Cædmon's Conjunction: Cædmon's Hymn 7a Revisited

Abstract

Bruce Mitchell has observed that is not always possible to say with certainty whether clauses introduced by words such as jber, ba, and bonne are principal or subordinate. The problem arises more often in poetry, where element order is a less certain guide than it is in prose.1 In prose feature of element order that usually sorts out clause-initial adverbs from conjunctions is position of finite verb. When finite verb immediately follows a clause-initial kcr, ka, or konne, initial word usually makes better sense as an adverb than as a conjunction. When one or more words intervene between clause-initial word and finite verb, kcr, ka, or konne often makes better sense as a conjunction, and S. 0. Andrew therefore termed this the conjunctive word order.2 Elisabeth Traugott concurs with Mitchell's reservations about element order, writing that while differences in word order after these initial words often be used to distihguish a subordinate clause introduced by a conjunction from a main clause introduced by an adverb, . . . distinction was never rigid, and can be regarded only as a tendency.... It certainly cannot be used as a sure test of main vs. subordinate clause status.3