Home Random Page


CATEGORIES:

BiologyChemistryConstructionCultureEcologyEconomyElectronicsFinanceGeographyHistoryInformaticsLawMathematicsMechanicsMedicineOtherPedagogyPhilosophyPhysicsPolicyPsychologySociologySportTourism






Pronouns in Old English(and also about all others parts of speech)

Pronoun as a part of speech is a very specific class of words; It does not have meaning, it simply points to something mentioned earlier or situated within the range of visibility of the speakers. There are several types of pronouns in Old English:

1. Personal pronouns,that constitute a system of words replacing nouns; they are also called noun-pronouns… p. 50.

In old English they had 3 persons: the first, the second and the third

3 numbers: singular, plural and the remains of the dual number in the second person

3 genders: masculine, feminine, neuter

2. Demonstrative [dɪˈmɒnstrətɪv] pronounsare se (that) and thes (this), the first indicating something far and the second something near;… They had three genders, two numbers and five cases in the singular and four in the plural and agree in number, gender and case with the nouns they modify.

These pronouns are especially important for the development of the language because they are the most frequently used as noun determiners.

3. Interrogative [ˌɪntəˈrɒɡətɪv] pronounsare nouns-pronouns hwa and hweat and adjective pronoun hwilc had the category of case but did not change in number.

4. Definite pronounsinclude the following aelc (each), zehwal (everyone), zehwaet (everything) …

5. Indefinite pronounsuch as sum, aeniz.

6. Negative pronounsare formed by fusion of a negative particle ne – with indefinite pronoun aeniz and numeral an in its pronominal function.

7. Relative pronounthe, it introducerelative clauses and was later replaced by a group of pronouns and adverbs (that, which, where, when, how)

The adjectives.

Most historians agree that the number of adjectives in Old English is not very significant. The adjectives of those times are similar to our Slavic adjectives, that is, this part of speech agrees with the noun it modifies in number, gender and case. Consequently, the adjectives have the same categories as the nouns do.

The adjective in Old English had the following categories:

- Number – the singular and the plural;

- Gender – masculine, neuter and feminine;

- Case– 4/5 (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and partly instrumental)

Besides, the adjectives had two declensions, strong and weak. The weak, N-sterm, form of the adjective is used after a demonstrative pronoun, a personal pronoun or a noun in the genitive case. When the adjective is not so accompanied, or is preceded by an adjective, it is declined strong, A-sterm, O-sterm.

Degrees of comparison Most OE adjectives distinguished between three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. The regular means used to form the comparative and the superlative from the positive were the suffixes –ra and –est/-ost. Sometimes suffixation was accompanied by an interchange of the root-vowel.

Four adjectives in Old English had suppletive degrees of comparison, that is their comparative and superlative degrees are formed by adding the suffixes to the stems of other adjectives: good…, bad…, much…, little….



 

The Adverb

The adverb is the part of speech that functions as an adverbial modifier. There are simple and derived adverbs in Old English. Simple adverbs are unchangeable. Here belong:

- Adverbs of place: where, there, from where…

- Adverbs of time: when, then;

- Adverbs of manner: though, however, thereby, by the means, thereafter…;

Derivative adverbs are formed from the adjectives by means of the suffix –e:

Wid – wide (wide – widely)

Heard - hearde (hard)

Luflic – luflice (lovingly, fondly)

Adverbs may also be formed by lexicalization of the genitive or the dative case of the noun

Hwil – hwilum (From time to time, at times);

Willa – willes (willingly)

Adverbs that have degrees of comparison form them in the same way as adjectives, that is by adding the suffix –or/ra and –ost/est….

The Numeral

Old English had a system of numerals of common Indo-European origin. Derived numerals have suffixes that, in phonetically modified form, are found in present-day English, the numerals twa and thri had three genders, cardinal numerals from 1 to 4 might be declined and numerals from 20 to 100 were formed by placing units first, and then tens.

Ordinal Numerals were declined like strong adjectives.

 


Date: 2016-03-03; view: 2559


<== previous page | next page ==>
Processes in the system of consonants in English. | Non-finite forms of the verb. Grammatical categories of the Verbals
doclecture.net - lectures - 2014-2024 year. Copyright infringement or personal data (0.007 sec.)