On the Development of Because: A Corpus-based Study

Abstract

This paper investigates the rise and development of the new causal connective because in Middle and Early Modem English. The causal marker of the native Germanic origin, for ρan ρe appeared less and less and ultimately became obsolete by the end of Middle English period. It is logically deducible that the decline in the traditional connective is tied to the introduction of the new form. It is in this light that the paper addresses the rise and decline of certain markers of reason and consequence. Because, the one we use today, was originally a French loan, by cause of (OF < par cause de). By aid of the Helsinki Corpus, the research tracks down on the formation and stabilization of because to its present form in a diachronic perspective. This will also be deliberated in terms of grammaticalization, of how the lexical item has become a functional one.