffolkys dysposicion to me wardys, and whethyre she toke any dysplesure at my langage, ore mokkyd ore dysdeyned my wordys whyche I hadd to hyre. (ME4: CMPRIV, 449) 2.4.3. MOTION Taken in combination with gate, pilgrimage, sauf passage, viage, wei or trace, as in the following sample, denotes actions in this category. (25) Alisaunder and Candace To chaumber token her trace, (ME2: CMALISAU, I 422) 2.4.4. REDRESS CPs with bote, discipline, penaunce, shrift or right, as in (184) below, enter into this category. (26) Bute ðu neme riht of ðe seluen of ðe misdades ðe ðu mis−dest, mid fasten, oððer mid wake. (ME1: CMVICES1, 125) 2.4.5. AGREEMENT This group includes combinations with appointment, treue, accord, agrement or forme, shown in the following sample: (27) So þat þer was bituene hom . god fourme inome . Hou sir edward mi…te best . out of warde come. (ME2: CMROBGLO, 756) Middle English Composite Predicates 113 2.5. YEVENCPS Most yevenCPs in our data belong to the following semantic classes: 2.5.1. ENDEARMENT Aid, benisoun, blessinge, grace, greting, hereword, love, merci, ore, pardoun, queming, thanking, thanks, and comfort and delite, which occur in (28) below, combine with yeven in our data. (28) [^20.^] That is, he |P383 gafe thaim comforte and delite in his worde. and swa he toke thaim fra corupcioun of thoght. that has na sauoure in swete thynge. and of this. (ME4: CMROLLPS, 383384) 2.5.2. SPEECH Answere, answering, grone, hete, malisoun, song, voice, warning, word, or speche, as in (29) below, belong to this category. (29) he said, "nai, nai goddote, Moght i not be sua light o fote." Wit þis gaue ysaac a grane. (ME3: CMCURSOR, 220) 2.5.3. OFFENSIVE ACTION With yeven, deverbals in this subgroup express the action of striking a blow (cf. Akimoto 1990: 869) as is the case with buffet, clout, deth, stroke, tripet or dint, in (30) below. (30) So harde dent he hire …af, þe brein cleuede on is staf. (ME2: CMBEVIS, 81) Nouns such as accusing, bale or mischaunce also belong to this category. 2.5.4. MENTAL ACTION The units in this subgroup may express opinion, as is the case of yeven assent in (31) below, belief, as in yeven truth in (32) or attention, as in yeven force in (33): (31) The king therto yaf his assent, Demetrius was put in hold, Wherof that Perseus was bold. (ME3: CMGOWER, I 175) Teresa Moralejo 114 (32) Alswa in þis commandemente es forbodyn to gyffe trouthe till socerye or till dyuynynge… by sternys, or by dremys, or by any swylke thynges. (ME4: CMROLLTR, 10) (33) …yf þou forgete or ouersyttes Tyme of housel, þat þou weyl wytes, lytel fors of hym þou yues, þou louest hym nat þat þou by lyues, And ouer alle þyng he loueþ þe beste, And þou ne wylt, a ny tys geste, lete hym herber yn hys hous. (ME3: CMHANSYN, 320) Other deverbals in this subgroup include attendaunce, credence, entent, feith, kep, regard or tent. 2.5.5. JUDGEMENT Jugement, dom, right, sentence or veredict belong to this subgroup. The multiple deverbals dom and sentence in (34) below exemplify this semantic subtype: (34) (^Phariseus^) Herke sere prophete we all ow pray to gyff trewe dom and just sentence Vpon þis woman which þis same day In synfull advowtery hath don offense. (ME4: CMLUDUS, 206) 2.5.6. HOMAGE Servise, glorie, honour, laude, worship or truage, as in (35) below, form yevenCPs in ME: (35) Horn makede Arnoldin þare King, after king Aylmare, Of al westernesse, For his meoknesse. þe king and his homage euen Arnoldin trewage. (ME2: CMHORN, 68) 3. DEVERBALS COMBINED WITH SEVERAL LIGHT VERBS The previous classification of CPs has evinced that the same deverbal may be combined with more than one light verb and that the resulting CPs may be synonymous or different in meaning. We now concentrate on CPs formed with the same deverbal but different light verb in our data, to unveil systematic similarities and differences in meaning that are obtained between them. Middle English Composite Predicates 115 Scholars disagree in their interpretation of the contribution that the verbal and the nominal element in the CP makes to the structure as a whole. In this sense, Live (1973: 31) has noted that The first part is almost devoid of lexical meaning but embodies the associated grammatical information, being the bearer of the inflectional endings (thus indicating tense, number and person). The second part carries the lexical load, conveying verblike meaning, although its form is not that of a verb; 1 The role played by the verbal element in the CP structure has been limited to that of a “copula” with a transitive value (Curme 1935: 69). Jespersen (1942: 117) calls it a “light verb”, and points out that its serves as a basis “to which the marks of person and tense are attached”, and Halliday (1967: 60) maintains that it only indicates “that there is a process involved”. Likewise, Renský (1964: 290) emphasises the “relative semantic emptiness or total absence of the finite verb”, which Müller (1978: 9) qualifies as “inhaltsarmen”, or poor in content. Cattell (1984: 2) argues that the verbal element is “semantically very ‘light’[…]” and it is used “to mean very little more than a verbal action occurred […]” and it does “only a little more than provide the verbfunction and carry the signification of tense and number”. Sciullo and Rosen (1990) seem to share this view and consider these verbs to be “(semi)light” or “empty”. Kytö (1999: 168), Brinton and Akimoto (1999a: 2), and Tanabe (1999: 98), follow Quirk et al. (1985: 750), who describe the verbal element as being one of “general meaning”, thus agreeing with Algeo (1995: 204).2 1 Live (1973: 33) goes on to state that the light verb “bears considerable resemblance to an auxiliary. It is weakly stressed, while the deverbal gets secondary or even primary stress. Its characteristic lexical meaning is eroded […]” Hiltunen (1999: 136), who follows Koskenniemi (1977), agrees with the identification between the verb in CPs and copular verbs. 2 Algeo (1995: 204) affirms that the verb is semantically general while the object is semantically specific. Teresa Moralejo 116 In contrast, the nominal element, referred to as “deverbal object” (Live 1973), “eventive object” (Quirk et al. 1985: 750),1 or “agentive object” (Matsumoto 1999: 60), is thought to be “the really important idea […]” (Jespersen 1942: 117), and so “the action is spelt out […]” in it (Cattell 1984: 2), and it carries the bulk of the meaning (Hiltunen 1999: 136). Although the commonest belief is that the semantic load of the combination falls on the nominal object while the verb is practically devoid of meaning, some scholars are of a different opinion. Wierzbicka (1982: 759)2 and Dixon (1991: 340, 346354)3 emphasise the semantic contribution of the CP to the sentence as a whole and Stein (1991: 15) rejects “the idea of have, give, take being mere ‘connectives’ or ‘light’ verbs. […] Each of the verbs have, give, take, etc. brings its specific meaning to the particular construction […]” In this sense, the perusal of our data has revealed that, even though it is true that some stylistic or emphatic meaning difference may be involved, pairs consisting of the same deverbals but different light verb are often synonymous. This is the case with combinations of maken and taken with nouns from the semantic category agreement, such as maken treue and taken treue4 in (36) and (37) below: (36) it ys expressely ageinis the trieux and appointement made & take betwix (youre Rea)mes landes and subgiettes of the oon parties. (ME4: CMDOCU4, 268) (37) þis ere, aboute seynt Donstones day and feste, Edward kyng of Engelond toke trewes wiþ þe kyng of Fraunce, in hope of pees. (ME3: CMPOLYCH, VIII 351) 1 Quirk et al. (1985: 750) refer to it as eventive object. It “is semantically an extension of the verb and bears the major part of the meaning”. Algeo (1995: 204) and Kytö (1999: 168) follow Quirk et al. (1985). 2 Wierzbicka (1982: 759) maintains that “the have a V construction is agentive, experienceroriented, antidurative, atelic, and reiterative”. 3 According to Dixon (1991: 340) “each of HAVE A, GIVE A and TAKE A adds a special semantic element to the basic sentence”. 4 MED treue 6. Peace, amity, accord; used esp. of relations between God and man; a covenant; an accommodation, a settlement; also, a reconciliation; taken (maken). Middle English Composite Predicates 117 Synonymous CPs result from deverbals denoting mental actions, such as attendaunce1 combined with taken and yeven, or force2 in combination with maken, taken or yeven, as in (38), (39) and (40) below: (38) I take no force though I have both theire hedis: for he slew my brothir, a good knyght and a trew. (ME4: CMMALORY, 48) (39) Sche, takyng lityl heed of her wordys, let it passyn forth as sche had mad no fors tyl he wolde comyn & preyin for grace hys−self. (ME4: CMKEMPE, I 222) (40) (^New Gyse.^) I gyff no force, by Sent Tanne! (^Nowadays.^) Leppe about lyuely! þou art a wyght man. (ME4: CMMANKIN, 156) The same is true with other deverbals, such as repentaunce3 in combination with haven and taken, or taken and yeven combined with kep4 or, as illustrated in (41) and (42) below, with tent:5 (41) The fooles þat faithe is fallen fra Take tente to me nowe, or ye ga. (ME4: CMYORK, 69) (42) Y rede ow alle, eueþ gode tent, whederward þat Pers ys went. (ME3: CMHANSYN, 192) Verbal actions may be expressed by CPs formed with different light verbs. Don preier and maken preier,6 are synonymous expressions, as is the case with maken answere and yeven answere, in (43) and (44): (43) Not wolnyng other wise yanne as before trete ner conclude / but yf yay haue other in commandement from yaire souueraines / 1 MED attendaunce 1(a) The act of paying attention, concentrating, or devoting oneself; maken, taken, yeven. 2 MED force 10b don (haven, maken, taken, yeven), to pay attention to (something). 3 MED repentaunce (a) Repentance, penitence, sorrow for sin or wrongdoing; contrition; also person.; ben in (of), haven (taken). 4 MED kep 1(a); taken (nimen, yeven), to take notice, take heed;(b) yeven, keep track of (sth.); 2(b) yeven to (unto), to be concerned about (sth.), have concern for, bother about. 3(a) yeven on, protect (sth.). 5 MED tent(e 2, 1(a); taken (nimen, yeven), to take notice, take heed;(b) yeven, keep track of (sth.); 2(b) yeven to (unto), to be concerned about (sth.), have concern for, bother about. 3(a) yeven on, protect (sth.); 6 MED preier 2a(e) maken (don, bidden, seien), to say (one’s) prayer(s or devotions; pray; holden preieres upon, senden preieres on, say prayers over (a sacrificial animal); MED answere 1 A reply to an inquiry or request; maken, yeven (ayain), to reply, give an explanation; Teresa Moralejo 118 The answar may be wel maad yat til yai be ful thorogh wiy vs / yat yay shal no thyng haue but were. (ME3: CMOFFIC3, 121) (44) Butt iff þatt Drihhtin be wiþþ himm All opennlike onn erþe. & ure Laferrd Jesu Crist Himm aff anndswere & se de. (ME1: CMORM, II 225) Actions which fall into the semantic category homage,1 such as don honour and maken honour or don homage in (45) and maken homage in (46) below, provide further examples of synonymous CPs: (45) [}HOMAGE}] Whan a freman schall do his homage to his chef lord þat he halt of his chef tenement, he schal holden his handys togedyr. (ME4: CMREYNES, 145) (46) Certys he dede grete outrage, To make þe deuyl so moche omage. (ME3: CMHANSYN, 8) In the semantic category redress, don amendes and maken amendes, as in (47) and (48) below, or combinations of the deverbal shrift with the light verbs don, maken and taken in (49), (50) and (51), are further examples of semantically equivalent CPs2 (47) by men of Cipres. þerfore kyng Richard chasede þe kyng of |PVIII,109 þe lond, þat wolde nou t doo amendes, from citee to citee, for to þe kyng alde hym to kyng Richard. (ME3: CMPOLYCH, VIII 108109) (48) he haue restored of alle maner |P57 dettes touching þe breþerhede, & make amendes of his trespas, vp þe ordinance of þe foure wardeyns. (ME3: CMDOCU3, 5657) 1 MED homage 2 In phrases: (a) beren (don, maken, yelden, yeven), to acknowledge one’s allegiance (to sb.), pay homage; also fig. MED honour 1(b) beren (don), beren (don, yelden, yeven) to, yeven unto, to honor (sb. or sth.); don, perform (one’s) devotions, worship. 2 MED amendes 1 (a) Reparation, retribution, amends (as for an offense or crime, or for harm done); don, maken, paien, make amends, compensate;  often with of phrase. MED shrift 1 a) Confession to a priest, auricular confession; also person; in (o, of, with) mouth; wind, oral confession; soth (sothfast, verrei); haven on herte, to intend to confess; maken o (of) mouth; Penance imposed by the priest after confession; chiefly in phr. as to take, nim shrift; to do shrift; to give shrift. MED shrift 2(a) An instance or act of confession to a priest; to his, at his confession; (b) don (rehersen, sheuen, tellen), to make (one’s) confession; […] maken, make (one’s) confession; also, make (one’s) confession (to God); MED nimen 7b nim shrift, confess one’s sins, receive penance from a confessor, do penance for sin. Middle English Composite Predicates 119 (49) Eft we findeð on ða hali writt ðat ðe cniht ðe weapne berð unlawliche, ne chapmann ðe beið and selð mid unri[{h{]twisnesse, ne mu en neure soðe scrifte don, ðare [{h{]wile ðe hie ðese wike befeleð. (ME1: CMVICES1, 121) (50) Schrift schal beon ofte i maket. for þi is i þe sawter. (ME1: CMANCRE, 165) (51) ‘Nimeð scrifte of ewer sennes, hit neiheð heuene riche’. (ME1: CMVICES1, 121) Haven, maken and yeven may be combined with various deverbals to express actions included in the group judgement. This is the case with structures such as or dom1 with yeven and maken, or maken sute2 and haven sute in (52) and (53) below. The resulting CPs are once again equivalent in meaning: (52) and I can nought beleue þat in þis cas þe same John myght by yowr lawe any swich sute haue ageyn me as yowr lettre specifieth. (ME4: CMOFFIC4, 6) (53) þe entent of þe seyd Walter in a sute þat he made ageyn þe seyd Priour of a voweson of þe chyrche of Sprouston (ME4: CMOFFIC4, 12) Synonymous structures with don and yeven and the same deverbal from the category endearment have been recorded. By means of example, see don and yeven combined with grace3 in (54) and (55) below: (54) For as bi þe lawes of emperoures,whan a gret lord haþ no child, he may chese a pore mannes sone, if he wole, and make of hym his eir bi adopcioun, þat is to seye bi auowerie, so þat men holdeþ it as for his sone and auowed to bere his heritage. þis grace dide vs God þe fadre, nou t for oure deseruyng, as seynt Poule seiþ. (ME4: CMVICES4, 100) (55) he schal haue eueri wyke of þe box to his sustinance xiiij d, til god iue hym grace of recouerance, he to preye & bidde for alle breþeren & alle cristne. (ME3: CMDOCU3, 54) 1 MED dom 2 (a) A judicial decision, a sentence at law; right, wrangwis; yeven (maken), to pass sentence. 2 MED sute 6aLaw. (a) A lawsuit; a legal action undertaken to redress a wrong; haven (taken) ayen, taken ayenes, to bring a lawsuit against (sb.); maken (seuen), bring a lawsuit. 3 MED grace 4(c) don, yeven to, to grant (sb.) a favor, do a favor. Teresa Moralejo 120 Synonymity between pairs of CPs with the same deverbal but different light verb in the subgroup labelled fight1 is attested by structures such as don bataille, yeven bataille and taken bataille, or, as exemplified in (56) and (57) below, haven werre and maken werre: (56) Afftir the deth of Uther regned Arthure, hys son, which had grete warre in hys dayes for to gete all Inglonde into hys honde. (ME4: CMMALORY, 44) (57) Alle so hyt ys accordyd that hangyng thys presentte trety and appoyntement noo maner of warre shalle be made by−twyne hem ande the oste of oure soverayne lorde the Kyng of Inglonde. (ME4: CMGREGOR, 120) Differences in meaning between combinations consisting of the same deverbal but different light verb are often due to the fact that different semantic connotations of the deverbal involved intervene in each combination. This is the case with pairs such as haven memorie2 vs. maken memorie3 or don bote4 vs. taken bote,5 exemplified in (58) through (61) below: (58) Worschypfull souerence, I haue wretyn here The gloryuse remembrance of my nobyll condycyon. To haue remos and memory of mysylff þus wretyn yt ys, To defende me from all superstycyus charmys. (ME4: CMMANKIN, 164) (59) For euery messe makeþ memorye Of soules þat are yn purgatorye. (ME3: CMHANSYN, 321) 1 MED werre 1b d haven werre(s, wage war(s; holden, engage in warfare, carry on war; maintenen werre(s, carry on or manage a war (wars) [see also maintenen v. 6.(b)]; also, pay for or sustain a war; maken (a), usen, make war, wage (a) war. MED bataille 1(b); (b) don (fongen, taken), engage in combat; […] 2a(a) yeven a, engage (an enemy). MED taken 37b(a) join battle, engage in combat, make war. 2 MED memorie 2(a) Memory or recollection (of sb. or sth.); awareness or consciousness (of sb. or sth.); state of mind [quot.: Orch.Syon]; […] (c) haven, to remember (sth.); intend (to do sth.). 3 MED memorie (a) A memorial; deed, edifice, etc., in commemoration of somebody or something; also, keepsake, commemorative gift or token [quot.: ?a1439]; reminder [quot.: ?c1425]; for (a, the), in, into the, as a memorial (to sb. or sth.), in memory or commemoration (of sb. or sth.); maken of, to commemorate (sb. or sth.). 4 MED niman 7(b)to make amends for one’s sin. 5 MED bote 1(a) don, do (sb.) good, aid, be profitable to. Middle English Composite Predicates 121 (60) hit falleþ þe kyng of fraunce bittrore þen þe sote, bote he þe raþere þer−of welle do bote, wel sore hit shal hym rewe. (ME2: CMPOEMH, 13) (61) and for þene mon þet hit er ahte. and þa et nime bote to criste. (ME1: CMLAMBET, 31) More revealing seem the differences that are obtained between combinations with certain nouns grouped under the headings endearment, offensive action and feeling. The same deverbal combined with don or yeven tends to express an action, whether positive or negative, hostile or beneficial, performed by an agentive subject, and whose recipient is different from its agent, while when combined with haven or taken, the subject tends to be an experiencer subject.1 The above made remark is supported by pairs such as haven comfort and yeven comfort2 in (62) and (63) below, or don despite and haven despite3 in (64) and (65): (62) yf þu woldist verily trostyn in me & no−thyng dowtyn, þu maist han gret comfort in þi−self & mythist comfortyn al thy felaschep wher e ben now alle in gret drede & heuynes. (ME4: CMKEMPE, I 230) (63) Seint Eadmund him af confort: ant tolde him wat it were. (ME2: CMSELEG, 437) (64) Than had the kynge and all the barownes grete mervayle that Balyne had done that aventure; many knyghtes had grete despite at hym. (ME4: CMMALORY, 47) (65) Dauid þan said, "drightin for−bede þat þou suld thinc to do suilk a dede, Or euer him do despit or scam, þat drightin smerld has in his nam”. (ME3: CMCURSOR, 446) 1 Note, however, that combinations of don and taken with vengance, MED vengeaunce 1(d) taken (don, nimen, yeven), exact retribution, carry out revenge, are synonymous. 2 MED comfort (a) Pleasure, delight, gratification; cacchen, haven, enjoy (sth.); don, amuse (sb.). 3 MED despite 3 An act designed to humiliate, insult, or harm someone; humiliation, insult, injury, outrage, or an instance of it; don, to humiliate, insult, or injure (sb.), disparage (sth.), commit an outrage. 4 (a) Injured feeling, resentment, grudging; haven in, haven of (at), holden of, to feel resentful about, bear a grudge against. Teresa Moralejo 122 Combinations of sorwe1 with don, haven, maken and taken occur in (66) through (69) below: (66) And þer he dyde myche sowrrov for he my t not synke. (ME4: CMSIEGE, 91) (67) Sire, i schal al one, Wiþute more ymone, Wiþ mi swerd wel eþe Bringe hem þre to deþe." þe kyng aros a more e, þat hadde muchel sor e. (ME2: CMHORN, 38) (68) On boþe half þe mayne gentes Wen[{n{]ten hom to her tentes, And token rest al forto amorowe, Makande wel grete sorowe For her lordes, for her ken, |PI,223 þat layen yslawe in þe fen. (ME2: CMALISAU, I 222223) (69) And as the booke seyth, whan sir Launcelot was departed she toke suche sorow that she deyde within a fourtenyte. (ME4: CMMALORY, 204) The preceding examples show that while the combination with maken expresses an action in the category speech, the structure with don falls into the field of hostile actions. The compounds with haven and taken denote feelings and emotions. 4. CONCLUSION The analysis of the semantics of CPs has exposed the most salient semantic contents expressed by CPs in ME. The different light verbs have been seen to favour combinations from certain semantic fields, which hints at the verb’s capability to impose restrictions on the range of nouns with which it may combine (cf. Akimoto 1990; Hiltunen 1999: 146). In addition, our survey has evinced the semantic weakness of the light verbs studied, as attested by a number of synonymous combinations of the same deverbal with different verbal elements. Finally, our enquiry has brought to light the existence of predictable differences in meaning between CPs consisting of the same light verb and different deverbal noun. 1 MED sorwe 1(d) an expression of sorrow, lamentation, weeping; […] lamentation; maken, to lament, mourn. 1(g) haven (up, to be (very) sad, suffer (great) grief; […] nimen (taken), become sad, be sad. 2(d) (d) harm, damage, injury; also, an injury; don (maken), to do harm, cause trouble. Middle English Composite Predicates 123 In our opinion, those cases of synonymous CPs with the same object but which differ in their verbal element evince the decrease in the lexical meaning of the verbal predicate. It is true that the verb tends to carry a general actional meaning but it may be the case the lexical load provided by the verbal element may be a heavier or lighter one depending on each particular combination. Therefore, there is likely to be a gradient in the semantic load of the verbal elements of CPs.1 The following Table visually summarises the semantic categories which prevail in our data. The semantic categories are listed in order of decreasing frequency in the global corpus. Numbered cells indicate semantic categories which predominate with each light verb. The number in the cells represents the order of frequency, from highest to lowest, with which they appear with a given light verb. TABLE 1: CPS: SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION DON HAVEN MAKEN TAKEN YEVEN FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS  1  2  OFFENSIVE ACTION 1  8  2 MENTAL ACTION  2 7 1 3 SPEECH  4 1  4 REDRESS 2  4 3  JUDGEMENT   3  5 ENDEARMENT 3    1 MOTION  3 6 4  1 Algeo (1995: 206) is of the opinion that “semantic generality or specifity is, to be sure, a continuum. Yet it is possible to recognize degrees along that cline”. Teresa Moralejo 124 AGREEMENT   2 5  HOMAGE 4    6 TRADE   5   Teresa Moralejo Gárate University of Murcia 6. REFERENCES Akimoto, M. 1990: Collocational Restrictions of Deverbal Nouns. In Bahner, W., Schildt, J. and Viehweger D. eds. Proceedings of the XIVth International Congress of Linguists, Berlin 10−5 August 1987, I−I, 868−70. Berlin, Akademie Verlag. Algeo, J. 1995: Having a Look at the Expanded Predicate. In Aarts, B. & Ch. F. Meyer.eds. The Verb in Contemporary English: Theory and Practice, 203−17. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Brinton, L. J. & M. Akimoto 1999a: Collocational and Idiomatic Aspects of Composite Predicates in the History of English. Amsterdam and Philadelphia, John Benjamins. Brinton, L. J. & M. Akimoto 1999b: The Origin of Composite Predicates in Old English. In Brinton and Akimoto eds. 21−8. Cattell, R. 1984: Composite Predicates in English. Academic Press, Newcastle (Australia). 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