Medieval English Syntax with special reference to the Continuity between Old and Middle English

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The continuity between Old and Middle English has been aruged for decades. Morphological changes from late Old to early Middle English have been so conspicuous that many scholars emphasised the discrepancies between the two periods. When extant texts, especially those of the transitional period (from 11th to 13th centuries), are closely examined, however, it becomes manifest that the Anglo-Saxon scribes chose syntactic patterns which they inherited from their Germanic ancestors and used stylistic varieties in order to translate, paraphrase or modify the Latin texts they based on in their everyday practices. This study exemplfies these devices in Old English syntactic structures and tries to prove the continuity between the two periods of the medieval English.