This book is a statistical study of Middle English prepositions. A detailed account of the
occurrences of all prepositions in prose and poetry is given including their dialectal and
text-type distribution. All data are presented in abundant tables and figures. The analysis is
based on textual evidence provided by more than 21 000 samples extracted from the Helsinki
Corpus of Middle English and the Middle English Dictionary. The study demonstrates how Middle
English prepositions underwent semantic erosion either via de-lexicalisation or through
collocational and idiomatic processes. The influence of French in that semantic erosion is also
dealt with and illustrated with reference to French samples from the Analyse et Traitement
Informatique de la Langue Française.
