摘要：The purpose of this quantitative corpus-based study is to examine the use and
distribution of causal clauses, both finite and non-finite, across genre and time
(1640–1740). Previous research (see section 2 for details) has shown that there
were genre differences regarding the use of causal clauses in the Early Modern
period prior to 1640, while in Present-day English there is a clear distinction
between spoken and written English in how causality is expressed. This study
aims therefore at determining whether similar genre differences can be found
after 1640, and also whether there are differences between speech-related and
other written texts comparable to differences found between Present-day spoken
and written English. To this end, we have selected trials (supposed records of
spoken language) and sermons (presumed as written to be spoken) to contrast
with laws and religious treatises (written to be read). These texts are taken from
the Lampeter Corpus of Early Modern English Tracts and A Corpus of English
Dialogues 1560–1760. In what follows, we first outline previous research (section
2), and describe our material and methodology (section 3). Our quantitative
results relating to genre and medium (ie speech-related or non-speech-related)
are then described (section 4.1), and the findings are compared with those of
previous studies. This is followed by a primarily qualitative discussion of the
syntax and semantics of causal clauses in our Early Modern English data (section
4.2). We then compare our findings regarding the information structure of
causal clauses in our data with both Early Modern English and Present-day
usage in general (section 4.3), before looking at the diachronic development of
causal clauses during the period 1640–1740 (section 5).
