Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2004. Vol. 4. Eger Journal of English Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 30)
ÉVA KOVÁCS The Diachronic Development ofPhrasal Verbs in English
The Diachronic Development of Phrasal Verbs in English 123 is generally spatial 'forwards, forth', but it may also express combined directional and telic meaning 'away, to the end' or almost pure telic meaning, e.g.: Abraham eode ford. 'Abraham went forth.' & fere se ceorl ford 'and (if) the man dies.' The third group, consisting of those verb particles which do not correspond to prefixes are the adverbs up, üt, onweg/aweg , and ofdüne/adüne. Combinations with these adverbs seem to be quite fully developed as phrasal verbs, with the particles often undergoing the change from directional to telic meaning, and with figurative shifts taking place in the verbal roots. Brinton (1988: 220) states that these combinations clearly represent the beginnings of the new system of post-verbal particles which in later ME will replace the system of prefixation. Ofdüne/adüne usually carries directional meaning with verbs of motion (a), but it also has telic meaning (b). e.g.: (a) He adüne astah. 'He descended (went down).' (b) Wendap min heafod ofdüne. 'Move my head down.' Onweg/aweg also occurs with verbs of motion with its directional meaning (a), but also with verbs of driving, taking, removing etc. with both directional and telic meanings (b), e.g.: (a) Sceall fc>onne feran onweg. 'He shall then travel away.' (b) He hi raöe aweg apywde. 'He quickly drove them away.' Both üt and up are frequent and well-established adverbial particles in OE. üt may be used with verbs of motion and of communication with more or less literal directional meaning (a), but is more often used with verbs of casting, pouring, freeing, leading, putting, etc. with combined spatial and aktionsart meaning (b), e.g.: (a) Vtan gan üt. 'Let them go out.' (b) Geote hit man üt. 'Let one pour it out.' Up, the most common post-verbal particle in Modern English, is also the particle of highest frequency in Hiltunen's corpus (1983a: 208). Both Hiltunen and Brinton have found that up frequently expresses both
