Third-person singular present tense inflectional variation in Medieval and Early Modern English scientific texts: a corpus-based study

Abstract The present study analyses the morphological variation of the third-person singular present tense inflection in English scientific texts from the Late Middle English to the Early Modern English period. This study delves into the historical development of this inflectional variation, focusing first on the rivalry between the interdental fricative -(e)th and the alveolar fricative -(e)s , by examining how these inflections competed and evolved in scientific prose, particularly medical recipes and treatises. Data retrieved from The Málaga Corpus of Late Middle English Scientific Prose and The Málaga Corpus of Early Modern English Scientific Prose allows the analysis of the use, distribution and frequency of these inflections from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. The results shed light on the importance of period development and text-type in the process of morphological standardisation.