OLD ENGLISH. THE ADJECTIVE.

The adjective in OE could change for number, gender and case. Adjectives had three genders and two numbers. The category of case in adjectives differed from that of nouns: in addition to the four cases of nouns they had one more case, Instr. It was used when the adjective served as an attribute to a noun in the Dat. case expressing an instrumental meaning.

Weak and Strong Declension

Most adjectives in OE could be declined in two ways: according to the weak and to the strong declension. The difference between the strong and the weak declension of adjectives was not only formal but also semantic. The weak form was employed when the adjective was preceded by a demonstrative pronoun or the Gen. case of personal pronouns. A few adjectives were always declined strong while several others were always weak: adjectives in the superlative and comparative degrees, ordinal numerals, and the adjective ilca 'same. The strong forms were associated with the meaning of indefiniteness (roughly corresponding to the meaning of the modern indefinite article), the weak forms - with the meaning of "definiteness" (corresponding to the meaning of the definite article).

Degrees of Comparison

Like adjectives in other languages, 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.

Some adjectives had parallel sets of forms: with and without a vowel interchange. These sets could arise if the adjective had originally employed both kinds of suffixes; or else the non-mutated vowel was restored on the analogy of the positive degree and other adjectives without sound interchanges.

OLD ENGLISH. THE PRONOUN.

OE pronouns fell roughly under the same main classes as modern pronouns: personal, demonstrative, interrogative and indefinite. Relative, possessive and reflexive pronouns were not fully developed and were not always distinctly separated from the 4 main classes. The grammatical categories of the pronouns were either similar to those of nouns or corresponded to those of adjectives. Some features of pronouns were peculiar to them alone. OE personal pronouns had 3 persons, 3 numbers in the 1' and 2nd p. (2 numbers- in the 3rd) and 3 genders in the 3'd p. The pronouns of the I" and 2ad p. had suppletive forms. The pronouns of the 3'd p. had many similarities with the demonstrative pronouns. Personal pronouns began to lose some of their case distinctions: the forms of the Dat. case of the pronouns of the V and 2d p. were frequently used instead of the Ace. The Gen. case of personal pronouns had two main applications: it could be an object, but far more frequently it was used as an attribute or a noun determiner, like a possessive pronoun.

In OE were 2 demonstrative pronouns: the prototype of NE that, which distinguished 3 genders in the sg and had I form for all the genders in the pi. and the prototype of this with the same subdivisions. They were declined like adjectives according to a five-case system. Demonstrative pronouns were frequently used as noun determiners and through agreement with the noun, indicated its number, gender and case. Interrogative pronouns had a 4-case paradigm. Some interrogative pronouns were used as adjective pronouns. Indefinite pronouns were a numerous class embracing several simple pronouns and a large number of compounds. Pronouns of different classes- personal and demonstrative- could be used in a relative function, as connectives.

Вопрос 26 Noun in OE

The OE noun had two grammatical categories: number and case. Also, nouns distinguished three genders, but gender was not a grammatical category; it was merely a classifying feature accounting for the division of nouns into morphological classes. The category of number consisted of two members: singular and plural There were five major cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and instrumental.The nominative case indicated the subject of the sentence. It was also used for direct address. The accusative indicated the direct object of the sentence. It was never distinguished in the plural, or in a neuter noun.The genitive case indicated possession. It also indicated partitive nouns. The meanings of the Gen. case were very complex and can only be grouped under the headings “Subjective” and “Objective” Gen. Subjective Gen. is associated with the possessive meaning and the meaning of origin. Objective Gen. is associated with what is termed “partitive meaning” .The dative case indicated the indirect object of the sentence. was the chief case used with prepositions, e.g. on morзenne ‘in the morning’The instrumental case indicated an instrument used to achieve something. During the Old English period, the instrumental was falling out of use, having largely merged with the dative. Only pronouns and strong adjectives retained separate forms for the instrumental.

Morphological classification of nouns. Declensions Historically, the OE system of declensions was based on a number of distinctions: the stem-suffix, the gender of nouns, the phonetic structure of the word, phonetic changes in the final syllables. Stem-suffixes could consist of vowels (vocalic stems, e.g. a-stems, i- stems), of consonants (consonantal stems, e.g. n-stems), of sound sequences, e.g. -ja-stems, -nd-stems. Some groups of nouns had no stem-forming suffix or had a “zero-suffix”; they are usually termed “root-stems” and are grouped together with consonantal stems, as their roots ended in consonants, e.g. OE man, bōc. OE nouns distinguished three genders: Masc., Fem. and Neut. Sometimes a derivational suffix referred a noun to a certain gender and placed it into a certain semantic group, e.g. abstract nouns built with the help of the suffix –þu were Fem. – OE lenзþu, ere were Masc. – OE fiscere.Masculine and neuter words generally share their endings. Feminine words have their own subset of endings. The plural does not distinguish between genders. The division into genders was in a certain way connected with the division into stems, though there was no direct correspondence between them: some stems were represented by nouns of one particular gender, e.g. ō-stems were always Fem., others embraced nouns of two or three genders. Other reasons accounting for the division into declensions were structural and phonetic: monosyllabic nouns had certain peculiarities as compared to polysyllabic; monosyllables with a long root-syllable differed in some forms from nouns with a short syllable. The majority of OE nouns belonged to the a-stems, ō-stems and n-stems.

Old English nouns are divided as either strong or weak. Weak nouns have their own endings. In general, weak nouns are easier than strong nouns, since they had begun to lose their declensional system. Strong (a,o,i,u –stem). A-stem and its variation ja&wa – m,n. O-stem – jo&wo –f noun. I-stem – m,f,n. U-stem – m,f. j,w –appeare before inflexion. Weak decl – n –m,f,n. es –n. room-stem (Root-stemm formed some cases not by an inflexional ending, but by the chance of the root vowel due to mutation)-no form suffixes. Sound of donation inner flexion. Mutation was used to define number and gender of noun. Primary compound (both parts in Nomcase) +adj+noun. Secondary comp.noun (the 2-nd part in Gen Case.)=noun+noun, verb+noun

Stem – part of the word comparasing(connected) root and stem.

Вопрос 27 Adjectives in OE

The adjective in OE could change for number, gender and case. Those were dependent grammatical categories or forms of agreement of the adjective with the noun it modified or with the subject of the sentence – if the adjective was a predicative. Like nouns, adjectives had three genders and two numbers. The category of case in adjectives differed from that of nouns: in addition to the four cases of nouns they had one more case, Instr. It was used when the adjective served as an attribute to a noun in the Dat. case expressing an instrumental meaning.

Adjectives can be declined either strong/weak.

Historically adjective is a younger class of words as compared to noun & it has borrowed many inflections from nouns & pronouns. Declensions (unlike nouns adjectives could be declined both ways):1. strong A-sterm, O-stemi, when adjective was used attributeliy without any determined (articles, demonstrative & possesive pronouns) when used predicatively 2. weak N-sterm, when an adjective was preceded by demonstrative pronoun or genitive case. Some adjectives were declined always strong: call, , oper; others always weak: ilca (=some).

The endings of adjectives showed agreement between noun &. adjective. There were a lot of anonymous forms -> inflections were lost & adjective became an unchangeable part of speech. Gender- first cathegory to disappear (1 r1 century) Cases: 1.instrumental ease fell together with dative (end ofOE) 2. all other cases disappeared by the end of 13th century

The difference between the strong and weak declension of adjectives was not only formal but also semantic. The choice of the declension was determined by a number of factors: the syntactical function of the adjective, the degree of comparison and the presence of noun determiners. The adjective had a strong form when used predicatively and when used attributively without any determiners. The weak form was employed when the adjective was preceded by a demonstrative pronoun or the Gen. case of personal pronouns.

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.

Вопрос 29 OE Pronouns

Pronouns in OE were subdivided into following categories: personal (now I, you), demonstr (this, that), interrogative (who, which), possesive (my, his), indefinite (one, some), negative (no+body). And relative particle which are used for connection of subordinate clauses, and reflexive pron. (mine). As for the other groups – relative, possessive and reflexive – they were as yet not fully developed and were not always distinctly separated from the four main classes.

Personal

In OE, while nouns consistently distinguished between four cases, personal pronouns began to lose some of their case distinctions: the forms of the Dat. case of the pronouns of the 1st and 2nd p. were frequently used instead of the Acc. It is important to note that the Gen. case of personal pronouns had two main applications: like other oblique cases of noun-pronouns it could be an object, but far more frequently it was used as an attribute or a noun determiner, like a possessive pronoun, e.g. sunu mīn.

They have categories of 3 persons, 3 numbers (у 3лица - 2), 4 cases, in 3 person, в 3 лице ед.ч - 3 рода. 1,2 Person have dual number, the 3P - gender. 1,2 – it is ancient paradigm, they are suppletive, 3 – is late, non suppletive. Suppletivity – the expression of grammatical categories of different roots by means of root vowel be, es, ves.

Demonstrative pronouns There were two demonstrative pronouns in OE: the prototype of NE that, which distinguished three genders in the sg. And had one form for all the genders in the pl. and the prototype of this. They were declined like adjectives according to a five-case system: Nom., Gen., Dat., Acc., and Instr. Demonstrative pronouns were frequently used as noun determiners and through agreement with the noun indicated its number, gender and case 2 types: the 1^st with the demonstrative meaning considerably weakened. And have 5-th case –Instrumental (творительный). 2^nd – with a clear demonstr.meaning..

Possesive pron. In the basic form coincided with G.Case.Personal pron. but they were perceived as Nom case.. 1-2 person declined by strong declinations (ср.рус "my", "your"), and it is no 3 person

Interogative pron – hwā, Masc. and Fem., and hwæt, Neut., - had a four-case paradigm (NE who, what). The Instr. case of hwæt was used as a separate interrogative word hwў (NE why). Some interrogative pronouns were used as adjective pronouns, e.g. hwelc

Indefinite pron – were a numerous class embracing several simple pronouns and a large number of compounds: ān and its derivative ǽniз (NE one, any); nān, made up of ān and the negative particle ne (NE none); nānþinз, made up of the preceding and the noun þinз (NE nothing).

Negative pron - другое слово+отр.частица ne дали no+thing=nothing. 1,2 – склоняются как “никакой”. 3 – как сущ либо ж.р., либо ср.р – «ничто».

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 3368