The evolution of surviving English preterite-present verbs (āgan, cunnan, *durran, *magan, *mōtan, *sculan): a corpus-based study

The dissertation describes and analyzes the finite and non-finite forms of six preterite-present verbs which have survived as Present-day English modals, i.e. ought, can, dare, may, must, shall. The discussion encompasses Old and Middle English data, as well as other Germanic and classical Indo-European languages. Chapter One provides new insights into the origin of such verbs, Chapters Two - Seven focus on morpho-syntax (with elements of phonology) and semantics, also revealing the main synchronic and diachronic tendencies in the evolution of the mentioned verbs. The research has been based on Old and Middle English data available in two electronic text corpora, i.e. the DOE Corpus (for Old English) and the Innsbruck Corpus (for Middle English), although the account makes use of other sources such as dictionaries, source-books, articles and various historical linguistic publications dealing with preterite-present verbs.