| This thesis is, in part, a response to the commonly expressed statement that Old English does not have a future tense, which has the potential to lead to misunderstanding and disregard of the future as a concept and theme in many areas of Old English literature and the Anglo-Saxon world. In addition to analysing the ways in which future time constructions are formulated in the Old English language, this study seeks to elucidate the interrelation between the grammatical and linguistic future in Old English on the one hand and the psychological, cultural, and literary conception of the future in Anglo-Saxon society on the other hand.; Chapter 1 ("Linguistic Representations of the Future: Philological Issues") examines Old English futural constructions from the standpoint of traditional philology, with many representative examples given. Chapter 2 ("The Future in Anglo-Saxon Thought: Anthropological and Cognitive Issues") examines Old English literary works through the framework of anthropological and cognitive linguistics, in an attempt to determine the relationship between the Anglo-Saxon conceptualisation of future time and the Old English grammatical expression of future tense. Chapter 3 ("The Future in Anglo-Saxon Society") takes a more sociolinguistic approach, exploring futurity in Anglo-Saxon society and the ways in which Old English futural constructions implemented social purposes. Finally, chapter 4 ("The Future in Old English Narrative"), adopting the tools of the so-called new philology, examines how Old English futural constructions are used in the structuring of narrative.; It is argued throughout this thesis that not only did the Old English language have linguistic means of expressing future time akin to modern English future tenses, albeit in a formative stage, but also that the development of these constructions reflects the developments in Anglo-Saxon thought, culture, and society. |
