5.4 Epistemic Marking in Middle English 139dorste swere ‘I dare swear’ in Chaucer as contributing to the tone of “an easy
and intimate conversation.” Citing the same expressions, Malone (1951: 146–
148) sees them as part of Chaucer’s easy, informal, chatty, conversational style,
since by using them he both speaks of himself and addresses his audience
directly; they are “a springboard from which he plunges into what amounts to
a tête- à- tête with his readers,” as he takes them into his confi dence. Kivimaa
( 1968 : 13) notes that expressions such as as I was war , as I trowe , and as it
thought me are so frequent as to almost constitute a mannerism, but agrees that
with these expressions it is “Chaucer himself speaking” and “when writing he
had in mind a listening audience.” Mehl ( 1974 ) observes that fi rst- person epis-
temic parentheticals, as well as larger omissions in Chaucer’s texts, are rhetori-
cal devices to involve the audience. They are mimetic of our daily interactions
and they call upon the audience to become involved in the construction of the
story (178, 183).
As will be argued below ( Section 5.5 ), however, an examination of the con-
texts in which these parentheticals occur points to their unmistakable epistemic
function. They are consistently used to express a speaker’s uncertainty or lack
of confi dence, and, less often, certainty. Thus, it seems clear that forms identi-
fi ed as fi rst- person epistemic parentheticals in Present- day English function
already in Middle English as markers of epistemic modality. ME fi rst- person
epistemic parentheticals occur in at least three major variant forms: what Quirk
et al. ( 1985 : 1112) call type (i) comment clauses (i.e., like matrix clauses usu-
ally requiring that - complements) and type (ii) comment clauses (i.e., like fi nite
adverbial clauses introduced by as ), as well as an additional matrix clause type
beginning with a coordinating conjunction and , but , or for. Additionally, the
order of subject and verb may be reversed, modal auxiliaries may occur, or
there may be accompanying adverbials or prepositional phrases.
Table 5.1 presents the epistemic verbs and collocations found in Middle
English, based on the Chaucerian corpus and the Helsinki corpus ; both personal
constructions and impersonal constructions with oblique me are included.^11 The
table also gives the date of the earliest fi rst- person singular parenthetical cited
in the OED; however, in cases where the OED does not date the parenthetical
to ME or does not identify the parenthetical use, the MED is referenced. For
example, the OED says of I guess (s.v. guess , v., def. 6) that it is “ colloq. , orig.
in the northern U.S.” with the fi rst attestations in the late seventeenth century.
Robertson ( 1933 ), opposing the view of the OED, suggests that Chaucer’s I
gesse has the same meaning as PDE I guess and that the modern form is not a
recent Americanism but has a long history.
11 In addition to the fi rst- person forms listed in Table 5.1 ( I trust, I trowe, as me semeþ, me
thynketh ), Swan 1988b : 296 lists I am sure and I do ʒ ow to wetyn ‘I let it be known to you’ as
truth- intensifying phrases.