A Linguistic Atlas of Early Middle English (LAEME)




Margaret Laing and Roger Lass



Key to the Grammels

The items in the LAEME corpus are referred to as 'tags'. A tag comprises two elements: (a) a lexical element (lexel), e.g. the modern English equivalent of the Middle English word being tagged, or (where this is lacking or ambiguous) a form of its etymon; (b) a grammatical element (grammel) indicating its function. Each tag is introduced by $ and elements (a) and (b) are separated by / — e.g. $heart/nOd = "heart" noun in direct object function. The lexels are often self-explanatory, but definitions and cross-references to MED and OED are given in the Tag Key. Some words have no need of a lexel because the grammel is sufficient to describe them fully, e.g. $/P13NM, where P stands for personal pronoun, 1 for singular, 3 for third person, N for nominative and M for masculine, i.e. "he". Using the following list readers may similarly decipher any combination that is not independently defined. Tags have three functions: (1) they identify lexemes; (2) they identify grammatical categories/functions; (3) they identify meanings. Some grammels contain one or more Lexel as part of their contextual description, as in $/P13<prM+ward "to himward". Note that grammels that alone define lexemes (like $/P13NM above) are also given entries in the Tag Key, with definitions and cross-references to MED and OED.
NOTE: For more detailed descriptions and explanation of tags see Introduction Chapter 4. For special additions in parentheses to the grammels of verbal negators see Introduction Chapter 4, §4.4.5.


KEY
+ preceding or elided with (depending on context)
> points forward to a syntactically connected word e.g. >pr q.v. or in negative construction to following multiple negators, e.g. neg-v>av>neithernor etc. (Lexical items included in such Grammels are listed in the Lexel key.)
< indicates postposition of an expected preposed form and points backward to a syntactically connected word, e.g. in multiple negation.
>= coordinating with <=
<= coordinating with >= e.g. "neither...nor", "as...as", "both...and", "then...when", etc.
01 polite 1st plural, the royal "we".
02 polite 2nd plural, i.e. plural for singular
03 rare occasions when there is ambiguity about whether the subject is 3rd singular or plural
11 singular 1st person
12 singular 2nd person
13 singular 3rd person
21 plural 1st person
22 plural 2nd person
23 plural 3rd person
A (1) indefinite article
(2) animate (human), e.g. RTA = relative marker "who"
aa rare occasions when a participle is used like a Latin ablative absolute
ad after dental (e.g. DisN-ad demonstrative adj nom following final <t> <d> )
aj adjective (nominative = default)
av adverb or adverbial function
+C preceding a consonant initial word (not <h>), e.g. P11GN+C = personal pronoun 1st person singular genitive (i.e. "my") as nominative adjective before a consonant initial word
cj conjunction
cpv comparative (e.g.aj-cpv)
D dual
[D] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final [t, d]
D-cpv demonstrative + comparative e.g. "the better"
Dat demonstrative "that" (default = adjective)
Dat-pl demonstrative "that" with plural verb
def definite, e.g. pn-def = "the other"
Des demonstrative "these" (default = adjective)
Dis demonstrative "this" (default = adjective)
Dos demonstrative "those" (default = adjective)
[F] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final [f]
F (1) feminine reference (not grammatical gender)
(2) following a verbal suffix label, French "-er" or "re" type
Fier following a verbal suffix label, French "-ier" type
Fir following a verbal suffix label, French "-ir" type
G genitive
[H] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final [x]
+H preceding a word initial <h>
I inanimate (sometimes animate but non-human, i.e. "it" - not grammatical gender)
im infinitive marker, "to" etc.
imp imperative
indef indefinite e.g. aj-indef = "another"
[J] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final [j]
[K] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final velar stop
k compound (e.g. aj-k = compound adjective)
K2 attached to a verb suffix label, class II weak type "-ian"(though some verbs marked K2 may originally have belonged to class III weak type (see Campbell 1959: §763); the presence of "-i-" in the suffix is what is primarily being noted.
K2[1] attached to a verb suffix label, indicates a historical class I verb in "-ian".
M masculine reference (not grammatical gender)
MX mental reflexive, e.g. "to bethink oneself". See also s.v. X
[N] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final nasal
N nominative
NX reflexive functioning as subject. See also s.v. X
n noun (nominative = default)
neg-v preverbal negative "ne", etc
neg-v>= preverbal negator coordinating with postverbal negator "not" (tagged as not/av-neg<=)
i.e. "ne..not"
neg-v> preverbal negator followed by one or more negators other than "not", as specified
Od direct object (accusative)
Oi indirect object
[P] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final [p]
P personal pronoun
+P attached to a verb label indicates a post-clitic pronoun
pl plural
pn pronoun (other than personal)
pr preposition or postposition
pr+T preposition elided with following definite article e.g. ATTE = "at the"
<pr in the scope of a preposition (whether or not the preposition historically governs old accusative or old dative case)
>pr in the scope of a postposition
qc quantifier cardinal
qo quantifier ordinal
[R] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final liquid
[r] attached to the grammel of a suffix of a word with stem final <r> where the suffix includes a superscript vowel (usually ^E, sometimes ^I, as abbreviations for <re> <ri>), indicates that the ^E or ^I of the suffix includes the notional <r> of the stem: e.g MAIST^ES "masters" — $/pln[r]_+^ES; yEOST+^IT "darkens" — $/vps23[r]K2_+^IT.
{rh} occurs in rhyming position
RT relative marker
RTA+is relative marker animate elided with "is"
RTApl+in relative marker animate plural elided with "in"
RTI+is relative marker inanimate (non-human) elided with "is"
[S] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final [s, z]
S after v (verb) indicates non-weak, i.e. strong or 'anomalous'
sup superlative (e.g. aj-sup = superlative adjective)
T definite article
t title, e.g. $king/n-t in "king Henry"
[V] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final vowel
+V preceding a vowel initial word
v verb
vi verb infinitive
vi-m verb infinitive following infinite marker, "to" etc.
vn verbal noun
voc vocative (e.g. n-voc = noun used in vocative function)
vpp verb non-strong past participle
vpp-aj verb non-strong past participle functioning as adjective
vpp-pl plural marked participle after auxiliary "be"
vps verb present tense
vps13-ct verb present tense 3rd singular, contracted form of any type
vpsp verb present participle
vpsp-aj verb present participle functioning as adjective
vpt verb past tense
vsjps verb present subjunctive
vsjpt verb past subjunctive
vSpp verb non-weak past participle (either the past participle of a strong verb or any other non-weak participle)
vSpp-aj verb non-weak past participle functioning as adjective
vSpp-pl plural marked non-weak participle after auxiliary "be"
[W] attached to a suffix label, indicates a preceding stem final [w]
X reflexive, either object with a coreferent subject e.g. "thou lettest thyself alone" ($/P12OdX), or appositional, e.g. "I myself" ($/P11X), cf. also MX and NX
xp prefix
xs suffix