Файл: lekcii_po_istorii_yazika.doc

There were three kinds of declensions – noun, pronoun (with two subdivisions) and adjective. They had the same grammatical categories, the main difference being in the quantity of the categorical forms of number (three number-forms in personal pronouns) and case (four case-forms – nouns, five case-forms – personal pronouns and adjectives).

The subdivision within the system of each part of speech was based on the difference in the material forms (the nouns – based on the original stem-suffix, the pronoun – the number of categorical forms, the adjective – strong and weak declensions with the functional difference.

LECTURE

OLD ENGLISH GRAMMAR. THE VERBAL SYSTEM

List of principal questions:

1. General survey of finite and non-finite forms of the verb

2. Grammatical categories of the finite forms of the verb

   0. Person

   1. Number

   2. Tense

   3. Mood

3. Morphological classification of verbs

   0. Strong verbs

   1. Weak verbs

   2. Irregular verbs

Literature

1. R.V. Reznik, T.C. Sorokina, I.V. Reznik A History of the English language. M., 2003.

2. T.A. Rastorguyeva History of English. M., 1983.

3. А.И. Смирницкий Лекции по истории английского языка. М., 2000.

4. К. Бруннер История английского языка. Т.1 М., 2001.

5. И. Чахоян, Л. Иванова, Т. Беляева. История английского языка. СПб., 1998.

6. А.И. Смирницкий Древнеанглийский язык. М., 1955.

1. General survey of finite and non-finite forms of the verb

The verb-system in Old English was represented by two sets of forms: the finite forms of the verb and the non-finite forms of the verb, or verbals (Infinitive, Participles). Those two types of forms – the finite and the non-finite – differed more than they do today from the point of view of their respective grammatical categories, as the verbals at the historical period were not conjugated like the verb proper, but were declined like nouns or adjectives. Thus the infinitive could have two case-forms which may conventionally be called the “Common” case and the “Dative” case.

Common case Dative case

wrītan (to write) to writenne (so that I shall write)

cēpan (to keep) to cepenne (so that I shall keep)

drincan (to drink) to drincenne (so that shall I drink)

The so-called Common case form of the Infinitive was widely used in different syntactical functions, the Dative case was used on a limited scale and mainly when the Infinitive functioned as an adverbial modifier of purpose, i.e.

Ic зā tō drincenne (I go to drink)

The participle had a well-developed system of forms, the declension of the Participle resembling greatly the declension of adjectives. The one typically “verbal” grammatical category of the participle was the category of tense, for example:

Present tense Past tense

wrītende writen

cēpende cēpt

dricende druncen

2. Grammatical categories of the finite forms of the verb

As we have already said the system of conjugation mainly embraced the finite forms of the verb as the non-finite forms were not conjugated but declined. The system of conjugation of the Old English verb was built up by four grammatical categories, those of person, number, tense and mood.

2.1. Person

There were three person forms in Old English: first, second and third. For example:

First person – Ic wrīte

Second person – þu writes

Third person – hē wrīteð

But we have distinct person forms only in the Indicative mood, the Imperative and the Oblique mood forms reflecting no person differences and even the Indicative mood forms changing for person only in the Singular, the plural forms being the same irrespective of person, for example:

Present tense Indicative Past tense Indicative

Wē

Зē } wrītað } wrīton

Hīe

2.2. Number

The grammatical category of number was built up by the opposition of two number forms – singular and Plural

Ic wrīte (singular)

Wē wrītað (plural)

2.3. Tense

The grammatical category of tense was represented by two forms: Present tense and Past tense, for example:

Present Past

Indicative Ic wrīte Ic wrāt

Oblique ic wrīte Ic write

There was no Future tense in Old English, future events were expressed with the help of a present tense verb+ an adverb denoting futurity or a combination of a modal verb (generally) sculan (shall) or willan (will)+ an Infinitive, for example:

Wille ic āsecзan mǽrum þeodne ǽrende.

(I want to tell the glorious prince my mission)

2.4. Mood

There were three mood forms in Old English: Indicative, Imperative and Oblique, for example:

Indicative Imperative Oblique

Þu cepst cēp cēpe

The Indicative Mood and the Imperative Mood were used in cases similar to those in which they are used now but the Oblique mood in Old English differed greatly from the corresponding mood in New English. There was only one mood form in Old English that was used both to express events that are thought of as unreal or as problematic – today there are two mood forms to denote those two different kinds of events, conventionally called the Subjunctive and the Conjunctive.

The forms of the Oblique Mood were also sometimes used in contexts for which now the Indicative Mood would be more suitable – to present events in the so-called “Indirect speech”:

Hē sǽde þæt land sie swiþe lanз.

(He said that that land is very long/large).

3. Morphological classification of verbs

LECTURE 6

CHANGES IN THE PHONETIC SYSTEM IN MIDDLE ENGLISH AND NEW ENGLISH

1. Changes in the phonetic system in Middle English

   1. Vowels in the unstressed position

   2. Vowels under stress

      1. Qualitative changes

      2. Quantitative changes

   3. Consonants

2. Changes in the phonetic system in New English

   1. Vowels in the unstressed position

   2. Vowels under stress

      1. Qualitative change

      2. Quantitative changes

   3. Consonants

3. Changes in alphabet and spelling in Middle and New English

Literature

1. R.V. Reznik, T.C. Sorokina, I.V. Reznik A History of the English language. M., 2003.

2. T.A. Rastorguyeva History of English. M., 1983.

3. А.И. Смирницкий Лекции по истории английского языка. М., 2000.

4. К. Бруннер История английского языка. Т.2 М., 2001.

5. И. Чахоян, Л. Иванова, Т. Беляева. История английского языка. СПб., 1998.

6. А.И. Смирницкий Древнеанглийский язык. М., 1955.

Changes in the Phonetic System in Middle English

1. Vowels in the unstressed position

All vowels in the unstressed position underwent a qualitative change and became the vowel of the type of [ə] or [e] unstressed. This phonetic change had a far-reaching effect upon the system of the grammatical endings of the English words which now due to the process of reduction became homonymous. For example:

• forms of strong verbs

Old English writan – wrāt – writon – written

with the suffixes –an,-on,-en different only in the vowel component became homonymous in middle English:

written – wrōt – written

• forms of nouns

Old English Nominative Plural a-stem fiscas

Genitive Singular fisces

Middle English for both the forms is fisces;

Or

Old English Dative Singular fisce

Genitive Plural fisca

Middle English form in both cases is fisce.

2. Vowels under stress

1.2.1. qualitative changes

- changes of monophthongs

Three long monophthongs underwent changes in Middle English:

Old English Middle English New English

ā > ō stān stōn stone

bāt bōt boat

ǽ > ē slǽpan slēpen sleep

ў > ī fўr fīr fire

The rest of the monophthongs presenting their original quality, for the example:

Old English Middle English

ē [ē] tēþ teeth

ō [ō] tōþ tooth

ū ūt out

ī tīma time

out of the seven principal Old English short monophthongs: a,e,o,I,u,æ,y – two changed their quality in Middle English thus [æ] became [a] and [y] became [i], the rest of the monophthongs remaining unchanged, for example:

Old English Middle English

þæt that

wæs was

first first

but:

tellan tellen

hors hors

singan singen

putan putten

• changes of diphthongs

all Old English diphthongs were contracted (became monothongs) at the end of the old English period.

Diphthongs

Old English Middle English

ēo > ē dēop deep

ēa > ē brēad bread

eo > e seofon seven

ea > a eald ald

But instead of the former diphthongs that had undergone contraction at the end of the Old English period there appeared in Middle English new diphthongs. The new diphthongs. The new diphthongs sprang into being due to the vocalization of the consonant [j] after the front vowels [e] or [æ] or due to the vocalization of the consonant [γ] or the semi-vowel [w] after the back vowels [o] and [a]. For instance:

Old English Middle English

dæз > dæз > dai

weз > weз > wei

grēз > greз > grei

draзan > drawen > drauen

āзan > 8wen > ouen

boзa > bowe > boue

Thus in Middle English there appeared four new diphthongs: [ai], [ei], [au], [ou].

1.2.2. Quantative changes

Besides qualitative changes mentioned above vowels under stress underwent certain changes in quantity.

• lengthening of vowels

The first lengthening of vowels took place as early as Late old English (IX century). All vowels which occurred before the combinations of consonants such as mb, nd, ld became long.

Old English Middle English New English

[i] > [i:] climban climben climb

Findan finden find

Cild cild child

[u] > [u:] hund hound hound

The second lengthening of vowels took place in Middle English (XII – XIII century). The vowel [a], [o] and [e] were affected by the process. This change can be observed when the given vowels are found in an open syllable.

Old English Middle English New English

a > ā talu tale tale

e > ē sprecan speken speak

o > ō hopian hopen hope

• Shortening of vowels

All long vowels were shortened in Middle English if they are found before two consonants (XI century).

Old English Middle English New English

cēpte cepte kept

wīsdōm wisdom wisdom

Through phonetic process the lengthening and the shortening of vowels mentioned above left traces in grammar and word-stock.

Due to it vowel interchange developed in many cases between:

• different forms of the same word;

• different words formed from the same root.

For instance:

Middle English [i:] – [i] child children

[e:] – [e] kepen but kept

[i:] – [i] wis wisdom

3. Consonants

The most important change in the consonant system that can be observed if we compare the Old English and Middle English consonant system will be the development of the fricative consonant [∫] and affricates [t∫] and [dз] from old English palatal consonants or consonant combinations thus:

[k’] > [∫t] cild child

Benc bench

cin chin

cincen chicken

[sk’] > [∫] scip ship

Sceal shall

[g’] > [dз] bryc bridge

Thus we can notice that variants of some Old English consonant phonemes developed differently. For example:

The phoneme denoted in Old English by the letter c had two variants: [k] – hard and [k’] – palatal, the former remaining unchanged, the latter giving us a new phoneme, the phoneme [t∫ ].

The phoneme denoted by the letters “g’ or “c “ and which existed in four variants: [g’], [g] – in spelling “c “ and [j], [γ] – in spelling “g” had the following development:

[g’] > [dз] bridge

[j], [γ] were vocalized: dæз > dai, зiet > yet,

boЗa > boue, draзan > drauen

[g] remained unchanged: зōd > good

Special notice should be taken of the development of such consonant phonemes that had voiced and voiceless variants in Old English, such as:

[f] – [v] in spelling f

[s] – [z] in spelling s

[θ] – [ð] in spelling ð,þ

They became different phonemes in Middle English.

٭٭٭

Summary – Middle English

1. Leveling of vowels in the unstressed position.

2. No principally new monophthongs in the system of the language appeared, but the monophthongs of the [o] and [e] type may differ: they are either “open” – generally those developed from the Old English ā (stān > stōn) or “close” – developing from the Old English ō (bōk > bōk (book))

3. The sounds [æ] and [y] disappeared from the system of the language.

4. There are no long diphthongs.

5. New diphthongs appeared with the glide more close than the nucleus (because of the origin) as contrasted to Old English with the glide more open than the nucleus.

6. No parallelism exists between long and short monophthongs different only in their quantity.

7. The quantity of the vowel depends on its position in the word. (a,o,e – always long in an open syllable or before ld, mb, nd. All vowels are always short before two consonants, with the exception of ld, mb, nd).

Only in one position – in a closed syllable before one consonant vowels of any quantity could be found (wīs but pig).

New affricates and the fricative [∫] appeared in the system of the language.

8. The resonance (the voiced or the voiceless nature) of the consonants ([f], [v], [s], [z] and [θ],[ð]) became phonemic.

2. Changes in the phonetic system in New English

2.1. Vowels in the unstressed position

Vowels in the unstressed position already produced in Middle English to the vowel of the [ə] type are dropped in New English if they are found in the endings of words, for example:

Old English Middle English New English

nama name name [neim]

wrītan writen write [rait]

sunu sone son [sлn]

the vowel in the endings is sometimes preserved – mainly for phonetic reason:

wanted, dresses

• without the intermediate vowel it would be very difficult to pronounce the endings of such words.

2.2. Vowels under stress

2.2.1. Qualitative changes

• changes of monophthongs

All long monophthongs in New English(XV – XVII century) underwent a change that is called The Great Vowel Shift.

Due to this change the vowels became narrower and more front. Thus:

Middle English New English

[ā] > [ei] make make

[ē] > [i:] see see

[ō] > [ou] ston stone

[ō] > [u:] roote root

moon moon

əəə

two long close vowels: [ū] and [ī] at first also became narrower and gave diphthongs of the [uw] or [ij] type. But those diphthongs were unstable because of the similarity between the glide and the nucleus.

Consequently the process of the dissimilation of the elements of the new diphthongs took place and eventually the vowels [ī] and [ū] gave us the diphthongs [ai] and [au] respectively. For instance:

Middle English New English

[ū] > [au] hous house

[ī] > [ai] time time

Influence of the consonant “r” upon the Great Vowel Shift

When a long vowel was followed in a word by the consonant “r” the given consonant did not prevent the Great Vowel Shift, but the resulting vowel is more open, than the resulting vowel in such cases when the long vowel undergoing the Shift was followed by a consonant other than “r”. For example:

[ei] but [εə] fate but fare

[i:] but [iə] steep but steer

[ai] but [aiə] time but tire

[u:] but [uə] moon but moor

[au] but [auə] house but hour

As a result of the Great Vowel Shift new sounds did not appear, but the already existing sounds appeared under new conditions. For example:

The sound existed the sound appeared

Before the Shift after the Shift

[ei] wey make

[u:] hous moon

[i:] time see, etc.

Two short monophthongs changed their quality in New English (XVII century), the monophthong [a] becoming [æ] and the monophthong [u] becoming []. For instance:

Middle English New English

[a] > [æ] that that

[u] > [] cut cut

However, these processes depended to a certain extent upon the preceding sound. When the sound [a] was preceded by [w] it changed into [o]. Compare:

Middle English New English

[a] > [æ] that that

[a] > [o] was was

(but: wax [wæks])

Where the sound [u] was preceded by the consonants [p], [b] or [f], the change of [u] into [] generally did not take place, hence:

bull, butcher, pull, push, full, etc.

But sometimes even the proceeding consonant did not prevent the change, for instance:

Middle English New English

[u] > [л] but [but] but [bлt]

Two out of the four Middle English diphthongs changed in New English, the diphthong [ai] becoming [ei] and the diphthong [au] contracted to [O:] For example:

Middle English New English

[ai] > [ei] dai day

[au] > [o:] lawe law