Pronoun in Old English

They were very primitive . Three numbers:

· singular

· dual

· plural

They had no gender distinctions for the third person plural.

There were many suppletive forms

Personal pronouns:

· three persons, ( 1,2 person)

· three numbers (-‘-)

· two numbers (3 person0

Pronouns of the 1-2 person have a lot of suppletive forms. They began to lose some of their case distinctions ( Ac-Dat). Genative case divided into two groups (Objective/ Attributive). Oblinque casde ( Adjective – self – reflexive pronoun groop of suppletive form)

Demonstrative pronouns

prototype of NE ( that) – 3 genders in the singular/ 1 form in plural

the prototype of NE ( this)

were declined like adjectives according 5 case system

Adjective in OE is very difficult & develop

(Number/Gender/Case)

Noun feature ( 3 genders/ 2 numbers/) Case gender Noun = Adjective.

Adjective divide into weak ( nouns n-stem) & strong ( a-stem, o-stem) forms

The choice of declension

· the syntactical function of Adjective

· the degree of comparison

· the presence of noun determ ( strong – used predicatively, use attributably without any determines & weak forms – adjective were preceded by a demonstrative pronoun or the genitive case of a personal pronoun)

In OE strong ( eall – all/ oper –other) & weak (superitive/ comparative degrees/ ordinal numerals/ same ( ilca)

Degrees of comparison for adjectives:

· positive

· comparative

· superlative

using different suffixes. For comparative – ra/ for superlative – est/ ost. Suppletive forms ( god-betera- beste)

Adverbs

In OE Adverbs were represented with the very small group of words/ There were two types:

· Primary

· secondary ( derived from some other part of speech)

Substative or Adjective + e – Adverb

Degrees of comparison Adjective + o + r

Degrees of superlative Adjective + o + syffix –ly

Noun – Adjective – Adverb

freond + lic – Freondlic – friondlice & lice – ly

craft –craftlic – craftlicly

10.10.12

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 2473