This study investigates two Old English (OE) constructions: “negative inversion” (a negated main clause with a clause-initial verb), and “narrative inversion” (a non-negated main clause with a clause-initial verb). The aim is to determine whether the two patterns may be treated as related “constructions” in Construction Grammar terms, and to identify the factors which promote the use of negative inversion in OE prose. The study shows that in both cases there is a strong interaction between syntax and lexicon: the choice between negative inversion and other patterns in negated main clauses as well as the difference between negative and narrative inversion is to a great extent lexically-based. The analysis also points to other variables underlying this variation such as text type and the use of direct speech. The corpus-based analysis provides a solid empirical basis for the claim that negative inversion and narrative inversion represent two separate constructions, functioning independently in the OE system.

中文翻译：

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古英语主句中的否定和动词词首顺序

本研究调查了两种古英语 (OE) 结构：“否定倒置”（带有从句开头动词的否定主句）和“叙事倒置”（带有从句开头动词的非否定主句）。目的是确定这两种模式在构造语法术语中是否可以被视为相关的“结构”，并确定促进在 OE 散文中使用否定倒置的因素。研究表明，在这两种情况下，句法和词汇之间存在很强的相互作用：否定主句中否定倒置和其他模式的选择以及否定和叙事倒置的区别在很大程度上是基于词汇的。分析还指出了这种变化背后的其他变量，例如文本类型和直接语音的使用。