[A diachronic approach to the functional trans-position of ALONG and ALONGSIDE in the English language]

Abstract

The paper investigates the evolution of the prepositions and adverbs ALONG and ALONGSIDE as subjects to the process of functional transposition. The research investigates the formation of ALONG as an adverb during the Middle English period and its functional transposition into the category of the preposition in late Middle English. The correlation between the initial and transposed categories has stabilized, and they are more or less equally represented in Present-Day English. ALONGSIDE appeared as an adverb at the end of Early Modern English; in Late Modern English, it was transposed into a preposition, which is almost suppressing the initial category of an adverb in Present-Day English.