Recent research into right-dislocated pronouns has provided details of the form and functions of lone pronoun tag (ProTag) constructions in Present-day British English. In this article, we present the first systematic investigation of ProTag constructions in an earlier variety, Early Modern English. Using as our corpus the dramatic works of Jonson, Marlowe and Shakespeare – writers already known to make use of tag questions in their works – we identified and analysed ProTag constructions. Our findings reveal that ProTag constructions in Early Modern English differ from their Present-day British English equivalents with respect to possible functions: in the earlier variety ProTag constructions could have a ‘Question’ function, the same as tag questions. We also found the relative frequency of demonstrative ProTags compared to personal ProTags to be significantly different: personal ProTags are far more frequently attested than demonstrative ProTags in our corpus of Early Modern English drama texts; this is the reverse of what has been found for Present-day British English. We propose that a key factor in the observed change is extension of the types of referents that demonstrative ProTags can have. This study offers a new perspective on ProTag constructions, their classification and development.

中文翻译：

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早期现代英语中的孤立代词标签：琼森、马洛和莎士比亚戏剧中的 ProTag 结构

最近对右脱位代词的研究提供了现代英式英语中孤立代词标签 (ProTag) 结构的形式和功能的详细信息。在本文中，我们首次系统地研究了早期现代英语中的 ProTag 结构。使用 Jonson、Marlowe 和 Shakespeare 的戏剧作品作为我们的语料库——这些作家已经知道在他们的作品中使用标签问题——我们识别并分析了 ProTag 结构。我们的研究结果表明，早期现代英语中的 ProTag 结构在可能的功能方面不同于它们现在的英国英语等效结构：在早期的品种中，ProTag 结构可能具有“问题”功能，与标记问题相同。我们还发现，与个人 ProTag 相比，演示性 ProTag 的相对频率存在显着差异：在我们的早期现代英语戏剧文本语料库中，个人 ProTag 比演示性 ProTag 更频繁地得到证明；这与当今英国英语的发现相反。我们认为，观察到的变化的一个关键因素是扩展了示范性 ProTag 可以拥有的参照物类型。这项研究为 ProTag 结构、分类和发展提供了新的视角。我们认为，观察到的变化的一个关键因素是扩展了示范性 ProTag 可以拥有的参照物类型。这项研究为 ProTag 结构、分类和发展提供了新的视角。我们认为，观察到的变化的一个关键因素是扩展了示范性 ProTag 可以拥有的参照物类型。这项研究为 ProTag 结构、分类和发展提供了新的视角。