Geata Leod: On the Partitive Genitive in Old English Poetry

A diachronic stylistic shift from synthetic to analytic language is evinced in an investigation of the use of the partitive genitive construction in representative Old English poetry & prose texts. Results show that the construction is 5-10 times more frequent in poetry & that pre-head order within the construction predominates in poetry as opposed to post-head order in prose, where numerals come to be as frequent as indefinite quantifiers & pronouns as the collective member of the construction. The occurrence of the partitive genitive in poetic texts is favored by its compactness & metrical felicity in addition to it utility as a device to give prominence to protagonists by placing them in a larger, familiar context. 4 Tables, 12 References. J. Hitchcock