Abstract
This paper deals with the historical change of the syntactic forms of coordinate constructions. In Old English the coordinate constructions of the form (ii) in which conjuncts are split were used, as well as those of the form ( i ):
( i ) X1 & X2 (X=a conjunct; &= a coordinate conjunction)
( ii ) X1... & X2
The form (ii) was becoming recessive in the late Old English period and disappeared almost entirely by early Middle English (Traugott 1972:148).
The purpose of this paper is three fold; to offer detailed data on the frequency of the use of these forms, to examine the adequacy of the descriptions about these forms which are given by Reszkiewicz (1966), Traugott (1972), Lightfoot (1979) and Mitchell (1985), and to propose a hypothesis which explains the description of the syntactic forms of coordinate constructions.
