Mits.pp in context

This dissertation is about the diachronic development of the Dutch combination mits (in English, commonly translated as provided that) + present participle (pp) in different contexts. In the late 15th and in the 16th and 17th century, mits + pp is a combination which is developing into a construction, i.e. a fixed pair of form and meaning(s). Following Daalder (2006), I understand the mits(.pp)-construction as consisting of two related parts: P and Q. The cause, condition, means (etc.), expressed by the mits.pp-phrase, is called P. The effect, desirability or purpose (etc.), expressed or implicated by a phrase on the left or right side of the mits.pp-phrase, is called Q. My research is qualitative in nature. I also conduct some quantitative exploration, but solely with the purpose of illustrating corpus analysis. Part I, ‘Fundamentals’, contains chapters 1-4. The first chapter presents some of the scarce modern examples of mits + pp (§1.2.1).. Some initial observations suggest that mits + pp occurrences vary according to meaning, ‘zwaarte’ (heaviness) and comprehensibility (§1.3.3). I have chosen to apply the Daalder method of analysis (Daalder 2006, 2009). In the second chapter I describe the literature on the historical-linguistic development of Dutch and the historical dictionaries up to 1700 in relation to mits. Guided by this literature, I bundle around 75 mits-quotations without pp in a citation file (§2.3). This file contains only five examples of mits + pp; they are not varied (§2.9.2). The third chapter explains the creation of the corpus intended for research of mits.pp. .300 fragments with mits.pp had been annotated (§3.2). Neither in papers nor in digital text files the configuration mits.pp can be searched automatically. I ordered the selected fragments according to date and placed them in a twenty-year unit (called tijdsnede); the fragments have been checked for reliability, explained, translated and analyzed. The fourth chapter describes my research method. Variables I derived and provided with value sets, are text type, order P and Q, grammatical connection mits.pp-phrase and matrix phrase, complexity + extensiveness mits.pp-phrase, category pp (+arguments pp, adjuncts and semantic roles) and the semantic interpretation of mits in mits.pp occurrences (§4.3, §4.4). The subject of Part II is about the stabilization of mits + pp as a mits.pp-phrase, and in addition, expansion and reduction. Chapter 6, on collocational expansion, shows the frequency ratio between various verbal categories of pp shifting over time and the sphere of meaning of the pp’s changing. Starting point is the sphere of meaning of the oldest pp’s: transfer or acquisition of money, property, privilege or a relevant document. After 1620 the frequency of arguments with a different sphere of meaning increases. The third part (Chapter 7) focuses on development of meaning of mits in mits.pp occurrences. In the causal meaning a causal factor mentioned in the mits.pp-phrase (P) results in outcome (Q). Mits.pp occurrences with a purely causal meaning are rare. Comitative mits.pp, in which P in mits.pp-phrase describes the accompaniment of Q and Q a precept, comprises a quarter of the corpus. This high frequency of the comitative meaning was not expected. Conditional mits.pp is the largest group. The context Nee tenzij mits.pp (No unless mits.pp) typifies mits.pp occurrences in which an exception is made to a prohibition. The ‘verzoek-context’ (request context) depicts the activity of the actor in Q who grants the requester consent to their request under the condition that the applicant performs act P. In conditional mits.pp cases characterized by the context of rights or benefits, someone grants a right or benefit to a certain person (Q).