- •Contents
- •List of abbreviations
- •Preface
- •Introduction
- •Germanic languages
- •Classification of germanic languages
- •Ancient germanic tribes and their classification
- •Germanic alphabets
- •Some phonetic peculiarities of germanic languages
- •Consonants
- •The First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law)
- •Ііі. Act The ie aspirated voiced plosives bh, dh, gh changed in Gc to corresponding unaspirated plosives b, d, g, e.G.
- •Verner`s Law
- •Word – Stress
- •Stressed vowels
- •Germanic Fracture (Breaking)
- •Gradation or Ablaut
- •Unstressed Vowels
- •Grammatical peculiarities of germanic languages
- •The Noun
- •The Adjective
- •The Verb
- •Gothic Strong Verbs
- •Vocabulary
- •Old english
- •2.1. Periods in the History of English
- •2.2. Historical Background
- •2.2.1. The Roman Conquest of Britain
- •2.2.2. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain
- •2.3. Alphabet and Pronunciation
- •Old English Alphabet
- •2.4. Old English Dialects and Written Records
- •2.5. Some Phonetic Changes of the Old English Period
- •2.5.1. Vowels
- •2.5.2. Old English Breaking
- •2.5.3. Palatal Mutation (I-mutation)
- •Monophthongs
- •Diphthongs
- •2.5.4. Back or Velar Mutation (Velarization)
- •2.5.5. Diphthongization of Vowels after Palatal Consonants
- •2.5.6. Lengthening of Short Vowels
- •2.5.7. Unstressed Vowels
- •2.5.8. Consonants
- •2.5.9. Palatalization of Velar Consonants
- •2.5.10. Assimilation, Metathesis, Doubling of Consonants, Loss of Consonants
- •2.6. Old English Morphology
- •2.6.1. Old English Noun: General Characteristics
- •Vowel Stems
- •Consonant Stems
- •2.6.2. Vowel Stems Strong Declension
- •2.6.3. Consonant Stems: Weak Declension, Minor Declensions
- •2.6.4. Root-Stems
- •2.6.5. Pronouns
- •2.6.5.1. Personal Pronouns
- •2.6.5.2. Demonstrative Pronouns
- •Declension of the Demonstrative Pronoun þes
- •2.6.6. Adjectives
- •2.6.6.1. Strong Declension of Adjectives
- •2.6.6.2. Weak Declension of Adjectives
- •2.6.6.3. Degrees of Comparison
- •2.6.7. Adverbs
- •2.6.7.1. Formation of Adverbs
- •2.6.7.2. Comparison of Adverbs
- •2.6.8. The Verb: General Characteristics
- •Conjugation of verbs
- •2.6.8.1. Strong Verbs
- •2.6.8.2. Weak Verbs
- •Conjugation of Weak Verbs
- •2.6.8.3. Preterite-Present Verbs
- •Conjugation of Preterite - Present verbs
- •2.6.8.4. Anomalous verbs
- •Conjugation of the verb dōn
- •Indicative mood
- •2.6.8.5. Suppletive Verbs
- •Conjugation of the verb bēon
- •Indicative mood
- •Conjugation of the verb ʒān
- •Indicative mood
- •2.7. Old English Syntax
- •2.8. The Old English Vocabulary
- •2.8.1. Word-Building
- •Suffixation
- •Prefixation
- •Composition
- •2.8.2. Borrowings
- •Latin borrowings
- •Celtic Borrowings
- •Middle english
- •3.1. Historical Background
- •3.1.1. Scandinavian Invasions
- •3.1.2. The Norman Conquest
- •3.2. Middle English Dialects Rise of the London Dialect
- •3.3. Early Middle English Written Records
- •3.4. Word Stress
- •3.5. Vowels
- •3.5.1. Unstressed Vowels
- •3.5.2. Stressed vowels
- •3.5.2.1. Quantitative Vowel Changes
- •3.5.2.2. Qualitative Vowel Changes
- •Monophthongs
- •3.5.2.3. Monophthongization of Old English Diphthongs
- •3.5.2.4. Rise of New Diphthongs
- •3.6. Evolution of Consonants in Middle English
- •3.7. Spelling Changes in Middle English
- •3.7.1. Changes in the Designation of Vowels
- •3.7.2. Changes in the designation of Consonants
- •3.8. Changes in the Grammatical System
- •3.8.1. Preliminary Remarks
- •3.8.2. The Noun
- •3.8.2.1. Gender
- •3.8.2.2. Number
- •3.8.2.3. Decay of Noun Declensions
- •3.8.3. The Adjective
- •3.8.3.1. Declension of Adjectives in Late Middle English
- •3.8.3.2. Degrees of Comparison
- •3.8.4. Adverbs
- •3.8.4.1. Formation of Adverbs
- •3.8.4.2. Comparison of Adverbs
- •3.8.5. The Pronoun
- •3.8.5.1. Personal Pronouns
- •3.8.5.2. Possessive pronouns
- •3.8.5.3. Demonstrative Pronouns
- •3.8.5.4. Rise of the Articles
- •3.8.6. The Verb: General Characteristics
- •Conjugation of Verbs
- •Conjugation of Verbs Past Indicative
- •3.8.5.1. Changes in the Morphological Classes of Verbs in Middle English and Early New English
- •3.8.6.1. Strong Verbs
- •3.8.6.2. Weak Verbs
- •3.8.6.3. Preterite-present Verbs
- •3.8.6.4. Suppletive verbs
- •Conjugation of the verb bēon in Old English, Middle English and Early New English
- •Conjugation of the verb bēon in Old English, Middle English and Early New English
- •Conjugation of the verb ʒān in Old English, Middle English and Early New English
- •Conjugation of the verb ʒān in Old English, Middle English and Early New English
- •3.8.6.5. Rise of Analytical Forms
- •Future Forms
- •Perfect Forms
- •Passive Forms
- •Continuous Forms
- •3.8.7. Development of the Syntactic System
- •3.9. Middle English Vocabulary Changes
- •3.9.1. Native Derivational Affixes
- •3.9.2. French Derivational Affixes
- •3.9.3. Scandinavian Borrowings
- •3.9.4. French Borrowings
- •New english
- •4.1. The formation of the English National Language
- •4.2. Changes in Pronunciation
- •4.2.1. Development of Unstressed Vowels
- •4.2.1.1. Loss of unstressed –e [ə]
- •4.2.1.2. Loss of Vowels in Intermediate Syllables
- •4.2.2. Stressed Vowels
- •4.2.2.1. The Great Vowel Shift
- •4.2.2.2. Shortening of Long Vowels
- •4.2.2.3. Development of Short Vowels
- •4.2.2.4. The Development of the New Short [л]
- •4.2.2.5. Changes in Diphthongs
- •4.2.2.6. Vowel Changes under the Influence of Consonants
- •4.2.3. Consonants
- •4.2.3.1. Voicing of Voiceless Consonants
- •4.2.3.2. Loss of Consonants Development of [X]
- •Simplification of Consonant Clusters
- •4.2.3.3. Change of [d] to [ð] when Close to [r]
- •4.2.3.4. Development of Sibilants and Affricates in Early New English
- •4.3. Changes in Spelling
- •4.4. Local Dialects in New English
- •4.4.1. Scottish Dialect
- •4.4.2. Northern Dialects
- •4.4.3. Western, Central and Southern Dialects
- •4.5. Some Essential Grammatical Changes of the New English Period: Morphology
- •4.5.1. The Noun
- •4.5.1.1. Number
- •4.5.1.2. Cases
- •4.5.2. The Pronoun
- •4.5.2.1. Personal Pronouns
- •4.5.2.2. Possessive Pronouns
- •4.5.3. The Adjective
- •4.5.4. The Adverb
- •4.5.5. The Verb
- •4.5.5.1. Personal Endings
- •4.5.5.2. Changes in Strong Verbs
- •4.5.5.3. Changes in Weak Verbs
- •4.5.5.4. Rise of Invariable Verbs
- •4.5.5.5. Changes in Preterite-Present Verbs
- •4.5.5.6. Irregular Verbs
- •4.6. New English Syntax
- •4.7. New English Vocabulary Changes
- •4.7.1. Latin Loanwords
- •4.7.2. Latinization of French Loanwords
- •4.7.3. Greek loanwords
- •4.7.4. French Loanwords
- •4.7.5. Mixed vocabulary of New English
- •4.7.6. Italian and Spanish Loanwords
- •4.7.7. Russian Loanwords
- •4.8. The Expansion of English
- •4.9. The English Language in the usa
- •4.9.1. Some peculiarities of American Pronunciation
- •4.9.2. American Spelling
- •4.9.3. Some peculiarities of American Grammar
- •4.9.4. Vocabulary of American English
- •Conclusion
- •Bibliography
4.5.5.6. Irregular Verbs
The verb «be» has not changed much since the ME period but for minor changes:
(1) The Northern form are replaced be in the present indicative.
In Shakespeare we still find forms derived from the be-root in the present indicative, e.g. if thou beest not an ass, I am a youth of fourteen.
(2) With the 2nd person singular past indicative there is a vacillation between the variants wert and wast. The former was derived on the analogy of art, shalt, wilt, by adding the –t-ending to the ME form were; the latter was derived by adding the same ending to the form was, e.g.
Thou wert so happy; Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed. (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)
(3) The distinction between the past indicative I was, he was and the subjunctive I were, he were has been preserved. In colloqial speech there is a tendency to use I was, he was instead of I were, he were.
The verb «do» has undergone changes common to weak verbs. Besides, in the form dost, does, doth, done the vowel has been shortened: ME o: > u: > u > л.
The past tense form went of the verb go has survived, while the form yede disappeared.
The verb wend from which went was derived, survives only in the phrase «wend one’s way».
4.6. New English Syntax
With the disintegration of agreement and government, NE underwent further fixing of word order both on the phrase and on the sentence level.
The loss of adjective inflections, which made agreement of adjectives with nouns impossible, resulted in the growth of attributive phrases of the pattern «noun + noun», with the 1-st element acting as an attribute to the 2-nd element. The 1-st noun was either in the Common or Genetive case (with the apostrophe or without it), e.g.
the bright morning star (Edmund Waller, 1645 year, Early NE); clear spring water (Henry Vaughan, 1650 year, Early NE); heaven’s vault, love’s foes, Earths face (Abraham Cowley, 1647 year, Early NE); iron gates of life, marble vault, Mexique bay (Andrew Marvel, 1681 year, Late NE).
Only the two pronouns «this» and «that» agree in number with their head word up to the present day.
The only thing that remained from the government was the objective case of personal pronouns (me, him, her, us, them) and the interrogative and relative pronoun «whom» when they depend on a verb or preposition, e.g.
Now, trust me, Madam. (Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1594)
With the decline of agreement and government, the role of joining and enclosure grew.
Joining (1) The adjective (or participle) is joined to its head noun, e.g.
His gylden quiver and silver bowe (his golden quiver and silver bow) (E.Spenser)
(2) The noun or the pronoun (except the pronouns mentioned above) is joined to a verb in the phrase «verb + noun», e.g.
And forthwyth toke a penne & ynke and wrote a leef or tweyne (W.Caxston) (And then (I) took a pen and ink and wrote a page or two)
Enclosure consists in inserting (1) any word or phrase between an article and a noun, which becomes an attribute to the noun, e.g.
the joyous time, the winters sorrowe (E.Spenser)
(2) an adverbial modifier of frequency or duration of an action inside the predicate (either an analytical verb form or a «link verb + noun or adjective»), e.g.
And where care lodges, sleep will never lie. (Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, year 1594, Early NE)
O, no! It is an ever fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken. (Sonnet 116, Shakespeare, 1608 year, Early NE)
Thy beauty shall no more be found (To His Coy Mistress, Andrew Marvel, 1681 tear, Late NE)
In statements, the order «subject – predicate – indirect object – direct object» has been established. As a result, the position of a noun (and not its case inflexion as in OE) shows whether it is the subject or the object, and in the latter case, whether it is direct or indirect, e.g.
I gyve and bequeth unto my (sonne and) daughter Judyth one hundred and fyftie pounds of lawfull English money… (Shakespeare’s will, 1616 year)
In most questions, inversion has become the rule, i.e. the verb is placed before the subject. Owing to the abundance of analytical forms of the verb and compound predicates this inversion does not break the established word order since only a part of the predicate (the auxiliary, modal or linking verb) is moved, while the notional part of the predicate remains in its fixed position after the subject.
The auxiliaries «do», «does», «did» in statements like «do write» (for write), «does write» (for writes), «did write» (for wrote) used in Early NE, in Late NE have been restricted to the expression of interrogation, negation and emphasis.
In Early NE, several negative words could still be used within one predicative group.
Different stages of the development of negative and interrogative constructions can be found in the works of Shakespeare. There are several negative words like «I never writ, nor no man ever loved» (Sonnet 116).
There are mononegative constructions without «do», e.g.
You know not how to choose a man. (Romeo and Juliet). Put up your swords. You know not what you do (Romeo and Juliet).
Alongside there are modern negative constructions with «do», e.g.You say, you do not know the lady’s mind (Romeo and Juliet).
Sometimes in the same sentence different kinds of negation are used, e.g. Speak not, reply not, do not answer me! (Romeo and Juliet)
Since the middle of the XVII c., multiple negations began to decline and gradually became a feature of dialect and non-literary speech.
The same is true of interrogative structures, e.g.
alongside of such questions as «Why, how know you that I am in love» (Two Gentlemen of Verona) there is «My noble uncle, do you know the cause?» (Romeo and Juliet)
One of the characteristic features of the NE period has been the development of structural substitutes (there, it, one, do and others), e.g.
There is no armour against fate (James Shirley, 1659 year) – structural subject;
How vain it was to boast (Edmund Waller, 1645 year) – structural subject;
Cherry – ripe, ripe, ripe I cry, full and fair ones come and buy (Robert Herrick, 1648 year) – noun substitute;
Then, since the case so stands as now it doth (verb substitute)
I think it best you married with the county (Romeo and Juliet) – structural object
In the XV-XVI cc there was a considerable growth of the objective infinitive construction, e.g. Thou, Julia, hast metamorphosed me,
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time (Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1594, Early NE);
The master saw the madness rise (John Dryden, 1697 year, Late NE)
It is also typical of Early NE to replace impersonal constructions by personal. In the XVc. the verbs happen, seem, think, like, lack, need, remember, ought (which had been used in impersonal constructions) began to become personal.