Backgrounded Dependency in the Diachrony of English Absolutes

This paper reassesses the diachrony of English absolute constructions (ACs) from Old English to Present-Day English in order to identify their most stable constructional property. It argues that English ACs are best characterized not by full syntactic independence but by backgrounded dependency. Drawing on evidence from different historical stages, the paper shows that this higher-level property remains stable across time, although the cues supporting the identification and interpretation of ACs change substantially. As older morphological signals weaken, greater classificatory weight falls on augmentation, predicate-type expansion, and discourse-pragmatic and contextual cues. The analysis further shows that English ACs are best understood not as isolated structures, but as a distinct yet non-isolated node within a broader network of nonfinite constructions. Their history is therefore not a linear movement from dependence to independence, but a process of constructional reorganization within the nonfinite periphery. More specifically, the paper argues that diachronic continuity resides in a stable secondary-predication schema interpreted relative to a matrix clause and discourse frame, while variation reflects the redistribution of formal, semantic, discourse, and network cues. Backgrounded dependency thus provides a more adequate account of both continuity and change in the history of English ACs

Grammaticalization · History of English · Language and cultural evolution · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation