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Andreychuck, Margarita
Dhesi, Cristina
Moreno, Mario
English has undergone many changes from OE to PDE e.g. from a semantically oriented language in OE to a syntactically oriented one in eModE. This project is aimed at
showing the changes which occurred in VERBAL SYSTEM: in particular the change from Strong to Weak verbs. First of all, we will show two hypotheses about WHY this
happened. In addition, we will see some examples of those transformations. Furthermore, we will present the characteristic from each period of the English verbs.
Old English
Class I: Dwinan
Class II: Sucan / Leogan
Class III: Breidan / Helpan / Climban
Class IV: Scieran
Class V: Fretan / Licgan
Class VI: Acan / Scapan / Steppan / Wadan
Class VII: Bannan / Fealdan / Hatian / Wealcan
4 types of verbs: strong, weak, preterit present and irregular
Their main Characteristics:
Weak verbs show a dental suffix in their past participle and preterit
Strong verbs form their preterit by changing their stem (7 classes)
Preterit show both (dental suffix + change in the stem)
There are only 4 irregular verbs: don, gan, beon, willan
Strong verbs had 4 stems: 1 for present i; 2 for preterite ,depending on
person agreement , and 1 for past participle
solice nu ic eow bodie mycelne gefean. se bi eallum folce.
bon (S)(3p.sg.present) the future form is deduced by the contextbi there wasnt a determined form for future.
And is tacen eow by; Ge gemeta an cild hreglum bewunden.
Mtan (W) (3p.pl.past) find - gemeta The initial ge- reflected past
in OE, thats why we find it in some past participle forms
Gode sy wuldor () on eoran sybb mannum godes willan;
willan (W) inflected infinitive-gerund wish willan. It is relevant the
changed from a LEXICAL VERB to a FUNCTIONAL VERB
and geseon t word e geworden is. t drihten us tywde;
weoran (S) (past participle) become + ben (s.v.) (3p.sg.present)be geworden is (passive) (The relevant here is just to show the structure of
passive forms in OE to PDE. In OE it was become + ben, and now it is in
the other way round, to be + become)
Middle English
Class I: Dwinen
Main differences:
many Strong verbs become weak verbs
French loans were conjugated as weak verbs:
E.g: Defend; conquer; enter; consume; consist
Scandinavian loans remained with their conjugational system (strong)
ME conjugational system (Similar to OE)
Most suffix vowels are unstressed and written with e
Loss of final -n
Loss of final -e
Introduction of -ing (emerges in the South)
Grammaticalisation of lexical some verbs (Will)
Introduction of modals (shall, shul)
() lo soli I euangelise to ou a gret ioe at shall be to alle pupleShall be: we can appreciate the introduction of some modal verbs as to give
an aspectual reference to a verb.
& is a tocne to ou, ee shul finden a ung childd wlappid wi clois, & ()
Shul finden: now it is used for future. Introduction of another modal verb to
express future. Later on, instead of having two words for the same purpose,
they lose shul and keep shall, as seen in a previous example.
soli ey seende knewen of e wrd, at was seid to em of is child
Was seid: the position of the verbs is inverted, but it follows the same
structure (ben + past participle)
& alle men at hadden herdd, wondreden, & of ese ingis at weren seid ()
hadden herdd: hadden is a past form that indicates a perfect tense. Thus, it
starts the introduction of an auxiliar + past participle verb.
forsoe Marie kepte alle ese wrdis, berende togidere in hir herte
beren (process of full verbalization from OE noun to ME verb) (gerund)
berende
References:
- BAUGH, A. C. & CABLE, T. (2002), A History of the English
Language. 5th ed.,
London (Routledge)
- KRYGIER, M. (1994), The Disintegration of the English Strong
Verbs System.
Frankfurt am Main ( Lang)
- Rleber, S. (2006) Strong verbs in Old and Middle English and
irregular verbs in Modern English. A history of verb development
and a comparison of classifications. Eberhard-Karls-Universitt