A Conсise History of the English

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ АГЕНСТВО ПО ОБРАЗОВАНИЮ
ГОУ ВПО «АДЫГЕЙСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»
A.P.Tikhonova
A CONСISE HISTORY OF
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
(КРАТКАЯ ИСТОРИЯ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА)
Майкоп
2009
1
УДК 811.111 (075.8)
ББК 81.432.1 – 923
Т 46
Печатается по решению
редакционно-издательского совета Адыгейского государственного университета
РЕЦЕНЗЕНТЫ:
Е.Н. Лучинская, доктор филологических наук, профессор
(КубГУ)
Л.И. Сидорова, кандидат филологических наук, профессор
(КубГУ):
Тихонова А.П.
Т 46
A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (Краткая
история английского языка): Учебное пособие. - Майкоп: Изд-во АГУ,
2009. - 132 с.
Настоящее учебное пособие по курсу истории английского языка предназначено

для студентов лингвистических факультетов вузов.
Оно составлено в соответствии с ГОС ВПО Специальность 02.26.00 (031201)
Теория и методика преподавания иностранных языков и культур (английский язык) и
расчитано на количество часов, предусмотренное программами вузов по предмету
«История языка и введение в спецфилологию».
Учебное пособие построено на основе исторической периодизации. В нем выделены
древнеанглийский, среднеанглийский и новоанглийский периоды. Периодизация
позволяет показать развитие языка во всех его многосторонних связях.
Пособие представляет интерес для преподавателей вузов и аспирантов,
занимающихся разработкой проблем истории английского языка.
ISBN
 Адыгейский государственный университет, 2009
2
CONTENTS
Introduction……………………………………………………………… 10
Part 1
GERMANIC LANGUAGES 11
1.1. Classification of Germanic 11
Languages……………………………………
1.2. Ancient Germanic Tribes and their 11
Classification………………………..
1.3. Germanic 12
Alphabets………………………………………………………
1.4. Some Phonetic Peculiarities of Germanic 13
Languages…………………….
1.4.1. 13
Consonants…………………………………………………………
1.4.1.1. The First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law) 13
…………………
1.4.1.2. Verner`s Law………………………………………………. 13
1.4.2. Word – 14
Stress………………………………………………………
1.4.3. 14
Vowels……………………………………………………………..
1.4.3.1. Stressed Vowels…………………………………………… 15
1.4.3.2. Germanic Fracture (Breaking) 15
……………………………...
1.4.3.3. Gradation or Ablaut………………………………………... 15
1.4.3.4. Unstressed Vowels………………………………………… 16
1.5. Grammatical Peculiarities of Germanic 17
Languages………………………
1.5.1. The 17
Noun…………………………………………………………..
1.5.2. The 18
Adjective………………………………………………………
1.5.3. The Verb……………………………………. 19
……………………..
1.6. Vocabulary 20
Part 2
OLD ENGLISH 22
2.1. Periods in the History of English………………………………………… 22
2.2. Historical 23
Background…………………………………………………….
3
2.2.1. The Roman Conquest of Britain………………………………….. 23
2.2.2. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of 24
Britain…………………………….
2.3. Alphabet and 25
Pronunciation………………………………………………
2.4. Old English Dialects and Written Records………………………………. 26
2.5. Some Phonetic Changes of the Old English 27
Period………………………
2.5.1. 27
Vowels……………………………………………………………..
2.5.2. Old English Breaking……………………………………………... 27
2.5.3. Palatal Mutation (i-mutation)……………………………………... 28
2.5.4. Back or Velar Mutation (Velarization)…………………………… 28
2.5.5. Diphthongization of Vowels after Palatal Consonants…………… 29
2.5.6. Lengthening of Vowels…………………………………………… 29
2.5.7. Unstressed Vowels……………………………………………….. 29
2.5.8. 30
Consonants…………………………………………………………
2.5.9. Palatalization of Velar Consonants………………………………. 31
2.5.10. Assimilation, Metathesis, Doubling of Consonants, Loss of 31
Consonants………………………………………………………………
…
2.6. Old English Morphology………………………………………………… 32
2.6.1. Old English Noun: General Characteristics……………………… 32
2.6.2. Vowel Stems: Strong Declension………………………………… 33
2.6.2.1. a-stems…………………………………………………….. 33
2.6.2.2. ō-stems…………………………………………………….. 34
2.6.2.3. i-stems……………………………………………………... 34
2.6.2.4. u-stems …………………………………………………… 35
2.6.3. Consonant Stems: Weak Declension, Minor Declensions………. 35
2.6.3.1. n-stems: Weak Declension………………………………… 35
2.6.3.2. r-stems…………………………………………………….. 36
2.6.3.3. s-stems……………………………………………………... 36
2.6.4. Root-Stems……………………………………………………….. 37
2.6.5. Pronouns………………………………………………………….. 38
2.6.5.1. Personal Pronouns………………………………………… 38
2.6.5.2. Demonstrative Pronouns…………………………………... 39
2.6.6. Adjectives………………………………………………………… 40
2.6.6.1. Strong Declension of Adjectives………………………….. 40
4
2.6.6.2. Weak Declension of Adjectives…………………………… 41
2.6.6.3. Degrees of Comparison…………………………………… 41
2.6.7. Adverbs…………………………………………………………… 42
2.6.7.1. Formation of Adverbs…………………………………….. 42
2.6.7.2. Comparison of Adverbs…………………………………… 42
2.6.8. The Verb: General Characteristics……………………………….. 43
2.6.8.1. Strong Verbs………………………………………………. 45
2.6.8.2. Weak Verbs……………………………………………….. 45
2.6.8.3. Preterite – Present Verbs………………………………….. 48
2.6.8.4. Anomalous verbs………………………………………….. 49
2.6.8.5. Suppletive Verbs………………………………………….. 49
2.7. Old English Syntax……………………………………………………… 50
2.8. The Old English Vocabulary……………………………………………. 52
2.8.1. Word Building……………………………………………………. 53
2.8.2. Borrowings……………………………………………………….. 55
Part 3
MIDDLE ENGLISH 58
3.1. Historical Background…………………………………………………… 58
3.1.1. Scandinavian Invasions…………………………………………… 58
3.1.2. The Norman Conquest……………………………………………. 59
3.2. Middle English Dialects, Rise of the London Dialect…………………… 60
3.3. Early Middle English Written Records………………………………….. 61
3.4. Word Stress……………………………………………………………… 61
3.5. Vowels…………………………………………………………………… 63
3.5.1. Unstressed Vowels……………………………………………….. 63
3.5.2. Stressed vowels…………………………………………………… 64
3.5.2.1. Quantitative Vowel Changes……………………………… 64
3.5.2.2. Qualitative Vowel Changes Monophthongs………………. 65
3.5.2.3. Monophthongization of Old English Diphthongs…………. 66
3.5.2.4. Rise of New Diphthongs…………………………………... 67
3.6. Evolution of Consonants………………………………………………… 67
3.7. Spelling Changes………………………………………………………… 69
3.7.1. Changes in the Designation of Vowels…………………………… 69
3.7.2. Changes in the Designation of Consonants………………………. 70
3.8. Changes in the Grammatical System…………………………………….. 70
3.8.1. Preliminary Remarks…………………………………………...… 70
3.8.2. The Noun…………………………………………………………. 71
5
3.8.2.1. Gender……………………………………………………... 71
3.8.2.2. Number…………………………………………………….. 71
3.8.2.3. Decay of Noun Declensions………………………………. 72
3.8.3. The Adjective…………………………………………………….. 74
3.8.3.1. Declension of Adjectives in Late Middle English………… 74
3.8.3.2. Degrees of Comparison……………………………………. 74
3.8.4. Adverbs…………………………………………………………… 75
3.8.4.1. Formation of Adverbs……………………………………... 75
3.8.4.2. Comparison of Adverbs…………………………………… 76
3.8.5. The Pronoun………………………………………………………. 76
3.8.5.1. Personal Pronouns…………………………………………. 76
3.8.5.2. Possessive pronouns………………………………………. 77
3.8.5.3. Demonstrative Pronouns…………………………………... 78
3.8.5.4. Rise of the Articles………………………………………… 78
3.8.6. The Verb: General Characteristics……………………………….. 79
3.8.6.1. Changes in the Morphological Classes of Verbs, Strong Verbs 80
3.8.6.2. Weak Verbs………………………………………………... 82
3.8.6.3. Preterite-Present Verbs……………………………………. 83
3.8.6.4. Suppletive verbs…………………………………………… 85
3.8.6.5. Rise of Analytical Forms………………………………….. 86
3.8.7. Development of the Syntactic System……………………………. 90
3.9. Vocabulary Changes…………………………………………………….. 92
3.9.1. Native Derivational Affixes………………………………………. 93
3.9.2. French Derivational Affixes……………………………………… 93
3.9.3. Scandinavian Borrowings………………………………………… 95
3.9.4. French Borrowings……………………………………………….. 97
Part 4
NEW ENGLISH 100
4.1. The formation of the English National Language……………………….. 100
4.2. Changes in Pronunciation………………………………………………... 101
4.2.1. Development of Unstressed Vowels……………………………… 101
4.2.1.1. Loss of unstressed – e [ə]………………………………….. 101
4.2.1.2. Loss of Vowels in Intermediate Syllables…………………. 101
4.2.2. Stressed Vowels…………………………………………………... 102
4.2.2.1. The Great Vowel Shift…………………………………….. 102
4.2.2.2. Shortening of Long Vowels……………………………….. 103
4.2.2.3. Development of Short Vowels…………………………….. 103
6
4.2.2.4. The Development of the New Short [л]…………………… 104
4.2.2.5. Changes in Diphthongs……………………………………. 104
4.2.2.6. Vowel Changes under the Influence of Consonants………. 104
4.2.3. Consonants……………………………………………………….. 106
4.2.3.1. Voicing of Voiceless Consonants…………………………. 106
4.2.3.2. Loss of Consonants………………………………………... 106
4.2.3.3. Change of [d] to [ð] when Close to [r]…………………….. 107
4.2.3.4. Development of Sibilants and Affricates………………….. 108
4.3. Changes in Spelling……………………………………………………… 108
4.4. Local Dialects……………………………………………………………. 110
4.4.1. Scottish Dialect…………………………………………………… 110
4.4.2. Northern Dialects…………………………………………………. 110
4.4.3. Western, Central and Southern Dialects………………………….. 111
4.5. Some Essential Grammatical Changes of the New English Period: Morphology 112
4.5.1. The Noun…………………………………………………………. 112
4.5.1.1. Number……………………………………………………. 112
4.5.1.2. Cases………………………………………………………. 112
4.5.2. The Pronoun………………………………………………………. 112
4.5.2.1. Personal Pronouns…………………………………………. 112
4.5.2.2. Possessive Pronouns………………………………………. 113
4.5.3. The Adjective…………………………………………………….. 113
4.5.4. Adverbs…………………………………………………………… 113
4.5.5. The Verb………………………………………………………….. 114
4.5.5.1. Personal Endings………………………………………….. 114
4.5.5.2. Changes in Strong Verbs………………………………….. 114
4.5.5.3. Changes in Weak Verbs…………………………………… 114
4.5.5.4. Rise of Invariable Verbs…………………………………… 115
4.5.5.5. Changes in Preterite-Present Verbs……………………….. 115
4.5.5.6. Irregular Verbs…………………………………………….. 117
4.6. New English Syntax……………………………………………………... 117
4.7. New English Vocabulary Changes………………………………………. 119
4.7.1. Latin Loanwords………………………………………………….. 120
4.7.2. Latinization of French Loanwords………………………………... 120
4.7.3. Greek loanwords………………………………………………….. 121
4.7.4. French Loanwords………………………………………………... 121
4.7.5. Mixed vocabulary of New English……………………………….. 122
4.7.6. Italian and Spanish Loanwords…………………………………… 122
7
4.7.7. Russian Loanwords………………………………………………. 123
4.8. The Expansion of English…………………………….…………………. 123
4.9. The English Language in the USA……………………………………… 123
4.9.1. Some peculiarities of American Pronunciation…………………... 124
4.9.2. American Spelling………………………………………………... 126
4.9.3. Some peculiarities of American Grammar……………………….. 127
4.9.4. Vocabulary of American English………………………………… 127
Conclusion………………………………………………………………. 130
Bibliography…………………………………………………………….. 131
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Acc. = Accusative Nom. = Nominative

A.D. = Anno Domini (of our era) OE = Old English
AmE = American English Obj. = Objective
B.C. = Before Christ OFr = Old French
BrE = British English OGc = Old Germanic
c. = century OHG = Old High German
cf. = confer OIcel = Old Icelandic
Dat. = Dative OSc = Old Scandinavian
E = English PG = Proto-Germanic
e.g. = exempli gratia = for instance pl = plural
Fr = French R = Russian
G = German Sc = Scandinavian
Gc = Germanic sg = singular
Gen. = Genetive Skt = Sanskrit
Gk = Greek sth = something
Gt = Gothic Sw = Swedish
i.e. = id est = that is U = Ukranian
IE = Indo-European viz. = videlicet = namely
Instr. = Instrumental SIGNS
L = Latin > developed into
ME = Middle English < developed from
ModE = Modern English *hypothetical
NE = New English
8
PREFACE
The manual on the History of the English Language is intended for students
of the Departments of Foreign Languages. It is based on periods in the history of
the English language, which enables to show the uninterrupted evolution and
gradual transition from Old English to Modern English.
The manual consists of four parts: a short description of the Germanic
languages, a detailed description of the English language in the Old English
period, a description of the development of the English language in the Middle
English period, a description of the New English changes.
The manual also contains a discussion of some theoretical aspects of
language evolution and a brief surway on the history of the English people.
The material in the manual is subdivided into short paragraphs, which makes
it easier for a student of English to master the laws of language development.
In conclusion I should like to thank professors L.I. Sidorova and E.N.
Luchinskaya, who reviewed the manual, for valuable suggestions.
A.P.Tikhonova
9
INTRODUCTION
History of the English language as a scientific discipline presents a

systematic description of the language development and the establishment of
laws of its development.
It enables the student to understand the English language of today as a result
of complex development and interplay of different factors.
At the beginning of the XIX century with the help of the so-called
comparative-historical method it was proved that there was remarkable affinity
between certain languages now called Indo-European (IE), to indicate their
geographical extent. They have much in common both in the phonetic and
grammatical structures.
English Gothic Russian Latin Greek Sanskrit

Noun brother broþar брат frater phrātor bhrātar
Adjective new niujis новый novus ne(v)os navas
Verb bear baira беру fero pherō bharāmi
Numeral two twai два duo duo dvā
Pronoun that Þata то tud to tad
Prefix for- fra- про- pro- prō- par-
As we see from the words above, certain sounds are approximately the same
in all the languages, e.g. the sound [n] in the adjective, the sound [r] in the noun.
Other sounds differ, but this difference is, so to say, regular. Thus, the sound [d]
of the numeral in Russian, Latin, Greek and Sanskrit corresponds to the sound [t]
in English and Gothic and this correspondence is regularly observed, e.g.
English Gothic Russian Latin Greek Sanskrit

Numeral ten taihun десять decem deka dasa
Verb eat itan еда edo (I edō admi
eat)
These languages have not only the same parts of speech and parts of the
sentence but the same grammatical categories, e.g. nouns posses the categories of
case and number, verbs – the categories of tense and person, etc. Even of greater
significance is the fact that irregularities of certain verbs, nouns and pronouns
often coincide. Thus, the English be and is correspond to the Russian быть and
есть. Similarly, the English I-me corresponds to the Russian я –меня. All these
similarities and differences can be explained only from the historical point of
view.
10
Part 1
GERMANIC LANGUAGES
1.1. CLASSIFICATION OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES
English belongs to the Germanic branch of the IE family of languages.

The Germanic branch usually falls into three groups of languages: (1) East
Germanic languages, (2) North Germanic languages, (3) West Germanic
languages.
The East Germanic group contains only dead languages: Gothic, Burgundian
and Vandalic. Gothic is of great importance because it is a valuable source of our
knowledge of the early history of the Germanic languages owing to the
translation of the Gospels from Greek into Gothic by bishop Ulfilas.
The North Germanic group comprises Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Faroese
and Icelandic. Especially helpful is Icelandic, as it has preserved a very rich
literature.
The West Germanic group includes English, German (both High German
and Low German), Dutch, Frisian, Flemish, Yiddish and Afrikaans (spoken in
South Africa). Of the languages most nearly related to English is Frisian. Many
scholars speak even of a separate Anglo- Frisian group.
1.2. ANCIENT GERMANIC TRIBES AND THEIR

CLASSIFICATION
The earliest knowledge of ancient Teutons refers to the IV century B.C. The
Greek traveller Pytheas from Massilia (now Marseilles) was first to mention
them. Next comes Julius Caesar, a Roman General, statesman and writer (100 –
44 B.C.). About a century later, Pliny the Elder in his great work Natural History
(Naturalis Historia) gave a classification of Germanic tribes.
According to Pliny, with some corrections made by Jacob Grimm, Germanic
tribes in the 1st century A.D. consisted of five groups:
(1) the Vindili (among them were the Goths and the Burgundians, who
inhabited the eastern part of the Germanic territory );
(2) the Ingvaeones (Ingaevones), who inhabited the north- western part of the
Germanic territory – the shores of the Northern Sea, including what is
now the Netherlands ;
11
(3) the Iscaevones (or Istaevones), who inhabited the western part of the
Germanic territory and the shores of the Rhine;
(4) the Hermiones (or Herminones), who inhabited the southern part of the
Germanic territory;
(5) the Hilleviones, who inhabited Scandinavia.
At that time, old Germanic tribes were passing through the stage of
barbarism. When speaking of that period it is possible to point out many features
common to the speech of all Germanic tribes, as distinct from the Non-Germanic
dialects or languages of the IE family.
At the same time, the speech of the West Germanic tribes had some
peculiarities not shared by that of the East Germanic or North Germanic tribes.
There were also some features common to the speech of the Angles, Saxons,
Jutes and Frisians and not found in other West Germanic dialects, as well as
features characterizing separate dialects. Such were the relations among the
Germanic dialects before Angles, Saxons and Jutes left their continental homes
and invaded the island of Britain in the 5th century.
1.3. GERMANIC ALPHABETS
Germanic tribes used three different Alphabets: Runic, Greek and Latin. The
earliest of these was the Runic alphabet presumably derived either from the Latin
or some other Italic alphabet close to the Latin. The runes (rune originally meant
whisper, mystery) were mostly used for carving or scratching inscriptions
(evidently thought to have magic power) on wood, stone or metal and consisted
of vertical and diagonal strokes. The alphabet is also known as the futhark, from
its first six runes.
Just when and where the Runic alphabet was created is unknown.
According to some scientists, it originated approximately at some time in the 2nd
and 3d centuries A.D., somewhere on the Rhine or the Danube where Gothic
tribes came into touch with Roman culture. The Runic alphabet was used by
different Germanic tribes: Goths, Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians.
Next comes Ulfila`s Gothic alphabet (4 c.) based on the Greek alphabet with
some admixture of Latin and Runic letters.
The latest alphabet used by Germanic tribes is the Latin alphabet. As it was
inadequate to represent all sounds of Germanic languages, it was adapted to the
peculiar needs of separate languages.
12
1.4. SOME PHONETIC PECULIARITIES OF GERMANIC
LANGUAGES
1.4.1. Consonants
1.4.1.1.The First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law)

One of the most distinctive features marking off the Germanic languages
from all the other Indo-European languages is the so-called First Consonant Shift.
It is called the first to distinguish it from the second consonant shift, which
occurred in High German (i.e. Southern German) dialects in the V –VII centuries.
It was first formulated by the Danish scholar R.Ch. Rask and explained by the
German linguist J.L.Grimm in 1822 in his work German Grammar (Deutsche
Grammatik) and therefore called Grimm`s Law. As proved by J. Grimm all the IE
plosives seem to have gradually changed in Old Germanic. Regular
correspondences of Germanic and those of other IE languages were grouped
under three categories called by him Acts.
I. ACT The IE voiceless plosives p, t, k changed in Gc. to corresponding
voiceless fricatives f, θ, h, e.g.
p > f R полный, L plēnus, Gt fulls
t > θ R три, L trēs, E three
k > h L canis, Gk kunos, E hound
II. ACT The IE voiced plosives b, d, g became in Gc voiceless p, t, k, e.g.

b > p R болото, E pool, R. слаб, E sleep
d > t R два, E. two, R вода, E water
g > k R иго, E yoke, Gk agros, E acre
ІІІ. ACT The IE aspirated voiced plosives bh, dh, gh changed in Gc to

corresponding unaspirated plosives b, d, g, e.g.
bh > b Skt bhrātar, E brother
dh > d Skt vidhavā, E widow
gh > g Skt vāhanam < *vaghanam, E wagon
1.4.1.2.Verner`s Law
Further investigations of the Gc consonantal system showed that in some
cases it is voiced plosives, rather than voiceless fricatives that correspond in Gc
to IE voiceless plosives. Instead of the expected f, θ, h we find v, d, g. Cf
t – d Gk. pater, O.E. fæder
k – g Gk.dekas, Gt. tigus
According to Grimm’s Law the sound t should have corresponded to the
sound θ, e.g.
t > θ R брат, E brother;
13
The sound k should have corresponded to the sound h, e.g.
k > h L. canis, E. hound
In 1877 the Danish scholar Karl Verner explained these inconsistencies in
Grimm’s Law. The explanation given by Karl Verner is that the sound quality
depended on the position of the accent in the IE word: after an unstressed vowel
the voiceless fricatives f, θ, h < p, t, k were voiced and later on changed to b, d,
g, e.g. Skt pi΄tar, OE fæder.
The connection between the Gc sounds and the position of the IE accent,
discovered by Karl Verner, is usually called Verner`s Law. It was of great
importance for the study of the Gc languages as it explained many seeming
irregularities in their grammatical forms and drew attention of linguists to word
stress.
Besides the voiceless fricative consonants resulting from the consonant
shift, one more voiceless fricative consonant is affected by Verner`s Law, viz, the
consonant s. If the preceding vowel is unstressed, s in Gc languages becomes
voiced, i. e. s changes into z. Eventually this z becomes r in West Germanic and
North Germanic languages (but not in Gothic). This latter change of z > r is
termed rhotacism (from the name of the Greek letter ρ [rho]).
Gt hausjan, OE hīeran, G hören, E was – were
1.4.2. Word – Stress
Another important phonetic feature of the Gc languages is the position and

the character of the word-accent. In all IE languages the accent was free or
moving, that is, in different words different syllables could be stressed as in
Modern Russian: сл΄ово – слов΄а. In all the Gc languages the accent was very
early fixed on the first (root) syllable of a word, except verbs like the modern
be΄lieve, for΄get, where the initial syllable was a prefix. Besides, the IE accent is
supposed to have been musical, i.e. the difference between an accented and
unaccented syllable was rather that of pitch than of stress. The Germanic accent
became entirely a matter of stress, and of heavy stress too.
We do not know exactly in what century the accent shifted to the first
syllable, but, as Karl Verner has shown, it must have taken place later than the
change of p, t, k > f, θ, h, since these sounds were voiced after unstressed
syllables in such words as fæder, mōdor, etc.
The fixation of the stress on the first syllable had far-reaching consequences
for the further development of the Gc languages. The absence of stress always
tends to obscure vowel sounds, and as the word endings were always unstressed
after the shifting of the accent, it could but result in the slurring and gradual loss
of inflections.
1.4.3. Vowels
The Gc languages are also marked by some peculiarities in the development

of vowels as compared with other IE languages.
14
1.4.3.1. Stressed vowels
IE vowels underwent Germanic modifications. IE short o and a appear as
short a in Gc languages:
L octō, Gt ahtau, R гость, Gt gasts
R яблоко, G Apfel
IE long ō and ā appear as long ō in Gc languages:
L flōs, Gt blōma
L māter, OE mōdor
As a result, there was neither a short o nor a long ā in Gc languages. Later
on these sounds appeared from different sources, e.g. long ā developed in the Gc
languages owing to the loss of nasals before h and the lengthening of the
previous short a, e.g. Gt þāhta < *þanhta (E thought); before nasal consonants the
Gc a was raised to the sound intermediate between a and o.
OE scribes now wrote the letter a, now the letter o in this position, e.g.
land – lond, lanʒ - lonʒ.
1.4.3.2. Germanic Fracture (Breaking)

In Gc languages the quality of a stressed vowel is in some cases dependent
on a following sound. This phenomenon has been termed fracture or breaking (G
Brechung). It concerns two pairs of vowels: the pair e and i and the pair u and o
1. An IE e in the root syllable is raised to i in Gc.
(a) before covered nasals (a nasal + a consonant) L ventus, OE wind
(b) before i or j in the following syllable L medius, OE midde
(c) in unstressed position L est, Gt ist.
Otherwise (e.g. before a, o, e in the following syllable and no covered nasal)
e remains unchanged in Germanic. In Gothic every IE e becomes i and only
before r and h e remains unchanged, e.g.
L sedere, Gt sitan
L ferre, Gt bairan [e]
L sequi, Gt saihan [e]
2. An IE u finds its counterpart in Gc u
(a) before covered nasals (a nasal + a consonant), e.g. L centum, OE
hund; OE ʒebunden, but ʒeworden
(b) before u in the following syllable, e.g. Skt sunus, OE sunu
Otherwise (e.g. before a, o, e in the following syllable and no covered nasal)
IE u has been widened to o in Germanic, e.g. L iugum, OE ʒeoc, E yoke, Celtic
hurnan, OE horn.
In Gothic every IE u is preserved as u and only before r and h u changes into o.
1.4.3.3.Gradation or Ablaut
The alternation of various vowel sounds in the same root (or suffix, etc) is
termed ablaut or vowel gradation. It is typical of all IE languages, though not
15
many of them have used ablaut as systematically for grammatical purposes as the
Gc languages, e.g.
R везу/ воз; гремит/ гром
L tego (сover)/ togа
E sing /sang/sung
This kind of ablaut is qualitative, as the vowels differ in quality. Alternation
of short and long vowels and alternation with a zero (i.e. lack of a vowel)
represents quantitative ablaut.
ē, e L lēgi (elected) lego (elect)
e- o-zero R.беру, сбор, брал
The Gc languages employed both types of ablaut – qualitative and
quantitative – and their combinations.
The origin of gradation has been a matter for discussion for about a century.
What these alternations are due to is not easy to determine. Most scientists
believe that stress played an important part in it. The main type of gradation in IE
languages is the alternation e (o) zero (absence of a vowel). Three variants are
due to stress conditions: full stress brings about the high degree, viz. o, weakened
stress – the medium degree, viz. e, and unstressed position- zero, e.g. R. стол-
стелить- стлать.
The main type of gradation in Germanic languages is i (a) zero, as IE e finds
its counterpart in Gc i, and IE short o appears as short a in Gc.
The system of gradation in Gc languages is best seen in the so-called strong
verbs of the Gothic language. In the Gothic Bible of the 4-th century, the system
of gradation appears in a very clear shape, whereas in the earliest documents of
other Germanic languages, including English, it has undergone such changes that
its original laws are hard to discover. A strong verb of the second class may serve
as an example of ablaut.
Infinitive Past singular Past Plural Past Participle

kiusan(choose) kaus kusum kusans
If we extract the common element u from all four forms, we get the very
germ of gradation as i (a) zero.
In Early Common Germanic the vowel system contained short vowels a, e,
i, u; long vowels ō, ē, ī, ū; so there was neither a short o, nor a long ā, which later
appeared from different sources.
After numerous changes, the vowel system in Late Germanic contained the
following sounds:
Short vowels: i, e, a, u, o
Long vowels: ī, ē, ō, ū, ā
Ei, ai, eu, au, iu traditionally referred to diphthongs nowadays are
interpreted as sequences of two independent monophthongs by many scholars.
1.4.3.4. Unstressed Vowels
16
Unstressed vowels underwent a gradual process of shortening and slurring
until many of them were lost altogether. This process has continued with
different intensity in different Germanic languages during all the investigated part
of their history. Its results are evident even in the oldest Germanic records. Cf. R
бе΄ри, G. ph΄ere – Gt bair, OE ΄ber, E ΄bear (the ending is lost)
1.5. GRAMMATICAL PECULIARITIES OF GERMANIC

LANGUAGES
It is the opinion of many scholars that the grammatical structure of the Old
Germanic languages was, but for a few exceptions, similar to that of other old IE
languages. They shared similar systems of parts of speech, similar categories of
the noun, the verb, etc.
1.5.1. The Noun
The structure of a noun is supposed to have been the same in all IE

languages. Between the root and the ending (a case inflection) there was usually
a stem-building suffix, e.g. the Gothic word sunus (E. son) consisted of three
parts: the root sun -, the stem-building suffix u and the ending of the nominative
singular-s. Thus, the stem of the word sunu ended in the sound -u and it is
customary to speak in such cases of an u- stem. There were likewise a- stems, ō-
stems, n- stems, etc.
The root carries the lexical meaning of the noun. The meaning of the stem-
building suffix is much more difficult to define. Presumably, stem-building
suffixes were a means of classifying nouns according to their meaning, but
already in old Gothic texts they had no longer meaning at all. There was only one
type of nouns in Gothic with a distinct semantic feature. These were nouns
denoting relationship and derived by means of the stem-building suffix -r, e.g. Gt
fadar, swistar.
In Gothic, we can single out the stem-building suffixes in several types of
nouns in the Accusative and Dative plural. E.g.: the nouns dags (day), giba (gift),
gasts (guest), sunus (son) have the following forms:
Acc. dag-a-ns, gib-ō-s, gast-i-ns, sun-u-ns
Dat. dag-a-m, gib-ō -m, gast-i-m, sun-u-m where a, ō, i, u originally were
stem-building suffixes.
In Old Germanic there were 3 types of noun stems:
(1) vocalic stems: a, ō, i, u. Declension of these nouns has been called
strong declension.
(2) consonantal stems: n, s, r. Declension of n-stem nouns is called weak
declension.
(3) root-stems: these nouns never had a stem-building suffix so that case
inflections were added directly to the root. The number of root-stems was
comparatively small.
17
Later on this clear-cut structure of the noun in IE and especially in Germanic
languages was blurred, the endings were often fused with the preceding suffixes,
or they were lost altogether. E.g. The Russian word сын or the English son
preserved neither the ending of the nominative singular nor the stem-building
suffix. In the OE sunu (son) the last u was no longer felt as a stem-building suffix
but rather as an ending. Still, linguists find it convenient to speak of the u-stem
declension, a- stem declension, etc. even after the loss of the corresponding
sounds.
Besides the features of Gc languages shared with other members of the IE
family, they had certain peculiarities that marked them off as a separate branch.
These are: (1) a special weak declension of adjectives, (2) a special weak
conjugation of verbs.
1.5.2. The Adjective
Originally, the IE adjective does not seem to have differed from the noun in
its paradigm (a set of endings). This is corroborated by facts like the Russian
добр молодец, добра молодца, добру молодцу or the Latin amicus bonus,
amicis bonis, etc. But later the declension of adjectives was in most cases
separated from that of nouns, acquiring some pronominal inflections. In Russian,
e.g. the declension of full adjectives is now almost entirely pronominal, e.g. того
красного стола, тому красному столу.
Likewise, the paradigms of Germanic adjectives contained many
pronominal endings. This pronominal declension is usually called strong. But
apart from it, there developed a new declension called weak or nominal and
connected with the n- stems nouns.
Every adjective was declined both according to the strong declension (with a
vocalic stem) and to the weak declension (with an –n-stem).
The choice depended on the presence or absence of a demonstrative or
possessive pronoun or a similar defining word before the adjective. Weak
declension forms were used when the adjective was preceded by a demonstrative
pronoun or the definite article. In all other contexts, forms of the strong
declension were used. This usage has been well preserved in Modern German.
Cf. diese guten Männer (these good men), where after the demonstrative diese
the adjective has the – n suffix of the weak declension and gute Männer (good
men), where without the demonstrative pronoun the adjective is strong. Owing to
its connection with defining words the weak declension is called definite as
opposed to the indefinite strong declension.
In Modern Russian, there have remained some 10 n- stem nouns, e.g. племя –
плем-ен-и, знамя – знам-ен-и, etc. In other IE languages, particularly in Gc
languages, that class of nouns was much more numerous. Many of them were
derived from adjectives and denoted persons or things possessing the qualities
indicated by the corresponding adjectives. Thus, the Latin proper name Cato
(Catonis) (the sly one, хитрец) was derived from the adjective catus (sly). The
Greek name Platon comes from the adjective platys (flat, broad-shouldered). The
18
Russian noun тихоня comes from the adjective тихий. Such nouns are believed
to have been regularly used as apposition to other nouns, denoting the qualities of
persons or things and eventually to have turned into adjectives (Сf конек-
горбунок, кремень-камень). Their declension was therefore identical with the
declension of n-stem nouns. Later, by analogy, this declension spread to almost
all adjectives, so that each could be declined either according to the weak or
according to the strong declension.
1.5.3.The Verb
In Germanic languages the verbs fell into three large groups: strong verbs,
weak verbs and preterite-present verbs. Besides these groups, there were also
anomalous verbs, which did not belong to any of the preceding groups.
The system of strong verbs was based on vowel gradation (ablaut), which is
also found in verbs of other IE languages: Ancient Greek, Latin. Every strong
verb had four basic forms: the infinitive, the past singular, the past plural, the past
participle. According to the type of gradation, all strong verbs fell into seven
classes. The first five classes had such ablaut rows as i – a – zero.
The gradation series in class VI is a-ō-ō-a.
Verbs of class VII had no vowel alternation. They built their past tense
forms with the help of reduplication:
Gothic Strong Verbs

Infinitive Past Past Plural Past Meaning
Singular Participle
Class I reisan (i:) rais (ai) risum (i) risans (i) E. rise
Class VI faran fōr fōrum farans E. go
Class VII haitan haihait haihaitum haitans E. call
The terms «strong» and «weak» verbs belong to J.Grimm. He called the
verbs that had preserved the richness of form (since the age of the parent
language) strong, and in this sense, they could be contrasted to weak verbs
lacking such variety of form. From the verbs the terms were extended to noun
and adjective declensions.
Strong verbs, though typical of the Germanic languages, can be found in
other languages as well, е.g.
R несу, нёс, Gk leipo (I leave), lepoipa (I have left).
But weak verbs, forming the past tense by adding a dental suffix, i.e. a suffix
containing the sound [d] or [t], are not found outside the Germanic group.
Naturally, linguists are interested in the origin of the dental suffix, the most
essential feature of these verbs. So far, opinions differ. One point of view is that
the dental suffix is an outgrowth of the verb to do (OE. don, G. tun), which seems
to have been used as an auxiliary verb of the past tense (sth.like work did for
worked).
19
In the course of time this enclitic did is supposed to have developed into the
past tense suffix -ed. Cf. the Russian –ся < себя in умывается, the Ukrainian -
му < -иму (I take) in писатиму (I shall write). Some facts of the Gothic language
confirm this view, which seems plausible. The past tense of the Gt. weak verb
hausjan (hear) is hausida (sg) and hausidēdum (pl). The reduplicated suffix –
dēdum closely corresponds to the German past plural taten of the verb tun (do).
Another hypothesis is that the dental suffix first developed in the past
participle and then spread to the past tense. It seems quite probable, as there are
dental consonants in the participial suffixes of many IE languages.Cf
R. разбитый, одетый
L. distus (said), lectus (read) (the correspondence IE t – Gt d is according to
Verner`s law)
This view gives a plausible explanation of the suffix of Germanic past
participle, but the transference of this suffix to the past tense does not appear very
likely. Nevertheless, it is quite evident that both the verb meaning «do» and the IE
participial suffix participated in the formation of the Germanic weak verb system.
The Old Germanic languages had a system of two tenses, present and past,
but originally, this distinction was between aspects rather than tenses. Tenses
developed much later. There appear to have been three aspects: the continuous,
the momentaneous and the resultative. From them the tenses of Germanic strong
verbs developed. The continuous aspect yielded the present tense. The
momentaneus aspect yielded the past tense. Owing to its twofold nature, the
resultative aspect yielded the past tense in the system of strong verbs and the
present tense in the system of preterite-present verbs.
1.6. Vocabulary
As the result of their common descent, the IE languages have preserved

many common features in their vocabularies.
The most ancient etymological layer in the Germanic vocabulary consists of
words (more precisely roots) shared by most IE languages. They refer to natural
phenomena, plants and animals, terms of kinship, verbs denoting basic activities
of man, some pronouns and numerals.
There is no doubt that the OE word brōþor, Gt brōþar, G bruder is allied to
Skt bhrātar, L frāter, R брат.
The OE word ʒiest, Gt gasts, G. Gast is related to L hostis, R гость.
The OE verb sittan, Gt sitan, G sitzen is kindred to Skt sīdati, L sedere, R
сидеть.
The Gt numeral þreis [θri:s], E. three, G drei is of the same IE root as Skt tri,
L tres, R три. Besides the roots, the common IE element includes other
components of words: word-building and form-building affixes and grammatical
inflections, e.g. the stem-building suffix -r denoting relationship.
The Germanic vocabulary contains also words that have no parallels outside
the Germanic group.
20
The OE word «hūs» has its counterpart in Gt hus, Dutch huis, Swedish hus,
Danish huus, OIcel hús.But this root is not found anywhere outside the Gc
languages. Similarly, the OE finʒer (E finger) is cognate with G Finger, Dutch
vinger, Icel finger, Danish finger, Swedish finger. The OE verb drincan (E drink)
is cognate with Gt drigkan, G trinken, Dutch drinken. The word «land» is shared
by Gothic, Old English, Old Icelandic, Swedish and German. In non-Germanic
languages these words are not represented. It follows that the Germanic
languages differ from other IE languages with regard to some part of their
vocabularies.
One of the theories accounting for these (and other) innovations of the
Germanic languages is the so-called substratum hypothesis. The Germanic
tribesmen, probably, were not the first inhabitants of Northwest Europe. They
had to subjugate some aboriginal people in order to settle in those places. The
usual process of language crossing followed, as the result of which, the victorious
Germanic dialects borrowed many words from the speech of the subject people.
Some of these borrowings proved to be most essential and became a typical
feature of the Germanic vocabulary.
21
Part 2
OLD ENGLISH
2.1. PERIODS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLISH
It is customary to divide the history of the English language into 3 periods: Old
English (further OE), Middle English (further ME) and New English (further NE).
For the sake of convenience, very important events (which had a great influence on
the history of English) are accepted as landmarks separating the 3 periods.
The Anglo-Saxon invasion of the V century is regarded as the beginning of the
OE period, which covers V-XI cc. It ends with the Norman Conquest (1066).
According to some other scientists, OE begins with the beginning of writing (VII c.).
The Norman Conquest of the XI c. is regarded as the beginning of the ME
period, which covers XI-XV cc. It ends on the introduction of printing (1475).
The introduction of printing in the XV c. is considered to be the beginning of
the NE period.
The NE period is subdivided into early NE (1500-1660) and late NE (from
1660 to our times).
The English linguist Henry Sweet characterizes the 3 periods of the history
of English on the basis of unstressed endings (phonetic and morphological
principle): OE is the period of full endings: sunu, writan. ME is the period of
levelled endings: sone, writen. NE is the period of lost endings: son, write.
The chronological periodisation of the history of English reflects the
connection between the history of the English people and the history of the
English language, as it would be impossible to understand many facts of the
language, e.g., the abundance of Latin, French or Scandinavian words in English,
the oddities of English spelling.
At the same time, it is important not to exaggerate the influence of the history
of a people on the history of its language. It would be absurd to try to explain every
change in the language by some changes in the history of the people.
It is the opinion of some scholars that the traditional periodisation needs
amendments. A. Baugh believes that ME really began at a later date (1150), for
the effect of the Norman Conquest on the language could not have been
immediate. M. Schlauch prefers a division of history by centuries while B. Strang
insists on a division into periods of two hundred years. Henry Sweet suggests that
22
we should single out periods of transition and subdivide the three main periods
into early, classical and late.
2.2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Traditionally the V c. is named the date of the beginning of the history of the
English people. It was in that century that certain Germanic tribes, namely, the
Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes and probably the Frisians, crossed the Channel and
invaded Great Britain. The descendants of those invaders came later to form the
English people.
Before the Anglo-Saxon invasion Britain was inhabited by IE tribes called the
Celts: the Picts and the Scots – in the North and the Britons – in the South (from the
VI c. B.C.). The strongest of them, the Britons, held most of the country, and the
southern half of the island was named Britain after them. The Celts tamed and bred
animals and tilled the soil. The descendants of the Celts live on the territory of the
British Isles to this day (in Wales, Scotland, Ireland) and some words of the Celtic
language can still be found in ModE mostly in geographic names (Avon – river,
Derwent – clear water, down – bare, open highland).
2.2.1. The Roman Conquest of Britain
In 55 B.C. the Romans (a Roman army of 10000 men) under the leadership
of Julius Caesar first landed in Britain but after a brief stay they went back to
Gaul. In the year 54 Caesar landed in Britain for the second time, this time with
lager forces (25000 men), he routed the Britons and advanced as far as the
Thames.But this stay was also a short one. Permanent conquest of Britain began
in 43 A.D. under the emperor Claudius. It lasted for almost 4 centuries.
The Romans colonized the country, dug wells, built paved roads, stone
bridges (some of them exist still today) and built a high wall in the North against
the Picts and the Scots, named «Hadrian’s wall» after the Emperor Hadrian. They
established a great number of military camps, which later developed into English
cities. The colonization had a profound effect on the country. By the end of the
Roman rule, splendid villas had been built, public baths and such rich trading
towns as York, Gloucester, Lincoln and London and about 50 smaller towns. The
population of these towns used Latin alongside of their native Celtic speech. In
the IV century, when Christianity was introduced in the Roman Empire, it also
spread among the Britons.
In 410 A.D. Roman legions were recalled from Britain to defend Rome from
the advancing Goths. This very year the Goths under King Alaric captured the
city of Rome.
The words that the Romans left behind them in the language of Britain are
for the most part the names of the things the Romans taught the Celts, e.g., street
23
< L strata (road), port < L portus, wall < L vallum. The names of many modern
English towns are of Latin origin too. The word castra (which means «camp»)
can be recognized in such names as Chester, Winchester, Manchester, Leicester,
Doncaster, Lancaster. Any English town today with a name ending in – chester, -
cester or -caster was once a Roman camp or city. The town-name Lincoln comes
from the L word colonia (colony), Colchester (that is, Colne-chester) comes from
both colonia and castra.
2.2.2. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain
The independence of Britons was but of short duration. In the year 449 A.D.
the first Germanic invaders under the leadership of Hengist and Horsa came to
Britain.
According to Bede, (a monastic scholar who wrote the 1-st history of England
Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum) the newcomers were of the three strongest
races of Germany: the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes. The Jutes (the 1- st wave of
invaders) settled in the South East, in Kent. The Saxons (the 2-nd wave of invaders)
occupied the territory along the Thames and to the south of the river. The Angles
(the 3-d wave of invaders) settled to the North of the Thames. To the Romans and
the Celts, the Germanic conquerors were all Saxons but they preferred to call
themselves Angelcynn (English people) and applied this name to the conquered
territories: Angelcynnes land (land of the English, hence England).
Now it is necessary to add a few words as to the significance of the invasion.
When the Angles, Saxons and Jutes settled on the island of Britain, they were
separated from all their kinsmen on the continent of Europe, which resulted in the
differentiation of their speech. The slight difference between their dialects and
those of other Germanic tribes, no longer levelled by communication, had a
tendency to grow, and in the course of time, it brought about the development of
a separate language – the English language. On the other hand, the fact that the
Angles, Saxons and Jutes came to live together on the same island and fought the
same enemy contributed much to their being gradually united into one people –
the English people. Therefore, the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain is considered
to be the beginning of the history of the English language.
The invaders met with stubborn resistance of Britons and succeeded in
establishing themselves only after much fighting a century and a half later. The
Britons of Cornwall were subjugated only in the year 838, i.e. nearly 4 centuries
after the beginning of the invasion.
By the end of the VI century there had been formed seven Germanic
kingdoms (the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy). The Angles formed three kingdoms:
Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia. The Saxons also founded three kingdoms:
Wessex, Essex and Sussex. The Jutes founded one kingdom – Kent. The
strongest of those kingdoms, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex were constantly
fighting for supremacy. In the VII c. political supremacy was gained by
Northumbria, which accounts for the fact that the oldest English documents were
written in the Northumbrian dialect. In the VIII century the leadership passed to
24
Mercia and finally, in the IX century – to Wessex. The capital of Wessex,
Winchester, became the capital of England. Nearly all the literature of the IX–XI
cc. was written in the dialect of Wessex.
The most important event that influenced the development of the English
language at that period was the introduction of Christianity in 597, which was a
gradual process and which was over only by the end of the VII century. It resulted in
the substitute of the Latin alphabet for a Runic alphabet, used before that, and an
extensive adoption of Latin words and words that came from Greek and Hebrew.
2.3. ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION
In OE two alphabets were used: the Runic and the Latin. A few runic
documents have come to us.The earliest is the Runic Casket (often called Frank’s
Casket), made of whalebone, and found in France near the town of Clermont-
Ferrand, now in the British museum in London. The later manuscript is the
Ruthwell Cross, a religious poem, engraved on a tall stone cross near the village
of Ruthwell in South-East Scotland. (Both records are in the Northumbrian
dialect). There are also runic inscriptions on some tombstones and objects.
In the majority of OE records, the Latin alphabet is used. As the Latin
alphabet proved insufficient to denote all OE sounds some runic letters were
borrowed, in the first place, the rune þ called «thorn», which was employed
alongside the crossed đ, Đ, ð to indicate voiceless and voiced interdental θ and ð.
In the manuscripts one more rune was regularly used - ρ «wynn» for the sound
[w]. In modern publications, it is replaced by w.
The OE forms of the Latin letters were often peculiar, the letter g, e.g., was
spelt ʒ.
Other peculiar letters were æ «ash» (a ligature made up of a and e) and ð «eth».
Likewise in the earlier OE texts we find the ligature œ (o plus e), which was
later replaced by e. Besides, some Latin letters, e.g. v, j, k, q, z, were hardly ever
used (except in foreign words) until many years later.
OE writing was based on a phonetic principle: every letter indicated a
separate sound.
But this principle, however, was not always observed. Some OE letters
indicated two or more sounds, even distinct phonemes, e.g. ʒ stood for four
different phonemes; a set of letters s, f and þ (ð) stood for two sounds each: a
voiced and a voiceless consonant. Some letters stood for positional variants of
phonemes – a and æ.Yet, on the whole, OE spelling was far more phonetic and
consistent than ModE spelling.
Old English Alphabet

a n [n], [ŋ]
æ
b o
c [k] or [k΄] p
25
d r
e s [s] or [z]
f [f ] or [v] t
ʒ [g], [g΄] [] or þ, ð [ð] or [θ]
[j]
h [x], [x΄] or [h] u
i w
l x
m y [ü]
Note. The symbol′ after the letter means «soft, palatal».

The letters could indicate short and long sounds.
In reading OE texts, you should observe the following rules for letters
indicating more than one sound:
(1) The letters f, s, and þ, ð stand for voiced fricatives between vowels and
between a vowel and a voiced consonant; otherwise they indicate corresponding
voiceless fricatives, e.g.
f – [v] ofer [΄over] selfa [΄selva] (sell)
f – [f] oft [oft] (often), feohtan [΄feoxtan](fight)
s – [z] rīsan [΄ri:zan] (rise)
s – [s] ras [ra:s] (rose), ʒast [ga:st] (ghost),
þ – [ð] ōþer [΄o:ðer] (other), wyrþe [΄wyrðe] (worthy)
þ – [θ] þæt [θæt]{that) lēoþ[΄leo:θ] (song).
(2) The letter ʒ stands for [g] initially before consonants and back vowels
(ʒod, ʒleo); for [j] – before and after front vowels (ʒear, dæʒ), for [] – between
back vowels and after l, r (daʒas, folʒian, sorʒian) and for [g] – mostly when
preceded by c (secʒan).
(3) The letter h stands for [x] between a back vowel and a consonant and
also initially before consonants: hrinʒ (ring), tāhte (taught) and for [x΄] – next to
front vowels: niht (night), hē (he).
(4) The letter n stands for [n] in all positions except when followed by [k] or
[g], in this case it indicates [ŋ]: OE singan.
2.4. OLD ENGLISH DIALECTS AND WRITTEN RECORDS
There were four main dialects on the territory of Britain: Northumbrian,

spoken by Angles who lived North of Humber, Mercian, spoken by Angles
between the Humber and the Thames, some West-Saxon dialects, spoken by the
Saxons South of the Thames (the most important of them is the Wessex dialect),
Kentish, the language of the Jutes.
The rise of Wessex as a political power in the IX c. had its consequences for
the West-Saxon dialect: it became the dominating literary language of the epoch.
26
The West-Saxon dialect is represented by the works of King Alfred (lived
849-900), both original compositions and translations of Latin texts, by the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (up to 891), works of the Abbot Ælfric (X c.) and
sermons of Wulfstan (early XI c.).
The Northumbrian dialect is represented by the Runic texts of the
Ruthwell Cross and Frank’s Casket, translation of the gospels, «Caedmon’s
Hymn» and «Bede’s Dying Song».
The Mercian dialect is represented by translations of the Psalter (IX c) and
hymns.
The Kentish dialect is represented by Translation of Psalms L-LXX and old
charters.
2.5. SOME PHONETIC CHANGES OF THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD
2.5.1. Vowels
There were seven short and seven long monophthongs and four short and
four long diphthongs in OE:
Short monophthongs: i, e, u, o, a, æ, y, å
Long monophthongs: ī, ē, ū, ō, ā, ǣ, ӯ
Short diphthongs: ea, eo, io, ie.
Long diphthongs: ēa, ēo, īo, īe.
In most cases īo was a variant of ēo, æ was substituted for a in closed
syllables (bæd -asked) and in open syllables with a front vowel in the next
syllable (dæʒes - of the day).
In OE the system of stressed vowels underwent changes which resulted in
the appearance of new phonemes and their allophones. Nearly all OE phonetic
changes – fracture, mutation, palatalization, loss of consonants and contraction of
vowels – appear due to one common principle, that of assimilation.
2.5.2. Old English Breaking
Breaking is diphthongization of front vowels before h, l, r + another

consonant or before final h. Breaking is dated in Early OE, for in OE texts we
find the process already completed. The front vowels e, æ, ǣ were involved in
this process.
e > eo before l + a consonant: *melcan > meolcan (to milk)
before r + a consonant: *herte > heorte (heart)
before h final: *feh > feoh (cattle, property)
æ > ea before l + a consonant: æld > eald (old)
before r + a consonant: *ærm > earm (arm)
before h + a consonant: *æhta > eahta (eight)
ǣ > ēa before h final *nǣh > nēah (cattle)
Fracture is most consistently carried out in the West Saxon dialect.
27
2.5.3. Palatal Mutation (i-mutation)
Palatal mutation is a kind of regressive assimilation caused by the sounds [i]

and [j] in the next syllable. This process took place in the VI-VII cc. Under the
influence of [i] or [j] the vowels of the preceding syllable moved to a higher front
position. Practically all Early OE monophthongs, as well as diphthongs except
the closest front vowels [e] and [i] were palatalized in these phonetic conditions.
Monophthongs
1. æ > e *sætian > settan (to set)

2. a > e *namnian > nemnan (to name)
3. ā > ǣ *lārian > lǣran (to teach)
4. o > e *ofstian > efstan (to hurry)
5. ō > ē *wōpian > wepan (to weep)
6. u > y *fullian > fyllan (to fill)
7. ū > ӯmūs > mӯs (mouse, mice)
Diphthongs
1. ea > ie *eald + ira > ieldra (older)

2. ēa > īe *hēah+ ira > hīehra (higher)
3. eo > ie *feohtiþ > fieht (fights)
4. ēo > īe *cēosiþ > cīesþ (chooses)
Thus, i-mutation resulted in seven monophthongs and two diphthongs. By

the VII c., the diphthongs were monophthongized.
The palatal mutation has left many traces in ModE. The ensuing vowel
interchange serves now to distinguish (1) parts of speech: doom - to deem, food -
to feed, blood – to bleed, full – to fill, Angles (Anglo-Saxons) – English, long –
length, (2) different forms of a word: tooth – teeth, goose – geese, foot – feet,
mouse – mice, old – elder.
2.5.4. Back or Velar Mutation (Velarization)
Back mutation is another regressive assimilation called forth by back vowels

(a, o, u) of the following syllable. Under the influence of a, o, u the front vowels
i, e, æ of a preceding syllable were diphthongized.
i > io OE silufr > siolufr (later siolfor) (silver), hira > hiora (their)
e > eo OE hefon > heofon (heaven)
æ > ea OE cæru > cearu (care), hæra > heara (hare)
28
Velarization after the sound [w] results in a single dark vowel.
wi > wu OE widu > wudu (wood)
we > wo OE werold > worold (world)
Back mutation took place in the VII-VIII cc. It was of comparatively small
importance for the further development of the English language.
2.5.5. Diphthongization of Vowels after Palatal Consonants
After the palatal consonants [j] (written ʒ) and [k΄] and the cluster [sk΄]
(written c, sc) most vowels were diphthongized:
ʒ and c influence only front vowels, while sc influences all vowels
e > ie OE ʒefan > ʒiefan (give)
æ > ea OE *ʒæf > ʒeaf (gave) *cæster > ceaster (camp)
ǣ > ēa OE *ʒǣfon > ʒēafon (pl) (gave)
a > ea OE scacan > sceacan (shake)
o > eo OE scort > sceort (short)
Later on these diphthongs were usually monophthongized again.
2.5.6. Lengthening of Short Vowels
In the IX c. vowels were lengthened before the clusters -nd, -ld, -mb, i.e.
before a sonorous consonant plus a voiced plosive:
OE blind > blīnd (blind)
OE wild > wīld (wild)
OE climban > clīmban (climb)
If, however, another consonant followed the cluster, lengthening did not take
place, as in cildru (children).
Vowels were also lengthened if the following consonant was lost. Such
consonants could fall out:
(a) m or n before f, s,θ; n before h: *fimf > fīf (five)
*uns > ūs (us)
*onþer > ōðer (other)
*þonhte > þōhte (thought)
(b) ʒ [j] before d, n: *sæʒde > sǣde (said), *friʒnan > frīnan (ask)
(c) h between l and a vowel: *seolhas > sēolas (seals)
(d) h in intervocal position : *seohan > sēon (see)
2.5.7. Unstressed Vowels
Stress in OE mostly fell on the first syllable of a word. Words beginning

with a prefix had their stress on the root syllable: wrītan - ʒe΄wrītan. Final
syllables were unstressed.
29
Unstressed long vowels were gradually shortened in all Germanic languages.
In English, this process was completed during the earliest part of the OE period.
All the long vowels became short, and all the diphthongs were monophthongized
in an unstressed position:
Gt namō – OE nåma (name)
Gt dagōs – OE daʒas (days)
Gt ahtau – OE eahta (eight)
Gt sunau – OE suna (sons)
Unstressed vowels often fluctuated, which is evident from their
representation in spelling: OE woruld, worold; wǣrun, wǣron.
The weakening of unstressed vowels took shape of changes such as the
change of [æ] to [e], [i] to [e], [u] to [o], etc.:
OE tunʒæ > tunʒe (tongue)
OE meri > mere (E. poet. mere «lake»)
OE fuʒul > fuʒol (fowl)
Very often, the weakening resulted in the loss of an unstressed vowel. After
long syllables it occurred earlier and much more often than after short ones.
Gt flōdus – OE flōdu, flod (flood)
Compare: OE scip (sg) – scipu (pl) (ship – ships), OE scēap (sg) – scēap (pl)
(u was lost) (sheep – sheep).
Note. This is the reason why the plural of the nouns sheep, deer and swine is
identical in form with the singular.
Sometimes new unstressed vowels developed, especially before r, l, n, e.g.

Gt wintrus – OE winter
OE finʒr – finʒer
Gt fugis, OI fugl – OE fuʒul, fuʒol (fowl)
OE tācn – tācen (token).
In spite of the long process of weakening, the OE final unstressed syllables
contain various vowels – a, o, u, e, i: helpan (to help), huntoþ (hunting), sunu
(son), writen (written), Frencisc (French)
In comparison with the later stages of its development, OE strikes one as
language with developed endings, which justifies the name given to it by the
well-known English philologist H. Sweet – the period of full endings.
2.5.8. Consonants
The OE consonant system included the following sounds: labial: p, b, m, f,

v; forelingual (dental): t, d, þ, ð, n, s, r, l; mediolingual (palatal): k΄, g΄, x΄, ΄ j;
back lingual (velar) k, g, x,, h, ŋ.
30
There were no separate voiced phonemes [v], [z], [ð]. Voiceless phonemes
[f], [s], [θ] were voiced in intervocal position and between a vowel and a voiced
consonant [f>v], [s>z], [θ>ð] (voicing), but it was not reflected in spelling.
OE wulf – wulfas[v]
OE grǣs – grasian [z]
OE bǣþ – baþian [ð], NE bath [ba:θ] – bathe [beið]
A voiced fricative when final was unvoiced: flēoʒan – flēah.
Among the OE consonants there were many velar consonants, few sibilants
(s, z) and no affricates. During the Late OE, the formation of the sibilants and
affricates took place.
2.5.9. Palatalization of Velar Consonants
By the end of the OE period there were only two velar consonants left: [g],
[k]. Most of them (g, k,, x,) were palatalized before a front vowel and
sometimes after a front vowel, unless followed by the back vowel [a]. However,
the written representation of these sounds did not change during the OE period:
[k>k΄], [g>g΄].Later palatal consonants developed into affricates: [k΄> t] –
[g΄>dʒ].
Palatalization affected the following consonants and clusters:
c, sc, ʒ, cʒ. [k΄] approached the affricate [t]: OE cīld > child, OE cīcen
>chicken
sc [sk΄] approached the sibilant []: OE sceort > short, OE fisc > fish.
ʒ and cʒ [g΄] approached the affricate [dʒ ]: OE senʒean > singe, OE ecʒ
>edge, OE brycʒ] > bridge.
The changes were reflected in spelling by the digraphs since 13 c.
Palatalization did not take place before those front vowels that became such
as a result of the palatal mutation: OHG kuning – OE cyninʒ (king). This fact
shows that the process of palatalization began before the palatal mutation.
2.5.10. Assimilation, Metathesis, Doubling of Consonants,

Loss of Consonants
(1) Due to assimilation before n, m the cluster fn often becomes mn,

e.g. fn >mn stefn > stemn (voice); fm>mm wīfman > wimman
(2) The consonant d becomes voiceless t when followed or preceded by a
voiceless consonant: d > t bindst >bintst
Another phonetic process of the OE period is metathesis, a phonetic change,
when two sounds exchange their places. Most frequently, it affects the consonant
r and occasionally some other sounds:
OE þridda > þirda (third); āscian > āxian (ask)
31
Doubling of consonants is interrelated with palatal mutation. The sound i or
j after raising a vowel was lost and caused doubling of consonants (in spelling) or
lengthening (in pronunciation): tǣlian> tellan (tell), sǣtian > settan (set)
Loss of consonants is connected with lengthening of vowels: OHG fimf
(G.fünf) – OE fīf (five), OHG uns – OE ūs, OE sæʒde > sǣde.
2.6. OLD ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY
Like Russian Old English was a synthetic or inflected type with a developed
system of parts of speech: the noun, the adjective, the numeral (nominal parts of
speech or nomina), the verb, the adverb, the preposition, the conjunction and the
interjection.
2.6.1. Old English Noun: General Characteristics
OE nouns possessed the categories of number, case and gender. There were
two numbers (sg and pl), four cases (nominative, genitive, dative and accusative;
(in most declensions the latter coincided with the nominative) and three genders
(masculine, feminine and neuter).
OE gender was a lexical-grammatical category. Sometimes a derivational
suffix referred a noun to a certain gender, e.g. abstract nouns with the suffix -þu
were feminine: OE lenʒþu (length):
Nomina agentis with the suffix –ere were masculine: OE fiscere (fisher);
nomina agentis with the suffix –estre were feminine: bæcestre (a woman baker).
Some nouns denoting human beings corresponded to sex division into males
and females, e.g. fæder (father), man (man), sunu (son) were masculine; dohtor
(daughter), mōdor (mother) (were feminine); some nouns contradicted sex
division: wīf (woman) was neuter; wīfman was masculine.
The division into genders was in a certain way connected with the division
into stems, though there was no direct correspondence between them.
According to the stem-building suffix, OE nouns were divided into several
groups.
In OE, there was only one stem-building suffix –r denoting relationship.
Other stem-building suffixes either fused with the endings or were lost altogether.
Thus, the division of OE nouns according to stems had only a historical
significance.
The majority of OE nouns belonged to the a-stems, ō-stems and n-stems.
Note. With the change of IE o >GC a and IE ā > Gc ō IE o-stem became Gc

a-stem and IE ā-stem became Gc ō-stem and they are treated as such by many
authors.
It has become traditional to call the declensions of stems ending in a vowel

«strong», of n-stem – «weak» and to designate all other declensions as minor.
32
Vowel Stems
Strong Declensions
a-stems ō-stems i-stems u-stems
masculine, neuter feminine all genders masculine,

feminine
Consonant Stems
Weak Minor declensions
declension
n-stems root-stems r-stems es-stems
all genders masculine, feminine masculine, feminine neuter
2.6.2. Vowel Stems Strong Declension
2.6.2.1. a-stems
A-stems were either masculine or neuter. The two genders differed only in
the nominative and accusative plural: masculine nouns had the ending –as; in the
neuter nouns the ending depended on the number of syllables and on the
shortness or length of the root syllable: monosyllabic nouns with a short root
syllable had the ending-u, with a long root syllable they had no ending at all.
Dissyllabic nouns with a short root syllable had no ending, with a long root
syllable they had the ending –u.
stān (stone), scip (ship), land (land)
Masculine gender Neuter gender

Case Sg Pl Sg Pl Sg Pl
number number number number number number
Nom. stān stānas scip scipu land land
Gen. stānes stāna scipes scipa landes landa
Dat. stāne stānum scipe scipum lande landum
Acc. stān stānas scip scipu land land
Cf. OE Dat.sg lande, OE Dat.pl landum – ModR Dat.sg земле, Dat.pl землям
The a-stem declension played a very important role in the history of English
noun inflections. The ending –es of the genitive singular has eventually
developed into ModE ’s of the possessive case and the ending –as of the
nominative and accusative plural developed into the plural ending -(e)s of
ModE. Thus, the two productive endings of modern English nouns go down to
the paradigm of the OE a-stems.
Since the ending –u of the neuter nominative and accusative plural regularly
disappeared after long syllables the form of the plural became identical with that
of the singular.
Sg. Nom. Acc. word wīf (wife) scēap (sheep) dēor (deer)
Pl. Nom. Acc. word wīf scēap dēor
33
Eventually nouns of the type «word», «wife» have acquired the regular
plural ending –s, while sheep, deer, swine have retained their uninflected plurals.
a-stems were usually subdivided into pure a-stems, ja-stems and wa-stems.
Some peculiarities of their paradigm are connected with the semivowels [j] and
[w] of the stem-building suffix. The a-stem declension corresponds to the second
declension of Russian and Latin
2.6.2.2. ō-stems
ō-stems are all feminine. In the nominative singular monosyllabic nouns with
a short root syllable had the ending –u, with a long root syllable and disyllabic
nouns had no ending at all.
caru (care), lār (folk-lore), feðer (feather)

Feminine gender
Nom. caru cara lār lāra feðer feðera
Gen. care cara lāre lāra feðere feðera
Dat. care carum lāre lārum feðere feðerum
Acc. care cara lāre lāra feðere feðera
The ō-declension corresponded to the first or ā-declension of Russian or

Latin. Cf.
R рука, нога, L silva (wood). The declension has left no traces in ModE.
ō-stems are usually subdivided into pure ō-stems, jō-stems and wō-stems.
2.6.2.3. i-stems
i-stems comprised nouns of all three genders. The masculine and neuter i-
stems did not differ much in their declensions from the a-stems. The declension
of feminine stems differs slightly from the declension of the ō-stems: in the
nominative and accusative cases singular they have no endings, like ō-stems, in
the plural they may have the ending –a. The root vowel has undergone mutation.
hyll (hill), flǣsc (flesh), cwēne (woman)

Masculine gender Neuter gender Feminine gender
Nom. hyll hyllas flǣsc flǣsc cwēn cwēne, -
a
Gen. hylles hylla flǣsces flǣsca cwēne cwēna
Dat. hylle hyllum flǣsce flǣscum cwēne cwēnum
Acc. hyll hyllas flǣsc flǣsc cwēn cwēne, -a
2.6.2.4. u-stems
34
u-stems included nouns of masculine and feminine genders. Case endings of
both genders coincided. The ending of the nominative and accusative singular
depended on the shortness or length of the root syllable. In the nominative and
accusative singular nouns with a short root syllable had the ending –u, those with
a long root syllable had no ending at all.
sunu (son), hand (hand)

Masculine gender Feminine gender
Case Sg number Pl number Sg number Pl number
Nom. sunu suna hand handa
Gen. suna suna handa handa
Dat. suna sunum handa handum
Acc. sunu suna hand handa
u-stems correspond to Latin nouns of the 4-th declension, such as fructus
(fruit)
2.6.3. Consonant Stems: Weak Declension, Minor Declensions
2.6.3.1. n-stems (weak declension)

n-stems (weak declension) comprised many masculine and feminine nouns
and only a few nouns of neuter gender: OE ēaʒe (eye) and OE ēare (ear). They
had only two forms in the singular: one form for the nominative case and the
other – for genitive, dative and accusative (homonymy of case endings).
Masculine n-stems in the nominative singular ended in –a, feminine and neuter
ones - in –e.
oxa (ox), ēare (ear), heorte (heart)
Nom. oxa oxan ēare ēaran heorte heortan
Gen. oxan oxena ēaran ēarena heortan heortena
Dat. oxan oxum ēaran ēarum heortan heortum
Acc. oxan oxan ēaran ēaran heortan heortan
The element -n was originally a stem-building suffix, which has acquired a

new grammatical function. Cf.
OE ox-en-a, Russian: им-ен-а, имен; сем-ен-а, сем-ян.
The ModE plural ending -en in oxen comes back to the OE -an in oxan
plural. The ending –an (ModE -en) was later extended to some nouns of other
declensions, e.g. children, brethren.
2.6.3.2. r-stems
35
r-stems include five masculine and feminine nouns denoting relationship:
fæder (father), brōþor (brother), mōdor (mother), dohtor (daughter), sweostor
(sister). The dative case singular of the nouns brōþor, mōdor, dohtor has
mutation.
fæder (father), brōþor (brother)
Masculine gender
Case Sg number Pl number Sg number Pl number
Nom. fæder fæderas brōþor brōþor
Gen. fæder, -es fædera brōþor brōþra
Dat. fæder fæderum brēþer brōþrum
Acc. fæder fæderas brōþor brōþor
mōdor (mother), dohtor (daughter,) sweostor (sister)

Feminine gender
Case Sg Pl Sg Pl number Sg Pl number
number number number number
Nom. mōdor mōdru, - dohtor dohtor,-tra,- sweostor sweostor
a tru
Gen. mōdor mōdra dohtor dohtra sweostor sweostra
Dat. mēder mōdrum dehter dohtrum sweostor sweostrum
Acc. mōdor mōdru dohtor dohtor,-tra,- sweostor sweostor
tru
r-stems correspond to the Russian nouns мать, дочь and to the Latin nouns
of the 3-rd declension: pater, māter; r-stems are probably the only stems that have
survived in ModE.
2.6.3.3. es-stems
Es-stems comprised nouns of the neuter gender, though this [s] had long changed
into [r] due to rhotacism. In the singular they were declined like neuter a-stems, but in
the plural they had a specific inflection, not found outside that group.
lamb (lamb), cealf (calf), cild (child)

Neuter gender
Case Sg Pl Sg Pl Sg Pl number
number number number number number
Nom. lamb lambru cealf cealfru cild cild,cildru
Gen. lambes lambra cealfes ceafra cildes cild(r)a
Dat. lambe lambrum cealfe cealfrum cilde cildrum
Acc. lamb lambru cealf cealfru cild cild,cildru
Note. «Cild» had also an uninflected Nom. Acc. Pl. «cild». In ME «cildru»
changed into «childre» and acquired an additional plural ending by analogy with
the n-stem, hence children.
36
Later the endings of the a-stems spread to all the forms of the es-stems
nouns. Es-stems correspond to the Russian es-stems nouns: небо – небecа, чудо
- чудеса, слово – словеса and to Latin nouns of the 3-rd declension: genus sg –
genera pl (gender), opus sg – opera pl (work).
2.6.4. Root-Stems
Nouns with root-stems differed in their morphological structure from all

other types: they had never had any stem-building suffix, so the endings were
added to the root. Nouns of this type represent the oldest layer of words, going
back to the period when there was no division of nouns into stems. Root-stems
included nouns of all three genders. In the dative case singular and in the
nominative and accusative plural there are traces of mutation.
man(n) (man), fōt (foot), bōc (book), ʒōs (goose)

Masculine gender Feminine gender
case Sg Pl Sg Pl Sg Pl Sg Pl
Nom. man(n) men(n) fōt fēt bōc bēc ʒōs ʒēs
Gen. man(n)es manna fōtes fōta bōce bōca ʒōse ʒōsa
Dat. men(n) mannum fēt fōtum bēc bōcum ʒēs ʒōsum
Acc. man(n) men(n) fōt fēt bōc bēc ʒōs ʒēs
Note. The original form of the dative singular and nominative and
accusative plural must have contained the sound [i] that caused mutation: dat.sg.
fēt < Gc* fōti; nom., acc. pl. fēt < Gc *fōtis. Cf. R мышь – мыши.
When the endings were later lost the only difference between the singular
and the plural was the root vowel, and this difference has continued in ModE
irregular plural forms, e.g.
OE tōþ – tēþ tooth – teeth
OE ʒōs - ʒēs goose – geese
OE man(n) – men(n) man – men
OE mūs – mӯs mouse – mice
OE lūs – lӯs louse – lice
A few nouns that belonged to that stem, such as bōc-bēc (book-books),
hnute –hnyte (nut-nuts) conformed to the general pattern of forming the plural by
suffixing (e) s: books, nuts.
2.6.5. Pronouns
37
There were several classes of pronouns in OE: personal, demonstrative,
interrogative and indefinite. Relative, possessive and reflexive pronouns were in
the process of developing and were not always separated from the four main
classes.
2.6.5.1. Personal Pronouns

OE personal pronouns had three persons. It is expedient to treat the pronouns
of the 1-st and 2-nd persons separately because of their peculiarities: (1) they
were the only words in OE which distinguished 3 numbers; singular, dual and
plural, (2) unlike the pronouns of the 3-rd person they had no gender distinctions,
(3) they had more suppletive forms than other pronouns.
Originally personal pronouns, like nouns, distinguished between four cases:
nominative, genitive, dative, accusative but soon they began to lose some of their
case distinctions: the forms of the dative case of the pronouns of the 1-st and the
2-nd persons were often used instead of the accusative case and finally the two
cases fused.
1-st person 2-nd person

Case Sg Pl Dual Sg number Pl Dual
number number number number number
Nom. ic (I) wē (we) wit (we þū (thou) ʒē (ye) ʒit (you
two) two)
Gen. mīn ūre (our) uncer þīn (thine) ēower incer
(mine) (your)
Dat. mē (me) ūs (us) unc þē (thee) ēow inc
(you)
Acc. mē (me) ūs (us) unc þē (thee) ēow inc
(you)
Except for the loss of the dual number, these pronouns have been preserved
in ModE (with the regular sound changes), though the forms thou, thine, thee,
and ye are archaic.
The personal pronouns of the 3-rd person are demonstrative by origin.
Though the initial h of English he is thought to have been an innovation of the
Anglo-Frisian group (Cf. G er, R он) it is interesting to correlate he and here
that and there.
The personal pronouns of the 3-rd person had three genders: masculine,
feminine and neuter and one form for all the genders in the plural.
Sg number Pl number
Case Masculine gender Neuter gender Feminine All three
gender genders
Nom. hē (he) hit (it) hēo hīe (hī, hӯ)
Gen. his (his) his hire (her) hiera (hyra)
Dat. him (him) him hire (her) him
38
Acc. hine hit (it) hīe hīe (hī, hӯ)
Only five OE forms have developed into NE. The rest have been lost or
replaced. The genitive case of personal pronouns could be used as an attribute
(like a possessive pronoun): sunu mīn (my son), his fæder (his father).
2.6.5.2. Demonstrative Pronouns

There were two demonstrative pronouns in OE: the prototypes of this and
that. They distinguished five cases (instrumental, the fifth, had a special form
only in the masculine and neuter singular), two numbers, three genders and had
only one form for all genders in the plural: sē (тот), sēo (та), þæt (то), þā (те);
þes (этот), þēos (эта), þis (это), þās (эти).
Declension of the Demonstrative Pronoun sē

Sg number Pl number
Feminine All three
Case Masculine gender Neuter gender
gender genders
Nom. sē þæt sēo þā
Gen. þæs þæs þǣre þāra ( þǣra)
Dat. þǣm þǣm þǣre þām (þǣm)
Acc. þone þæt þā þā
Instr. þӯ (þon) þӯ (þon) – –
Declension of the Demonstrative Pronoun þes
Sg number Pl number
Masculine Feminine All the three
Case Neuter gender
gender gender genders
Nom. þes þis þēos, (þīos) þās
Gen. þisses þisses þisse þissa
Dat. þissum þissum þisse þissum
(þeossum) (þeossum) (þeossum)
Acc. þisne (þysne) þis þās þās
Instr. þis (þys) þis (þys) – –
Note. Forms with the diphthong -eo- are due to back mutation.
The meaning of the pronoun sē often weakened, it approached the definite

article: sē mann (the man), sēo sǣ (the sea), þæt lond (the land). This was usually
accompanied by the loss of stress and by the change of the form itself sē>se: se
cyninʒ «the king» (the example is from The Voyage of Wulfstan)
2.6.6. Adjectives
39
OE adjectives possessed the categories of number (singular and plural),
gender (masculine, feminine and neuter), case (nominative, genitive, dative,
accusative and, partly, instrumental) and degrees of comparison (positive,
imperative and superlative).
As in other Gc languages most adjectives in OE could be declined in two
ways: according to the weak and to the strong declension. The adjective had a
strong form when used predicatively and when used attributively without any
determiner. The weak form was used when the adjective was preceded by a
demonstrative pronoun or the genitive case of personal pronouns.
Endings of the strong declension coincided with the endings of a-stems of
nouns for adjectives in the masculine and neuter and of ō-stems in the feminine.
Some endings in the strong declension of adjectives are similar to the endings of
pronouns: -um for dative singular, -ne for accusative singular masculine, -r in
some feminine singular and plural endings. Therefore, sometimes, the strong
declension of adjectives is called pronominal. Strong forms were associated with
the meaning of indefiniteness, weak forms – with the meaning of definiteness.
A few adjectives were always declined as strong: eall (all), maniʒ (many),
ōþer (other). Several others were always weak: adjectives in the comparative and
superlative degrees, ordinal numerals, the adjective ilca (the same).
As for the weak declension, adjectives were declined like n-stems nouns,
except that in the genitive plural the pronominal ending -ra is often used instead
of the weak -ena. Sometimes the weak declension of adjectives is called nominal.
2.6.6.1. Strong Declension of Adjectives

wīs (wise) dol (foolish)
Nom. wīs wīse wīs wīs wīs wīsa
dol dole dol dolu dolu dola
Gen. wīses wīsra wīses wīsra wīsre wīsra
doles dolra doles dolra dolre dolra
Dat. wīsum wīsum wīsum wīsum wīsre wīsum
dolum dolum dolum dolum dolre dolum
Acc. wīsne wīse wīs wīs wīse wīsa
dolne dole dol dolu dole dola
Inst. wīse – wīse – –
dole – dole – –
Note. Adjectives with a short root syllable, like dol, retained the ending –u
in the nominative singular feminine and neuter, and accusative plural neuter,
whereas adjectives with a long syllable, like wīs, had already lost it.
2.6.6.2. Weak Declension of Adjectives

Sg number Pl number
40
Case Masculine Neuter Feminine All genders
Nom. wīsa, dola wīse, dole wīse, dole wīsan, dolan
Gen wīsan, dolan wīsan, dolan wīsan, dolan wīsra, dolra (-
ena)
Dat. wīsan, dolan wīsan, dolan wīsan, dolan wīsum,dolum
Acc. wīsan, dolan wīse, dole wīsan, dolan wīsan, dolan
Inst. wīsan, dolan wīsan, dolan wīsan, dolan wīsum,dolum
2.6.6.3. Degrees of Comparison

Qualitative adjectives acquired inflections for degrees of comparison. The
ending of the comparative degree was –ra, of the superlative – ost/est: heard -
heardra - heardost (hard– harder – hardest).
These endings were an OE development of the Gc suffixes *-ozan and *ōsta
or *-izan and -*ista.This accounts for cases like lanʒ - lenʒra - lenʒest, where the
mutation of [a>e] was caused by the sound [i] and the ending –est was the
reduction of -ista (i-umlaut):
eald – ieldra (< *ealdira) –ieldest ( < *ealdist) (old – elder – eldest)
stronʒ – strenʒra (< *stronʒira) - strenʒest (< *stronʒist) (strong –stronger
– strongest)
ʒeonʒ - ʒinʒra (<*ʒeonʒira) - ʒinʒest (< *ʒeonʒist) (young – younger –
youngest)
Several adjectives had suppletive forms of comparative and superlative degrees
(from different roots with the same meaning). This group is the oldest. It goes back
to the period when there were no suffixes of comparative and superlative degrees
and different degrees of qualities were denoted by different words:
ʒōd – betera – betst (good – better – best)
yfel (evil)- wiersa – wierest (bad – worse – worst)
micel (large) –māra – mǣst (much – more – most)
lӯtel – lǣssa – lǣst (little – less – least)
This group survived in ModE.
2.6.7. Adverbs
OE adverbs were represented by two types: primary (not derived from any
other part of speech) and secondary (derived from some other part of speech).
Among the primary adverbs there were many pronominal words such as þā
(then), þǣr (there), hēr (here), nū (now), sōna (soon), oft (often), eft (again), swā
(so), etc.
2.6.7.1. Formation of Adverbs

41
The secondary adverbs were derived from nouns or adjectives.
The most productive adverb-forming suffix was -e. By origin it was the
ending of the instrumental case, singular, neuter of the strong declension of
adjectives. The adverbialization of this case form produced many adverbs of
adjectival nature. Cf.
dēop (deep) – dēope (deeply), lånʒ (long) - lånʒe, fæst – fæste (fast), heard
– hearde (hard).
The following adverbs originate from case forms of nouns, e.g.
þances (thanks to), dæʒes (by day), nihtes (by night) – from the genetive
singular; hwilum (sometimes) – from the dative plural; sāre (sorely) – from the
instrumental case.
Note. In Russian many adverbs are formed by means of adverbialization of

the instrumental or genetive case of nouns: ночью, верхом, боком, сего дня >
сегодня, etc.
OE adjectives formed from nouns with the help of the suffix -līc could
further form adverbs by adding -e, e.g.
frēondlīc (friendly) – frēondlīce, cræftlīc (skillful) – cræftlīce.
Gradually a great number of adverbs in -līce were formed, and -līce got
regarded as an adverbial suffix which could be used beside or instead of -e, e.g.
hearde – heardlīce.
Later -līce developed into -ly. Some adverbs in -līce were derived from
adjectives that had no suffix -līc, e.g.
beald (bold) - *bealdlīce.
2.6.7.2. Comparison of Adverbs

Adverbs derived from adjectives were capable of forming degrees of
comparison. The comparative was regularly formed with -or and the superlative
with -ost, e.g.
heard – heardor – heardost, wīde (widely) – wīdor – wīdost.
However, there were remnants of an earlier type with IE –is, e.g.
Gt airis (earlier).
In OE the ending disappeared leaving only mutation of the root vowel, e.g.
Adverb Comparative
lonʒ lenʒ
feorr fierr
sōfte sēft
ēaþe īeþ
A few adverbs, corresponding to adjectives with suppletive degrees of

comparison, also derive their degrees of comparison by the suppletive method, e.g.
42
Adverb Comparative Superlative
wel (well) betre best
yfele (badly) wiersa wierst, wyrst
micele (much) māre mǣst
lӯtle lǣsse lǣst
2.6.8. The Verb: General Characteristics
The system of the OE verb was more complicated than that of any other part of
speech. The OE verb had the categories of (1) number – singular and plural, (2)
person – the first, the second and the third, (3) tense – the present and past, (4) mood,
(5) aspect – perfective and imperfective, (6) voice – in the system of participles.
The category of number was much more developed than in modern English.
Number was distinguished not only in the indicative, but in the subjunctive and
the imperative as well. There were only two numbers, singular and plural. The
OE verb had already no dual ending, so that the plural forms of the verb went
together with the dual forms of the personal pronouns too.
OE verbs distinguished only two tenses, the present and the past. There was
no future. A present tense form conveyed a future action with adverbs of future
time as in modern English «I leave tomorrow». There were two tenses not only in
the indicative but in the subjunctive as well. In OE the future action could also be
expressed with the help of verb phrases made up of the verbs sculan and willan
with the infinitive that will develop into analytical forms later.
There were three moods in OE, the indicative, the subjunctive and the
imperative. The subjunctive was more widespread than in modern English.
Until recently it was believed that OE verbs distinguished two aspects – the
perfective (expressed with the help of some prefixes (a-, be-, for- and particularly
the prefix ʒe-) and the imperfective (without prefixes). E.g. the OE dōn, wrītan
are regarded as corresponding to the Russian imperfective делать, писать,
whereas OE ʒedōn, ʒewrītan – to the Russian perfective сделать, написать.
Nevertheless, such correspondence was irregular. Some verbs could express a
perfective meaning without prefixes, e.g.
cuman (come), brinʒan (bring), while verbs with the prefix ʒe- could also
change the lexical meaning of the verb without making it perfective: beran
(carry) - ʒeberan (bear a child).
The verb understandan (understand) could express both perfective and
imperfective meanings and correspond to the Russian понимать and понять.
Hence, it is difficult to speak of aspect as a stable category in OE.
There were also other means of expressing aspect meanings: verb phrases made
up of the verbs habban, bēon, weorðan (have, be, become) and the present or past
participle. Phrases with the present participle were used to describe a prolonged state
or action: þǣr wǣron sume of ðæm bōcerum sittende (there were some of those
learned men sitting). The phrases with the past participle indicated a completed
43
action: hīe hæfdon þā heora stefn ʒesetenne (they had that term finished). Later such
phrases will develop into analytical forms (Continuous and Perfect).
In OE there remained almost no traces of the IE medio-passive forms in the
finite verb. Only the opposition of the two participles, the active present
participle and the passive past participle wrītende - ʒewrīten presents a partial
voice opposition. The passive meaning was coveyed also with the help of past
participle of transitive verbs used as predicatives with the verbs bēon (be) and
weorðan (become). Gradually such phrases turned into the analytical forms of the
passive voice.
OE verbs fell into two main classes: strong (verbs with vowel gradation) and
weak (verbs with suffixation). They differed from each other in building their
past tense forms and past participle. Strong verbs employed a root vowel
interchange whereas weak verbs used the dental suffix -d or -t.
OE verbs showed changes in forms in the present tense singular for the 1-st,
2-nd and 3-rd persons.In the past tense singular one form was used for the 1-st
and 3-rd persons, the other – for the 2-nd. In the plural, one form was used for all
persons.
Conjugation of verbs
The Indicative Mood
faran (a strong verb of the 6-th class)
secʒan (a weak verb of the 3-rd class)
Present tense Past tense
Person Sg number Pl number Sg number Pl number
1 ic fare, secʒe wē ic fōr, sæʒde wē
2 þū far(e)st, ʒē farað, þū fōre, sæʒdest ʒē fōron,
sæʒst hīe secʒað hē fōr, sæʒde sæʒdon
hīe
3 hē far(e)ð, sæʒð
2.6.8.1. Strong Verbs

Strong verbs are more ancient than the verbs with suffixation. They were not
very numerous (above 300) and even in OE non-productive. But as they denoted
actions connected with the man’s life, they occurred very frequently.
In modern English a verb like write is characterized by three basic forms: the
infinitive (write), the past tense (wrote) and the past participle (written). All the
other forms are built on their basis. In OE the corresponding verb had four basic
forms: (1) the infinitive (wrītan), (2) the past singular (wrāt), (3) the past plural
(writon), (4) the past participle (writen). In modern English only the verb «be» has
preserved different forms for the past singular (was) and the past plural (were).
According to vowel gradation, strong verbs fell into seven classes. Classes
from one to five used the most ancient type of vowel gradation: i-a-zero. The 6-th
44
class used gradation of a-o-zero type. Class 7 included reduplicating verbs that
originally built their past tense forms by means of repeating the root-morpheme.
classes infinitive past sg past pl past NE NG

participle
1 wrītan wrāt writon writen write
2 cēosan cēas curon coren choose

3 sinʒan sanʒ sunʒon sunʒen sing
4 niman nam nōmon numen (take) nehmen
5 cweðan cwæð cwǣdon cweden say
6 faran fōr fōron faren (go) fahren
7 hātan heht, hēt hehton, hāten heißen
hēton
Vowel gradation i-a-zero is manifest only in the 1-st class. In all other classes,
vowel gradation is not evident because of other phonetic processes. The traces of
reduplication in the verbs of the 7-th class almost disappeared, reduplicated syllables
fused with a long vowel or a diphthong into one root syllable.
As we see, basic forms of all the strong verbs have the same endings
irrespective of their class: -an for the infinitive, no ending in the past singular, -
on – in the form of past plural, -en for past participle.
2.6.8.2. Weak Verbs

Weak verbs are of much later origin than strong verbs. Unlike strong verbs
(with vowel gradation), weak verbs (with suffixation) were highly productive. As
a rule, they were derivatives of nouns, adjectives and strong verbs (built usually
from the second stem past singular) or borrowed, e.g.
OE fōda (noun) – fēdan (verb) NE food – feed
OE ful (adjective) – fyllan (verb) NE full – fill
OE fand (past sg of the strong verb findan) – fandian NE find – find out
Most of them were built with the help of the stem-building suffix – i/j which
together with the ending –an of the infinitive gave -jan or -ian. The suffix – i/j
caused mutation, e.g.:
OE talu (noun) – tellan < *tælian (verb) NE tale – tell
OE ful (adjective) – fyllan < fullian (verb) Gt fulljan NE full – fill
The form of the dental suffix (the main feature of weak verbs) serves as
classification basis. Weak verbs in OE usually fell into three classes. As the past
plural was derived from the past singular by replacing the -e ending of the
singular by the -on ending of the plural, every weak verb had three forms:
infinitive, past tense and past participle. The stem of the past participle was
always identical with that of the past tense.
Class I The 1-st class formed its past in -ede (after short stems) or -de (after
long stems) and its past participle in -ed. The 1-st class further fell into into two
subclasses: regular and irregular verbs.
45
Regular verbs always had mutation of their root vowel due to an original -i-
element in the suffix.
1 verbs with a long root vowel dropped the suffix -i-, e.g.: dēman – dēmde –
dēmed < dōmian.
2 (a) verbs with a short root vowel followed by -r kept the -i- without
lengthening the –r, e.g.
nerian – nerede- nered (save);
(b) verbs with a short root vowel followed by a consonant other than r
dropped the -i- and their consonant was lengthened (doubled in spelling), e.g.
fremman-fremede-fremed < *framian (commit)
After voiceless consonants the dental suffix -de changed into -te, owing to
assimilation. In the past participle both -t and -ed are found, e.g.
cēpan – cēpte – cēpt, cēped.
If the verb stem ended in «a consonant + d or t » past participle could end
either in -d, -t or -ded, -ted, e.g.
sendan – sende – send, sended (send); restan – reste – rest, rested
Irregular verbs of the 1-st class had the -i, which produced mutation. As a
result, the vowel of the past tense and past participle differed from that of the
infinitive, e.g.
sellan – sealde – seald < *sælian sælde > sealde (sell), tǣcan – tāhte – tāht
(teach), þencan – þōhte - þōht (think).
The verb brinʒan stands apart from other irregular verbs: it is weak and
strong at the same time. It belongs to the 3-rd class of the strong verbs and has
the alternation brinʒ / branʒ, but its past tense and past participle are derived by
means of the dental suffix. The resulting forms are those of class I weak verbs:
brinʒan – brōhte (<*branhte) – brōht (<*branht).
The verb būan (inhabit) also has a peculiar system of forms: its past tense is
that of a weak verb, but its past participle takes the n-suffix, like a strong verb:
būan – būde – būn.
Class II A very large number of verbs belonged to this class. These verbs
originally had the suffix -oja in the infinitive, later reduced to -i-, which could no
longer produce mutation as the process of mutation had already been over. In the
past tense and past participle there was the suffix -ō reduced to o in an unstressed
position. Hence, their infinitive ending was -ian (Gt -ojan), that of the past tense -
ode, of past participle -od. The root vowel remained unchanged and was the same
in all the stems:
hatian – hatode – hatod
lufian – lufode – lufod
Class III In OE the 3-rd class was already in the process of disintegration.
There were very few verbs in this class. Only three of them have survived:
libban – lifde –lifd (live)
habban – hæfde – hæfd (have)
secʒan - sæʒde/sǣde - sæʒd /sǣd (say)
46
The infinitive of these verbs had doubling of consonants obviously due to
the original -i- in the suffix. The suffixes of the past tense and past participle
were added directly to the root.
But for minor differences, the endings of the present tense of the weak verbs are
identical with those of the strong verbs. The endings of the past tense are different.
Conjugation of Weak Verbs
The Indicative mood
cēpan (keep), tellan (tell), lufian (love), libban (live)

Class 1 Class 2 Class 3
Number Person Present Past Present Past Present Past
Singular 1 ic cēpe, ic cēpte, ic lufie lufode ic libbe lifde
telle tealde
2 Þū þū þū lufodest þū lifdest
cēpest, cēptest, lufast liofast
tellest tealdest
3 hē hē hē lufaþ lufode hē lifde
cēpeþ cēpte, liofaþ
telleþ tealde
Plural 1,2,3 wē, ʒe, wē, ʒe, wē, ʒe, wē, ʒe, wē, ʒe, wē, ʒe,
hīe hīe hīe hīe hīe hīe
cēpaþ, cēpton, lufiaþ lufodon libbaþ lifdon
tellaþ tealdon
2.6.8.3. Preterite-Present Verbs

Besides strong and weak verbs, there was a small yet important group of
verbs in OE, which shared some of the characteristics of both strong and weak
verbs. Out of 12 verbs of the group, six have survived in Modern English: can,
may, must, ought, shall and dare.
They are termed preterite-presents because their present tenses are derived
from old preterites (the past of strong verbs), whereas their past is built on the
pattern of the past of weak verbs.
Originally they were strong verbs whose past tense forms gained a «present»
meaning and ousted the present tense forms. It is noteworthy, that in modern
English the present tense of the verb can is similar in form to the past tense of the
verb to run - ran, and may resembles lay, the past tense of the verb to lie. To fill
the deficiency left in the preterite (past) these verbs developed new past tense
forms of the weak pattern. Most verbs did not have a full paradigm and were in
this sense «defective».
47
The origin of the present tense forms of preterite-presents from the past of
strong verbs, which had no inflexion, explains the absense of the ending - (e) ð in
the 3-rd person singular present
Conjugation of Preterite - Present verbs

Present tense
cunnan (verb of the 3-rd class)
Person Singular number Plural number
1 ic cann wē
2 þū canst ʒē cunnon
3 hē cann hīe
Most of the preterite – presents did not indicate actions but expressed a kind
of attitude to an action denoted by another verb or an infinitive which followed
the preterite-present, but some of them could also be used as notional verbs.
Eventually preterite–presents developed into modal verbs.
Basic Forms of Preterite-Present Verbs

Class Infinitive Present Present Past Past Meaning
sg pl Participle
1 witan wāt witon wiste ʒewiten know
1 āʒan āʒ, āh āʒon āhte āʒen possess
2 duʒan dēaʒ duʒon dohte -– worthy
3 cunnan cann cunnon cūðe cūð, be able
cunnon
3 unnan ann unnon ūþe ʒeunnen give, grant
3 þurfan þearf þurfon þorfte – need, want
3 durran dearr durron dorste – dare
4 sculan sceall sculon scēolde/ – be bound
scolde
4 munan mon,man munon munde munde/ remember
emunnen
5 – mōt mōton mōste – be able
maʒan mæʒ maʒon meahte – be able
– ʒeneah ʒenuʒon ʒenuʒon – sufficient
It will be noted that in modern English must and ought another shifting of
meaning from«past» to «present» has taken place: the secondary weak preterites
have acquired a «present» meaning thus making the former strong preterites with
the «present» meaning superfluous. This accounts for the fact that the verbs must
and ought to have only one form each.
48
2.6.8.4. Anomalous verbs
There were two anomalous verbs with irregular forms in OE.
OE willan resembled the preterite-presents in meaning and function. It showed
an attitude of the speaker to an action with the meaning of volition and desire, e.g.
þā ðe willað mīnes forsīðes fæʒnian –those who wish to rejoice in my death.
The past tense form of willan wolde resembled sceolde, the past tense of the
preterite-present sculan, sceal, and together with sculan it developed into an
auxiliary (NE shall, will, should, would).
Forms of this verb often coalesce with the negative particle ne: ne wille >
nylle, nelle, ne wolde > nolde, etc.
OE dōn combined the features of weak and strong verbs. It formed a weak
past tense form with a vowel interchange and past participle in –n: dōn – dyde –
(ʒe)dōn. It always had mutation in the 2-nd and 3-rd persons singular.
Conjugation of the verb dōn
Indicative mood
1 ic dō wē ic dyde wē
2 þū dēst ʒē dōþ þū dydest ʒē dydon
3 hē dēþ hīe hē dyde hīe
2.6.8.5. Suppletive Verbs

There were two suppletive verbs in OE: bēon (be) and ʒān (go). The
paradigm of these verbs contained several different roots.
The verb «to be» in OE had two parallel forms of the infinitive: bēon and
wesan. The present tense forms were those of the verb: bēon. The past tense
forms were those of the strong verb wesan (class V).
Conjugation of the verb bēon
Indicative mood
1 ic eom, bēo wē ic wæs wē
2 þū eart, bist ʒē sind, bēoþ þū wǣre ʒē wǣron
3 hēis, biþ hīe hē wæs hīe
Note 1. The forms wesan- wæs- wǣron followed the pattern of class V
(strong verbs).
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Note 2. The verb ʒān also had a suppletive past tense form ēode later
replaced by went, the past tense of the weak verb wendan (class I) (turn).
Conjugation of the verb ʒān
Indicative mood
1 ic ʒā wē ic ēode wē
2 ʒē ʒāþ þū ēodest ʒē ēodon
þū ʒǣst
hīe hē ēode hīe
3 hē ʒǣþ
2.7. OLD ENGLISH SYNTAX
The syntactic structure of a language is interrelated with its morphology. In a

highly inflected language a word mostly carries with it indications of its class, of its
function in the sentence, of its relations to other words. It depends but little on its
position in the sentence, and it may do without special function words. Thus, in the
OE sentence Ohthere sǣde his hlāforde… the ending –e of hlāforde showed that the
noun was in the dative case and that it fulfilled the function of indirect object. With
the loss of inflections, the dependence on the word order grows. Much of difference
between the OE and modern syntax is of that nature. In the ModE translation
«Ohthere said to his lord…» the relations formerly expressed by the dative case
ending are now denoted with the help of the preposition to.
The syntax of the sentence in OE was relatively simple and reflected mostly
a spoken language.
The order of words in a sentence was comparatively free as contrasted with
the rigid word order of ModE. It often depended on logical and stylistic factors
rather than grammatical constraints.
The most widely used patterns of word order in declarative sentences were
the following:
(1) Direct word order: the subject preceded the predicate, as in modern
English, e.g.
Ōhthere sǣde his hlāforde… Ohthere said to his lord…
(2) Inverted word order: the predicate preceded the subject, as in modern
Russian. Such word order took place when the sentence began with an adverbial
modifier or object, e.g.
Þā fōr hē norþryhte… - then he travelled Northward
Fela spella him sǣdon þā Beormas … – The permians told him many
stories …
(3) The so-called synthetic word order or the «the framing structure»
(subject…predicate) mostly found in subordinate clauses, as in modern German.
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The subject came at the beginning of the clause, the predicate – at its end, all the
secondary parts enclosed between them, e.g.
Ōhthere sǣde his hlāforde, Ælfrēde cyninʒe, þæt hē ealra Norðmonna
norþmest būde. – Ohthere said to his lord, King Alfred, that he had lived farther
North than all Northmen.
In interrogative sentences the predicate preceded the subject, e.g.
hwæt sceal ic sinʒan? – What shall I sing?
The subject of a sentence or clause was frequently unexpressed in OE as the
form of the predicate and the context showed the doer of the action, e.g.
Þā com hē…tō þæm tūn-ʒerefan…; sæʒde him, hwylce ʒife hē onfēnʒ -
then he came to the town-sheriff, (he) said to him what gift he had received.
There were some types of impersonal sentences alien to ModE but close to
the Russian мне хочется, меня знобит, e.g.
Him þūhte - it seemed to him (cf.methinks)
In OE a multiple negation was perfectly normal. The most common
negative particle was ne placed before the verb. It was often accompanied by the
negative words, mostly nāht or nōht (>not) or nā / nō (never), e.g. hit nā būton
ʒewinne næs (næs = ne wæs) - it was never without war.
Nān ne dorste nān þinʒ āscian – nobody dared ask anything (none)
Ne con īc nōht sinʒan – I cannot sing anything.
In verb word combinations grammatical government was of much greater
importance in OE than in ModE. Some verbs required a dependant noun in the
genitive case, others - in the dative (an indirect object), e.g.
bīdan windes (wait for the wind); hys mēder (to his mother).
Transitive verbs required a dependant noun in the accusative case (a direct
object), e.g.
ēoð wyrcan (compose songs), andsware onfōn (receive an answer).
An object either followed or preceded the verb.
The comparative freedom of word order in OE is evident not only in the
predicative word combinations but in attributive combinations of words too. It is
by no means rare to find modifiers following their nouns instead of preceding
them, especially in direct address, e.g.
wine mīn – my friend, Bēowulf lēofa – dear Beowulf.
A genitive attribute usually preceded the noun it modified but sometimes it
followed it, e.g.
Norþmanna land – the Northmen’s land, sunu Beanstanes – Beanstan’s son.
Noun modifiers agreed with their head noun in gender, number and case,
e.g. on þǣm ōþrum þrīm daʒum (dative, pl, masculine) in those three days
Prepositions (which usually preceded the nouns or pronouns they governed)
often followed them, sometimes at a considerable distance, e.g.
þā stōd him sum man æt – then some man stood near him.
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The OE interrogative pronouns hwæt (what), hwilc (which), hwa (who) etc.
were not used as relative pronouns. Relative clauses were usually introduced by
the invariable þe alone or with a demonstrative pronoun, e.g.
þā com hē…to þæm tūn-ʒerefan sē þe his ealdorman wæs – then he came to
the town sheriff the one that was his alderman.
OE complex sentences often involved correlation. There were many sets of
correlative elements among the commonest were þā… þā, þonne…þonne, swā…
swā, e.g.
þā hē ðā þās andsware onfēnʒ, þā onʒan hē sōna sinʒan… – when he
received this answer, (then) he soon began to sing,
þonne hē ʒeseah þā hearpan him nēalecan, þonne ārās hē for scome from
þǣm symble. ..– when he saw the harp approach him, he rose for shame from the
feast;
swā feor swā hē meahte -as far as he could.
The subjunctive mood was an additional means of indicating subordination
in OE complex sentences. It was typical of clauses of condition, concession,
cause, result, purpose, indirect questions. It was by no means rare in independent
sentences or principal clauses, e.g.
Him wǣre betere þǣt hē nǣfre ʒeboren wǣre – It would have been better
for him if he had never been born; þēah man swā nē wēne – although people do
not think so; hē wolde…fandian hū lonʒe þæt land norþryhte lǣʒe – he wanted to
find out how far that land stretched to the North.
2.8. THE OLD ENGLISH VOCABULARY
The vocabulary of OE consisted of common IE and specifically Gc words.

Common IE words reflected the most important notions and phenomena of
life. Here belong:
(1) nouns denoting members of the family: fæder, mōdor, dōhtor, sweostor,
sunu;
(2) parts of the human body: heorte, nosu, tōþ;
(3) plants, celestial bodies: treow (tree), mōna (moon);
(4) adjectives denoting basic colours, size, different qualities: rēad, mycel
(large), nīwe (new),
(5) numerals from 1 to 100,
(6) pronouns: ic(I), þū(you), wē(we), se (the), hwā (who),
(7) verbs denoting basic actions and states: bēon (be), dōn (do), standan
(stand), sittan (sit), etan (eat), licʒan (lie).
Common Gc words are typical only of Gc languages. They also denote
basic notions. Here belong:
(1) nouns denoting parts of the body: hēafod, hand, finʒer:
(2) animals: fox, cealf;
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(3) time, natural phenomena: ʒear (year), wicu (week), tima (time), dæʒ,
sumor (summer), winter;
(4) dwelling: hūs (house), rum (room);
(5) adjectives denoting colour, size: ʒrēne, bleo(blue), lytel, hēah;
(6) verbs of sense perception: hīeran (hear), sēon (see);
(7) verbs of speaking: sprēcan (speak), andswarian (answer);
(8) specifically English words not found in other Gc languages: wimman
(wīf + man), hlāford (hlāf + weard), ealne weʒ (all the way)
The extent of the OE vocabulary is estimated at 20 to 30 thousand words –
less than a tenth part of the number of words registered by modern English
dictionaries. It is also estimated that about 85% of the English vocabulary,
particularly its rich poetic part, has been lost and replaced over centuries mostly
by Latin or French loanwords.
2.8.1. Word-Building
As to the means of enriching the vocabulary, derivation and composition

were more common in OE than borrowing.
Suffixation
Suffixation was the most productive means of word derivation in OE.

Suffixes were mostly used to build nouns and adjectives and seldom – to build
verbs.
OE nouns denoting the doer of the action (nomina agentis) were derived
from noun and verb stems with the help of the suffix –ere (masculine) and –estre
(feminine), which was less common: fiscere < fisc (fish) – fisherman, bacere <
bacan (to bake) – baker, bæcestre – a woman baker, webbestre < wefan (to
weave) – a woman weaver.
Abstract nouns were formed with the help of the notional words dom
(doom), scipe (state), hād (title, rank): wīsdom (wisdom), frēondscipe
(friendship), cildhād (childhood).
The noun man was used as a suffix too: wīfman < wīf (woman), sǣman
(seaman) < sǣ (sea), aldorman < ealdor (elder), Norðman < norþ (North).
The suffixes –unʒ, -inʒ derived feminine verbal nouns from verbs: ʒrētinʒ
(greeting) < ʒrētan, leornunʒ (learning) < leornian.
The suffix -inʒ was used to derive patronymics and to show the descent of a
person: Æþelwulfinʒ - son of Æþelwulf, Centinʒ - a man coming from Kent,
cyninʒ - head of clan or tribe (OE cynn - clan).
The suffix -nis, -nes was used to derive abstract nouns from adjectives:
īdelnis (idleness) <īdel (idle), swētnes (sweetness) < swēte (sweet). Some abstract
53
nouns were derived from adjective stems without any suffix by mutation: lenʒþu
< lonʒ (long- length), strenʒþu < stronʒ (strong - strength).
Adjectives.The most productive suffixes were: -iʒ , -isc, -ful(l), lēas -lic.
The common Gc suffix -iʒ derived adjectives from noun stems: hāliʒ (holy)
< hāl (whole), īsiʒ (icy) < īs (ice).
The suffix –lic < līc (body) was used to derive qualitative adjectives:
frēondlic (friendly), luflic (full of love).
From the notional words full and lēas (deprived) suffixes –ful and –lēas
were formed which derived adjectives from abstract noun stems: ārlēas (deprived
of honour) < ār (honour), synnfull < synn (sin), sāwollēas (lifeless, deprived of
soul) < sāwol (soul), slǣplēas (sleepless) < slǣp (sleep).
The suffix –isc (usually accompanied by mutation) derived adjectives mostly
denoting nationality: cf. Englisc – Anʒles (English-Angles), Frencisc – Franca
(French, Frank, France).
Verbs. There were some verb- forming suffixes in OE. The most productive
suffix was -i, which usually caused mutation: fyllan < full + ian (fill), lǣran <
lār+ian (learn). The suffix –lǣc was formed from the verb lǣcan (come near,
approach): nēalǣcan (approach) < nēah (near), ǣfenlǣcan cf R вечереть) < ǣfen
(evening).
Prefixation
The prefixes mis- and un- were the most productive in OE and they survived
in ModE.
The prefix mis- denotes negation or bad quality: misdōn (do badly) < dōn
(do), mislīcian (displease) < līcian (like), misfaran (go astray) < faran (go).
The prefix un- has a negative meaning: uncuþ (unknown), unfæʒer (unfair)
< fæʒer (fair), unfrið (war) < frið (peace). Sometimes it means «bad»: undǣd
(misdeed).
Composition
Composition was widely used in OE. Many nouns, adjectives and verbs
were formed by joining two (or more) stems: Nouns were built on the following
patterns:
noun + noun: hwæl (whale) + hunta (hunter) > hwælhunta – a hunter for
whales
adjective + noun : hāliʒ (holy) + dæʒ (day) > hāliʒdæʒ - a holiday
Adjectives were built on the patterns:
noun + adjective: win (wine) + sǣd > winsǣd (satiated with wine)
adjective + adjective: īs (ice) + ceald (cold) > īsceald (icecold)
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The most peculiar pattern of compound adjectives was the so-called
«bahuvrihi» type:
adjective + noun as the second component of an adjective: stiþ (strong) +
mōd (character) > stiþmōd (brave), mild (mild) + heort (heart) > mildheort
(merciful).
Sometimes the first component takes the form of the Genetive case: Mōnan-
dæʒ (Moon’s day) – Monday; Tiwes-dæʒ (literally Tiw’s day – the war god’s
day) – Tuesday; Wednes-dæʒ (Woden’s day - the war god’s day) –Wednesday;
þunres-dæʒ (Thunor’s day, the god of thunder’s day) – Thursday; Friʒe-dæʒ
(Friya’s day) – Friday; Sæternes-dæʒ (Saturn’s day) – Saturday; Sunnan-dæʒ
(Sun’s day) – Sunday.
The names of the days of the week remind us that early Englishmen were
pagans and worshiped the sun, and the moon and many gods.
Compound verbs are rare: efenþrōwian (literally suffer together) –
sympathize.
2.8.2. Borrowings
Borrowed words constituted only a small part of the OE vocabulary (about

600 words) but they are of great interest to a student of English as they reflect the
contacts of the English with other cultures. OE borrowings come from two
sources: Latin and Celtic.
Latin borrowings
The role of the Latin influence on the OE vocabulary was determined

because of such events as the Roman occupation of Britain (for almost 400
years), the influence of the Roman civilization and the conversion of the English
to Christianity.
There are two layers of Latin borrowings in OE. The 1-st (oldest) layer
contains words taken over either directly from the Romans before Anglo-Saxons
settled in Britain or from Romanized inhabitants of Britain. The 2-nd layer
consists of words taken over after the introduction of Christianity.
The 1-st layer indicated new things and concepts unknown to the ancient
Britons before their contact with Romans, e.g., some articles of trade and
agricultural products. Though Germanic settlers kept domestic animals and knew
milk it was from Romans that they learned how to make butter and cheese. From
them they learned about other fruit, vegetables and spices.Germanic settlers knew
only apples. Romans were the first to grow cherries in England.
So the first layer denoted:
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Fruit, vegetables and spices: pere < L pirum (pear), plume < L prunus
(plum), cieres < L cerasum (cherries), bete < L beta (beet), pēse < L pisum
(peas), plante < L planta (plant), pipor < L piper (pepper), mint < L menta (mint)
Agricultural products: wīn < L vinum (wine), butere < L butyrum (butter),
cīese < L cāseus (cheese).
Words connected with cooking: cycene < L coquina (kitchen), myln < L
molina (mill), cuppe < L cuppa (cup), disc < L discus (dish).
Words of measurement: pund < L pondō (pound), ynce < L uncia (inch),
mynet < L moneta (mint).
Words pertaining to military affairs: mīl < L millia passum («a thousand
steps») – mile, weall < L vallum – wall, strǣt < L strāta via («a paved road»), the
meaning of the word changed when houses began to be built along the roads,
hence street.
The 2-nd layer consists of words directly or indirectly belonging to the
sphere of religion and church: bīscop < L episcopus < Gk episcopos (bishop),
prēost < L presbyter (priest), munuc < L monachus Gk < monachus (monk),
candel < L candela (candle), scōl < L schola < Gk skhole (school), māʒister < L
magister – (master).
Celtic Borrowings
Celtic borrowings were very few: no more than a dozen names: OE binn –
bin (container for bread), OE bannock – a loaf of home made bread, OE dūn
(hill) – down, OE dun – grey brown colour, OE cradol –cradle (a baby’s bed), OE
cross < L crux (probably through Celtic). In later ages some of the Celtic
borrowings have died out or survived only in dialects: loch – lake, coom – valley.
The OE kingdoms Kent, Deira and Bernica derive their names from the names of
Celtic tribes. Various Celtic designations of river and water were understood by
Germanic invaders as proper names. Ouse, Exe, Esk, Usk go back to Celtic
uisage (water), whisky is of the same origin. Avon, Evon go back to Celtic «river.
Thames, Stour, Dover also come from Celtic. Some elements in Celtic place
names can help to identify them: -comb – deep valley in Batcombe, Duncombe,
Winchcombe; torr – high rock in Torr, Torcross, -llan – church in Llandaft,
Llanelly; -pill – creek in Pylle, Huntspill. Many Celtic place names are hybrids:
the Celtic component goes together with a Latin or Germanic component:
Celtic plus Latin: Man-chester, Win-chester, Glou-cester, Lan-caster,
Devon-port.
Celtic plus Germanic: York-shire, Devon-shire, Salis-bury, Canter-bury,
Lich-field, Corn-wall.
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Part 3
MIDDLE ENGLISH
Two great historical events influenced the development of the English
language: the Scandinavian invasions and the Norman Conquest.
3.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
3.1.1. Scandinavian Invasions
Though the Scandinavian invasions of England are referred to the OE

period, their effect on the English language is particularly apparent in ME.
57
Since the 8-th century he Anglo-Saxons began to suffer from the raids of
Scandinavians, mostly Norwegeans and Danes. The Scandinavian searovers,
commonly known as the Vikings, first came to the shores of Britain for plunder.
At the end of the 9-th c. they settled in England, extending their territory
southward from their original foothold in Northumbria until practically all the
land north of the Thames was under their control. Only the kingdom of Wessex
remained independent.In the year 878 Alfred, king of Wessex (years of reign
871-901), gained an overwhelming victory over Scandinavians (or the Danes, as
they were mostly called at that time) and made them sign Wedmore peace treaty.
The Scandinavians had to withdraw from Wessex and Western Mercia but they
remained in the Eastern, Northern and central parts of England and that territory
went under the name Danelaʒu (literally «Danish law»). The Scandinavians, in
their turn, recognized the nominal supremacy of the king of England. The Danish
occupation of Britain lasted for 200 years. It witnessed diverse political events:
the reconquest of Danelaw under Alfred’s successors, the renewal of
Scandinavian invasions in the late 10-th century under Sweyne and in 1016 the
political annexation of England by Denmark under the Danish king Knut (or
Canute) (years of reign 1016-1035). Scandinavian power in England lasted until
1042, when it was overthrown, and the power of the OE nobility was restored
under the king Edward the Confessor.
During the years of the occupation, the Danish settlers and the English
intermarried and intermixed easily as they did not differ in social rank or the level of
culture and customs. Moreover, there was no linguistic barrier between them. The
Scandinavian dialects spoken by the invaders belonged to the same North Germanic
languages and their phonetic and grammatical structure was similar to that of OE.
The process of assimilation went on until the Scandinavians were absorbed
into the local population both ethnically and linguistically. If you look at the map
of England, you will see that in the areas of the heaviest settlement of the
Scandinavians up to 75% of the place-names are Danish or Norwegian.
Altogether more than 1400 English villages and towns bear names of
Scandinavian origin: with the element –thorp or -be meaning «village»:
Woodthorp, Linthrop, Grimsby; with the element toft – «a piece of land»:
Brimtoft, Lowestoft.
The Scandinavian influence manifests itself primarily in the vocabulary:
several hundreds words were borrowed from the Scandinavian dialects (600
according to some sources, 900 – according to other sources). Especilly great is
the Scandinavian influence on the morphological and phonetic aspects of the
English language.
3.1.2. The Norman Conquest
The Norman conquest of England began in 1066. It proved to be a turning

point in English history and had a considerable effect on the English language.
After Edward the Confessor’s death his cousin William, Duke of Normandy,
who had long claimed the English throne brought a big army of Normans to
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England by promise of land and plunder. He killed the king Harold of Wessex
and his faithful thanes and defeated the English at the battle of Hastings. The
same year William the Conqueror was crowned king of England. He mercilessly
suppressed the numerous rebellions of the English. Anglo-Saxon aristocracy
vanished almost completely: some of them perished in battles and uprisings,
others were executed, the remainder fled from the country. The most mportant
positions in the government, army and church belonged to Normans, who arrived
in England in great numbers. During the reign of William the Conqueror (1066-
1087), about 200 thousand of Frenchmen settled in England. Their influx lasted
for about two centuries (up to 1203) and ended only with the loss of lands and
possessions in Normandy by John Lackland. All the estates and lands of the
Anglo-Saxon nobles were granted to Norman barons, and if you look at the map
of England, you will see that some villages are still named by the names of the
Normans to whom William had given them, e.g., Norton Mandeville in Essex.
Some Englishmen nowadays have Norman names such as Harcourt,
Montgomery, Montague. The Norman Conquest resulted in the strengthening of
King’s power and feudalism.
In spite of their Scandinavian origin Normans (< Norþman) were French
speakers and bearers of French culture. They spoke the Northern dialect of
French, which differed in some points from Central Parisian French; therefore,
their tongue in Britain is often referred to as Anglo-French or Anglo-Norman.
The French language became the official language of the country and remained
so for about 3 centuries. It was the language of the King’s court, the government,
the church and the army. No one, who wished to be considered a gentleman,
spoke English. Even teaching was done in French.
Nevertheless, England never stopped speaking English, though it was
spoken by the lower classes in the towns and peasants in the villages (mostly in
the Midlands and in the North).But since most of them were illiterate, the English
language was almost exclusively used for spoken communication.
Gradually many common people mastered French, the language of the
conquerors, so that the number of bilingual people (using both languages) was
constantly increasing. Under such circumstances, the two languages could not but
influence each other and when in the 14-th century English came out victorious in
its fight with the French language it emerged in a changed condition. The French
influence was especially great in the vocabulary of the English language and its
orthography.
The earliest sign of the victory of the English language over French was the
famous proclamation issued by Henry III in 1258 in French, Latin and English.
In mid-14-th century the influence of English rose. In 1362, Parliament ruled
that courts of law should conduct their business in English as «French was too
little known». The same year king Edward III made his speech in English in
Parliament itself. Since 1363, the English language was used in Parliament
discussions. Since 1477, English was used as the language of teaching in schools.
Thus, by the end of the 14-th c. supremacy of Anglo-Norman came to an end, and
the English language became the official language of England.
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3.2. MIDDLE ENGLISH DIALECTS RISE OF THE LONDON DIALECT
The Norman Conquest put an end to the supremacy of Wessex and its dialect
(West Saxon). As French became the official language of the country, each
dialect had only local significance.
A precise map of all the dialects, probably, will never be made for lack of
sources and their unreliability and because of dialect mixture.
It is usual to speak of three main groups of dialects in ME: Northern,
Midland and Southern. Northern dialects were spoken to the North of the river
Humber. Midland dialects were spoken between the Humber and the Thames.
Southern dialects were spoken to the South of the Thames; one of the most
peculiar among them was the dialect of Kent.
The basis of the dialects remained more or less the same as in OE. In OE there
was the opposition between Anglican and Saxon. In ME the most significant was the
opposition between North and Midland (i.e. Northumbrian and Mercian).
The Northern dialects developed from OE Northumbrian. In Early ME they
included several local dialects: the Yorkshire and the Lancashire dialects and also
what later became known as Scottish.
Mercian served as the basis for Midland dialects, further subdivided into
East Midland and West Midland.
The Southern group included the dialect of Kent and the South Western
dialects.
The dialects differed from each other by essential phonetic and
morphological features.
A special position among the dialects belonged to the dialect of London. As
London was situated on both banks of the Thames, its dialect had both Southern and
East Midland elements. But gradually the latter took the upper hand, and when the
dialect of London developed into the language of all the country it did so essentially
as an East Midland dialect with comparatively few elements from other dialects.
The development of the dialect of London into a national language was due
not only to the exceptional political and economic role of London as the capital
and greatest commercial centre of the country, but to some other factors as well:
(1) the popularity of Chaucer, «the father of English poetry», who contributed
greatly to the conversion of the London dialect into a literary language,
(2) Wycliffe’s translation of the Bible from Latin into English in 1389,
(3) introduction of printing.
In the year 1476 William Caxton printed the 1-th English book. It was an
event of great importance for the development of the English language. It helped
to form a unified standard language on the basis of the London dialect.
With the development of the English national language, the territorial
dialects did not disappear. They exist even now, but their role is greatly reduced.
They are subordinated to the national language, which is the most important
means of communication used in all the spheres of activity of the English people.
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3.3. EARLY MIDDLE ENGLISH WRITTEN RECORDS
For a long time, due to the Norman Conquest, there were two written
languages in England, both of them foreign: Latin and French. The first works in
the vernacular began to appear towards the end of the XII c. They were mostly of
a religious nature. With the disappearance of West Saxon as a literary standard in
ME each scribe or author tended to relapse into his native dialect.
The London dialect of those centuries is represented by several important
documents: Henry III’s Proclamation of 1258, poems by Adam Davy (early
XIVc.), the works of Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400), John Gower (1325-1408)
and John Wycliffe (1320-1384).
There are written records in other dialects.
The Scottish dialect is represented by the poem Bruce written by Barbour
(1387) - a poem about the king Bruce’s struggle for the freedom of Scotland.
The Northern dialect is represented by Cursor Mundi, an amplified version
of the Gospels and The Prike of Conscience, a religious poem attributed (perhaps
wrongly) to Richard Rolle of Hampole.
The Midland dialect is represented by «Ormulum», a religious poem
(composed by the monk Orm), and Anglo-Saxon Chronicles known as the
Peterborough Chronicle.
The Southern dialects are represented by the poem Brut composed by
Layamon – a free rendering of the Brut d’Angleterre by Wace, an Anglo-Norman
writer of the 12- th c.
3.4. WORD STRESS
In comparison with the fixed accent in OE, the word accent in ME acquired
greater positional freedom and began to play a more important role in word
derivation. These changes were caused (1) by the phonetic assimilation of
thousands of loanwords adopted during the ME period and (2) by the rhythmic
tendency of a regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Probably, when French loanwords first entered the English language they
retained their original stress on the ultimate or penultimate syllable. But this kind
of stress could not be preserved for long as it did not conform to the English
(Germanic) system. Gradually (as the loanwords were assimilated), the word
stress shifted to an earlier syllable in the English fashion with quantitative
changes which accent involves.
In disyllabic loan-words the accent moved to the first syllable, and
unaccented final vowels shortened (if long) or became weak in accordance with
the general Germanic tendency, e.g.
honour [ho΄nu: r > ΄honur], village [vi΄lα:dʒə > ΄vilidʒ].
Under the rhythmic tendency in words of three or more syllables, a
secondary stress would arise at a distance of one syllable from the original stress.
This new stress was either preserved as a secondary stress or else became the
only or the principal stress of the word, e.g.
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ME recommenden [reko΄mendən] > NE recommend [‚rekə΄mend], ME
comfortable [komfor΄tablə > NE ΄kлmfətəbl]
In ModE later borrowings or those in less common use often retain the
French accentual pattern with the stress accent on the final syllable, e.g.
ho΄tel, ma΄chine.
Nowadays the shifting of stress in French loanwords is still at work. Cf.
[gə΄rα:ʒ]- [΄gæriʤ] – a thoroughly anglicized form.
Sometimes the shifting of the word stress is attributed not only to the
phonetic tendencies but also to certain morphological factors. Thus, the stress did
not move to the prefixes of many verbs borrowed or built in Late ME and Early
NE, which agrees with the OE rule: to keep verb prefixes unstressed, e.g.
ME ac΄cepten, pre΄senten.
Cf. NE verbs be΄fall, mis΄take, for΄get.
Corresponding nouns (sometimes, but not always) received the stress on the
first syllable: NE ΄present (noun) – pre΄sent (verb); ΄discord (noun) -dis΄cord (verb).
The latter pairs of words show that the role of accentuation has grown: word stress
performs a phonological function as it distinguishes a verb from a noun.
Thus, as the result of specifically English (or rather Germanic) tendencies,
continuously applied to numerous polysyllabic loanwords the entire system of
word accentuation has changed. The position of the word stress has become
relatively free and its phonological application has widened: it can be shifted in
word derivation, though it is never moved in building grammatical forms.
3.5. VOWELS
3.5.1. Unstressed Vowels
The weakening of unstressed vowels, which was typical of all the Germanic
languages and continued during the OE period, became much more intensive in
ME, especially in the Northern dialects, owing to the Scandinavian influence.
Since both OE and OSc belonged to the Germanic group of languages they
had many features in common which facilitated the process of communication. It
often occurred that the root of a word and its meaning were nearly the same in
both languages, while its ending differed.
Cf. nouns: Osc sun-r – OE sun-u (son) Osc syn-ir –OE sun-a (sons), Osc
dag-ar – OE dag-as (days); adjectives: Osc gōd-r – OE gōd (good); verbs: Osc
bind-a – OE bind-an (bind).
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Such words were, naturallly freely used by representatives of both peoples in
their conversations. Only the endings were some hindrance. Luinguists are of the
opinion that such cases accelerated the weakening of unstressed endings.
Most unstressed vowels were levelled and reduced to a sound of the [ə] type,
written e, in some dialects – u and i, e.g.
OE standan > ME standen (stand), OE sunu > ME sone (son), OE seofon >
ME seven (seven).
The leveling of endings is so peculiar a feature of the Middle English period
that Henry Sweet called it the period of levelled endings. Many of such levelled
endings were lost during the later part of the Middle English period.
The unstressed OE [i] often remained unchanged in ME endings: OE Englisc
> ME English.
In certain phonetic conditions, especially between [r] or [l] and [w] there
appeared new unstressed vowels: OE borʒian > ME borwen> borowen (borrow);
OE folʒian > ME folwen > folowen (follow).
Unstressed long vowels were shortened in ME suffixes, e.g. OE -dōm:
OE frēodōm > ME freedom; OE cyninʒdōm > ME kingdom; OE wīsdōm >
ME wisdom
The same process took place in French loan-words when the shift of the
stress left the original long vowel unstressed, e.g.
honour [ho΄nu: r > ΄honu: r > ΄honur]
The unstressed m and n coincided in final position with the resulting n and
later they were lost.
Cf. Dative plural: OE stānum < stān (stone) – ME stǭne(n); OE fiscum <
fisc (fish) – ME fishe(n); OE horsum < hors (horse) – ME horse(n)
The unstressed final n was pronounced if followed by a word beginning with
a vowel; if the next word began with a consonant it disappeared. This rule is
confirmed: (1) by the use of the unstressed OE numeral ān (one), which in ME
turned into an, the indefinite article (an apple but a book) and (2) by the use of
the personal pronouns in the genitive case mī(n) < īc and þi(n) < þū (mӯn eye but
mӯ book). In the predicative function the pronominal –n was preserved, e.g. tis
’min (it’s mine). Compare the use of conjoint (before nouns) and absolute forms
(as predicatives) in ModE: my book, the book is mine.
As the two variants fluctuated in some words –n was preserved, in others it
was lost, e.g. the infinitive lost the ending –en, while the noun oxen < OE oxan
preserved it.
The final n was fixed in Past Participle of some strong verbs, e.g.
given, taken, torn.
It disappeared if there was a nasal in the root of the word, e.g.
come, begin, drunk, won.
In unaccented prefixes OE [o] and [u] mostly remained unchanged, [æ] and
[ā] became [a], [e] usually became [i], e.g.
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OE forʒyfan > ME foryiven (forgive); OE fulfyllan > ME fulfillen (fulfill);
OE ārisan > ME arisen (arise); OE beforan > ME biforen (before).
OE preposition tō changed into ME to.
3.5.2. Stressed vowels
The changes, vowels underwent during the ME period, may be divided into
quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative changes affected only the lengh of a
vowel, while qualitative changes altered the nature of the sound.
3.5.2.1. Quantitative Vowel Changes

In OE quantity was the main basis of correlation in the vowel system: short
vowels were phonemically opposed to long ones, roughly identical in quality.
In later OE and Early ME vowel length began to depend on phonetic
conditions.
Beginning with the IX c. a series of quantitative changes occurred which
influenced greatly the rhythm of the English language.
As already described, in Late OE short vowels were lengthened before the
combinations of consonants -ld, -nd, -mb unless followed by a third consonant:
cīld but cildru.
In the XIII c. short vowels (chiefly a, o, e) were lengthened in stressed open
syllables of disyllabic words while [u] and [i], as a rule, remained unchanged:
a > ā OE talu > ME tāle (tale)
o > ō OE open > ME ōpen (open)
e > ē OE etan > ME ēten (eat)
Sometimes [u] and [i] were lengthened in the same position, but with a
simultaneous change in quality: u > ō, i > ē
u > ō OE dure > ME dōre (door), OE wudu > ME wōde (wood)
i > ē OE wike > ME wēke (week), OE bitel > ME bētel (beetle)
Thus, quantitative and qualitative changes often proceeded together.
Simaltuneously the reverse process of shortening of long vowels took place
in closed syllables.A long vowel before two or more consonants was shortened,
but it remained long in other environments,e.g.
OE dūst > ME dust
OE wīsdom > ME wisdom
OE cēpte > ME kepte
OE mētte > ME mette
OE fēdde > ME fedde
Vowels remained long:
(1) before one consonant, e.g.
OE wīs – ME wīs (wise), OE mētan – ME mēten (meet), OE cēpan –
ME kēpen (keep), OE fēdan – ME fēden;
(2) before consonant clusters belonging to the following syllable (mostly -
st), e.g.
64
OE ēasten > ME ēsten (from the East), OE mǣsta > mǭst;
(3) In polysyllabic words shortening of long vowels took place not only
before two consonants (in the closed syllable) but also before one
consonant (in the open syllable), e.g.
OE hāliʒdæʒ > ME holiday.
As the result of these changes, too long syllables, like cēpte, became shorter,
while too short syllables, like etan, became longer, so that the rhythm of English
speech became more measured.
3.5.2.2. Qualitative Vowel Changes

Both monophthongs and diphthongs underwent radical changes during the
ME period. They affected several monophthongs and all diphthongs and
displayed considerable dialectal variety.
Monophthongs
OE a, o, ō, u, ū, e, ē, ı, ī remained more or less unchanged in ME, while OE

ā, æ, ǣ, y, ӯ, å changed radically.
OE long ā developed into long open Ǭ everywhere but in the Northern dialect.
This new [Ǭ] was of much more open nature than the OE [ ] inherited from OE.
(1) In ME manuscripts, the two types of ō were mostly represented by the
same symbols: o – in open syllables, and oo – in closed ones. Later they were
distinguished not only in sound but in spelling too: [ ] was, as a rule, represented
by the digraph oo and [Ǭ] - by the digraph oa in closed syllables and by the letter
o – in open ones: OE stān > ME stoon, OE āc > ME oak, OE nā > ME no.
Note. ME [ā] from OE [o] in open syllables was also of an open nature and
mostly coincided with [ǭ] from OE [ā]. Therefore, we find the same way of
representation of ME [ǭ] in hope < OE hopa and stone < OE stān.
(2) OE short æ in most dialects developed into short a, e.g.

OE ʒlæd > ME glad, OE æppel > ME appel, OE wæs > ME was.
(3) OE long ǣ changed into long open (more open than ).Thus in ME there
were two types of long ē: an open [ ] and a close [ ]. In ME manuscripts they
were often expressed in the same way: by a single letter e in open syllables and a
double ee in closed ones. Later these different sounds were distinguished also in
writing: [ ] was represented by digraphs ea and [ ] by the digraph ee, e.g.
OE sǣ > ME sea, OE mǣl > ME meal, OE fēlan > ME felen, OE fēt > ME feet.
Note. The sound [ ] developed in ME also as the result of the lengthening

of e in open syllables: OE etan > ME ēten (eat), OE mete > ME mēte (meat)
65
(4) OE å developed into ME o only in West Midland. In all other dialects OE
å changed into a:
West Midland OE lånd > ME lond, OE mån > ME mon, OE lånʒ > ME long.
Other dialects: land, man, lang.
In most cases, the Modern English form is based on that of the Eastern
dialects. Only before -ng forms with o predominate: long, strong, song.
(5) The vowels y and ӯ existed in OE dialects up to the the X c. Then they
changed into i/ ī
in the North-East (NrE): OE hyll > NrE hill (hill), OE fӯr > NrE > fir (fire).
y, ӯ remained unchanged in the South-West (SW)(written u, ui):
OE hyll > SW hull, OE fӯr > SW fuir
y, ӯ were replaced by e, ē in the South East (SE) (Kent):
OE hyll > SE hell, OE fӯr > SE fēr
In most cases ME forms with i/ī predominate. Sometimes the influence of
other dialects is evident. In the word busy the spelling reflects the influence of the
Western dialects. The same is true about the verb to build. The pronunciation of
the verb to bury is due to the South -Eastern dialects, while the spelling is of
Western origin.
3.5.2.3. Monophthongization of Old English Diphthongs

All OE diphthongs were monophthongized as early as the XI c., losing their
second elements. As the result of this change, the vowel sysem lost two sets of
diphthongs, long and short.
(1) As OE short ea represented something like [æə], it developed into a, e.g.
OE eald > ME ald (old).
(2) OE long ēa was reduced to , e.g. OE ēast > ME eest (east).
(3) OE short eo changed into e, e.g.
OE heorte > ME herte (heart), OE steorra > ME sterre (star).
(4) OE ēo > ME long closed (often spellt ee), e.g.
OE cēosan > ME ch sen, OE dēop > ME deep, OE dēor > ME deer.
3.5.2.4. Rise of New Diphthongs

As the result of the vocalization of [j], [] and [w] (that is, their change into
vowels) five new diphthongs were formed whose second element was either [ı]
(written i, y) or [u] (mostly written w). These diphthongs developed as the result
of the following processes: (1) The palatal fricative ʒ [j] developed into [i], (2)
The velar fricative ʒ [] first developed into [w] and then into [u], (3) The
bilabial [w] developed into [u].
The palatal consonant yielded diphthongs in -i, the velar one – diphthongs in -w.
(1) Diphthongs in -i include:
66
[ai < æʒ] (written ai, ay), e.g.
OE dæʒ > ME dai, day;
[ei < eʒ, ēʒ] (written ei, ey), e.g.
OE weʒ > ME wei, wey, OE ʒrēʒ > ME grei, grey
(2) Diphthongs in -w include:
[au < aʒ] (written aw), e.g.
OE laʒu > ME lawe;
[ou < āʒ] (written ow, ou), e.g.
OE āʒen > ME own, OE þōhte > ME thoughte;
[eu < ēow, ēaw] (written ew), e.g.
OE cnēow > ME knew, OE fēawe > ME fewe.
Note 1. The diphthong [au] occurred also in some French borrowings
(sometimes before a nasal, in imitation to Anglo-Norman pronunciation), e.g.
cause, pause, faute, straunge.
Note 2. After a vowel followed by the voiceless spirant h a glide developed
between them, and the diphthong [ou] arose: brōhte > broughte, dāh > dough.
Note 3. Some linguists are of the opinion that the French long [ū] was
replaced by the diphthong [eu] in those areas where OE y [ü] was not preserved,
i.e. everywhere but the South-West, e.g.
fruit was pronounced [freut] in ME, due – [deu]. This is the reason why ME
trewe < OE trēowe has come to be written true and the pronunciation of dew and
due is the same.
Besides the above-mentioned diphthongs it is necessary to mention the
diphthong [oi], mostly found in French borrowings like point (point), vois
(voice), poison.
3.6. EVOLUTION OF CONSONANTS IN MIDDLE ENGLISH
In ME, the opposition of velar consonants to palatal (k – k΄ g – g΄)

disappeared. From OE palatal plosives k΄, g΄ (which had split from the
corresponding velar plosives k and g in Early OE) and the consonant cluster «sc»
three new phonemes arose: [t, ʤ, ]. Under the influence of the French tradition
they began to be indicated by special letters, digraphs and trigraphs: ch, tch, g,
dg, sh, ssh, sch.
OE palatal [k΄] developed into the affricate [t] initially before front vowels,
medially before i and finally after i, e.g.
OE cild > ME child, OE cirice > ME chirche (church), OE ic > ME ich.
Variants with velar «k» also survived: (a) in the Northern dialects and in the
Northern Midlands (presumably due to Scandinavian influence in those areas),
e.g. kirk (church), birk (birch), ik (I). (b) The preservation of velar k in the verbs
sēken (seek) (< OE sēcan), thinken (< OE þyncan) and thenken (think) < OE
þencan may be due to to the influence of the short forms of the second and third
67
persons, sg, present, indicative: sēcst, sēcþ, þēncst, þyncþ where the consonant
was followed by another consonant.
The OE cluster sc changed into [ ], e.g.
OE scip > ME ship, OE sceal > ME shal.
The OE long consonant [g΄] denoted by cʒdeveloped into the voiced
affricate [ʤ], e.g.
OE brycʒ > ME bridge, OE ecʒ > ME edge.
The affricates [t], [ʤ] also came from a different source: they entered the
English language in loanwords from French, e.g.
charme [tarm], gentil [ʤentil] in Anglo-Norman pronunciation.
Some consonants were lost in consonant clusters, e.g.
the initial [h] was lost before r, l, n, e.g.
OE hlāford > ME lord, OE hnutu > ME nute, OE hrinʒ > ME ring.
Before [w] the sound [h] remained longer, especially in the North where OE
[hw] came to be written quh or qwh. In the South [h] was dropped before [w] in
Late ME, and the combination wh was substituted for hw, e.g.
OE hwæt > ME quhat [xwat] – in the North, what [wat] – in the South. You
can still hear the pronunciation [xw] in Northern dialects.
Final «n» was often lost in unstressed syllables, eg.
OE brinʒan > ME bringe(n) (bring)
Medial [v] was often dropped before consonants, e.g.
OE hæfde > ME had
In the forms of the past tense and past participle, the verb māken lost the
sound [k], e.g.
ME mākede – mākde – made, ME māked – mākd – mad.
3.7. SPELLING CHANGES IN MIDDLE ENGLISH
One of the cosequences of of the Norman Conquest was the French

influence on English spelling. Traces of French tradition in writing have stayed
on in English to present day.
The letters not employed by the French gradually went out of use. They
were the letters æ, þ, ð, ʒ.
New letters were introduced, such as g, j, k, q, v.
3.7.1. Changes in the Designation of Vowels
The letter æ was replaced by a, and the letter ǣ was replaced by the letter e,
accompanied by the phonetic change of æ > a, ǣ > e: OE æppel > ME appel, OE
lǣtan > ME leten.
68
The letter y (which had denoted [ü] in OE) came to be used as an equivalent
of the letter i; it represented the sounds [ı] and [j], e.g.
OE night > ME nyght, OE his > ME his, hys; OE dæʒ > ME day.
Moreover, there was a tendency to use the letter «i» at the beginning and in
the middle of words and the letter «y» at the end of a word to separate it from the
next one, as there were often no intervals between words.
The letter o was employed not only for the sound [o] but also for the sound
[u] That happened mostly when u stood close to n, m, v or w, i.e. where too many
vertical lines made reading of a hand-written text difficult, e.g.
OE cuman > ME comen. This is why ME words like come, some, son have
the letter o instead of u.
Many letters changed their signification. The letter u (which had denoted
only one sound [u] in OE) was employed after the French fashion to denote also
the labial front vowel [ü], formerly expressed by «y», e.g.
OE bysiʒ > ME busy. The corresponding long vowel [ü] was usually marked
by ui, e.g.
OE fӯr > ME fuir (fire).
The sound [ū] came to be denoted by the digraphs ou, ow. Moreover, there
was a tendency to use «ow» at the end of a word (occasionally in medial
position) and «ou» in other positions, e.g. OE tūn > ME town, OE sūþ > ME
south, OE nū > ME now.
It became usual to mark the length of a vowel by doubling it, especially in
closed syllables.
Thus, long close [ ] came to be denoted by ee; open [ ] was denoted by ea, e.g.
OE fēt > ME feet, OE swēt > ME sweet, OE sǣ > ME sea.
The sound [e] (chiefly in French borrowings) was also denoted by the
digraphs «ie» or «ei», e.g. ME chief < OF chef, ME deceiven < OF deceiver.
3.7.2. Changes in the designation of Consonants
The consonant ʒ, which was used in OE to denote several phonemes was

gradually replaced by [ɡ] (spellt g) and [j] (spellt y), e.g.
OE ʒōd > ME gōd, OE ʒēar > ME yēr.
Affricates and sibilants came to be indicated by special letters, digraphs and
trigraphs, which came into use mainly under the influence of the French scribal
tradition, e.g.
[t] – ch OE cild > ME child
[ʤ] –dge OE ecʒ > ME edge
In words of the French origin, the sound [ʤ] was represented by the letter j
or g, e.g.
June, joy, judge, courage.
[] – sh, sch, e.g.
OE sceal > ME shal, schal, OE scip > ME ship, schip, OE fisc > ME fish.
69
The interdental [þ, ð] came to be denoted by the digraph th, e.g.
OE þencan > ME thenken (think), OE wiþ > ME with.
The sound [h] was denoted by the digraph gh, e.g. OE dohtor > ME doghtor,
OE niht > ME night.
The letter «c» came to denote the sound [k] before back vowels. Before front
vowels and before consonants (mostly n) it was replaced by the letter k, e.g.
OE caru > ME care, OE cind > ME kind, OE drincan > ME drinken, OE
cnāwan > ME knowen (know).
Sometimes, after short consonants, the sound [k] was represented by the
digraph ck, e.g.
OE bæc > ME back
The cluster [kw] (denoted in OE by cw) came to be spellt qu, e.g.
OE cwēn > ME queen
The letter «v» was introduced to denote the consonant [v], which in ME
became a separate phoneme, e.g. OE lufu > ME love [΄luvə]. However, this letter
soon came to be treated as an allograph of the letter u. The allographs u and v
became interchangeable, e.g.over – ouer, use – vse, love – loue.
3.8. CHANGES IN THE GRAMMATICAL SYSTEM
3.8.1. Preliminary Remarks
One of the leading tendencies in the ME period was the gradual loss of
synthetic ways of expressing the relations between words and the development of
analytical means.
The loss of synthetic forms was especially manifest in the gradual reduction,
levelling and loss of endings, a process closely connected with the fixation of
word stress on the first or root syllable. The results of that process were already
felt in OE, where one has to speak of zero endings in such forms as mån –men,
ʒōd (sg) - ʒōd (pl), etc.
Some originally different case forms coincided even in OE, e.g. the
nominative and the accusative of most declensions.
In the XI c. the levelling of endings grew much more intensive, which was
partly due to Scandinavian influence.
Many originally different forms of the same word merged, e.g. OE scipe,
scipu, scipa merged in ME shipe. OE sprecan, spræcon, sprecen merged in ME
sp(r)ēken (speak)
It is quite comprehensible that the effect of such merging on the system of
grammatical endings was devastating. Nevertheless, some of the old grammatical
endings have survived to this day.
3.8.2. The Noun
3.8.2.1. Gender
70
By the end of the ME period gender as a grammatical category was lost with
other distinctive features of noun declensions nearly everywhere. It came to be a
purely lexical category, denoting division into inanimate and animate nouns, with
a further subdivision of the latter into males and females. There was already a
mixture of masculine and neuter genders in Late OE: the neuter a-stems differed
from the masculine a-stems only in the nominative and accusative plural. In all
other cases they shared the same endings. Later the masculine and neuter genders
began to mix with the feminine gender. With the reduction of endings to -e [ə] in
OE n-stems the differentiation between masculine, which ended in –a, and
neuter/feminine, which ended in –e, disappeared. Gender disintegration was
partly due to the mixture of English and Scandinavian dialects. The gender of
cognate words in both languages did not always coincide. Cf. OE steorra
(masculine) –Osc stjarna (feminine) (star); OE bāt (masculine) – Osc beit (neuter)
(boat); OE beorg (masculine) – Osc bjarg (neuter) (hill, mountain). The decay of
gender distinctions was also due to a great influx of French loanwords, which had
no formal signs of gender.
In Chaucer’s time, the OE grammatical gender was already lost. In the
sentence «the yonge sonne hath in the Ram his halve course y-ronne» (Chaucer)
the pronoun «his» points either to the masculine or neuter gender, while in OE
sunne belonged to feminine (sēo sunne). In the following example «she» points
to a woman, while «it» replaces the noun mous, which in OE was feminine: She
wolde wepe, if that she saw a mous,
Caught in a trappe, if it were deed or bledde (Chaucer)
3.8.2.2. Number
The noun preserved the distinction of two numbers, but their expression
changed. With the loss of gender distinctions the ME plural ending -es (from OE
-as of the nominative and accusative plural, a-stem, masculine) spread to most
nouns of other stems. Moreover, there was a great difference between the OE
ending-as and the ME -es: while the OE -as expressed number and case
simultaneously (which is typical of inflexional languages), the ME -es expresses
number alone and it is not connected with any notion of case.Thus, in ME the
expression of number is separated from that of case.
At first, the plural ending -s spread in Northern dialects.
In the South, however, nouns retained the plural ending -en of the weak
declension, e.g. oxen, eyen. The weak -en ending was even added to some nouns
of other stems. Thus, the noun child (former -es-stem) acquired the plural form
children instead of childre < OE cildru.The nouns of former r-stem also acquired
the plural ending -en: brōther – brethren, doghter – doghtern, suster – sustren.
The noun cow (former root-stem) got the plural form kine.
However, in Late ME the plural ending -es became predominant
everywhere. The strengthening of -es may be partly attributed to its coincidence
with the plural inflexion -s in Anglo-Norman.
Some nouns of the former a-stems, neuter gender in the long-stemmed
variant preserved the uninflected forms, e.g. sheep, deer, swine, hors (horse).
71
Several nouns of the root-stems preserved different vowels in the singular
and plural forms, e.g. man – men, foot – feet, tooth – teeth, woman – women, etc.
Thus, mutation became a grammatical sign of the plural number.
What surprises the student of English is why nouns like man, foot or tooth
did not conform to the general tendency and have preserved their peculiar way of
forming the plural. Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky offers the following explanation: (1)
these words are used very frequently, which usually impedes the influence of
analogy. It is noteworthy that the greatest number of irregularities are found
among the words, which are used most frequently, such as the verb to be, the
personal pronouns, etc. (2) The difference between the singular and the plural of
these nouns is not merely grammatical, but to some extent lexical too: the plural
forms have an additional «collective meaning». Cf. R человек – люди. The same
might be true with regard to the nouns sheep, deer, fish, etc.
3.8.2.3. Decay of Noun Declensions

The OE system of noun declensions was undergoing a constant process of
simplification and unification during the ME period. It was a slow process, which
covered several centuries.
That process was much more intensive in the North than in the South.
The variety of types of declension found in OE no longer existed. With a few
exceptions, the nouns had all gone over to the former masculine a-declension. In the
South, however, the n-stem declension remained almost intact for a long time.
In Early ME in Northern and Midland dialects the endings of the
nominative, dative and accusative cases, singular fell together, giving rise to the
Common case. The genitive case survived, but its usage decreased compared to
OE. It gradually narrowed its meaning to that of possession, hence the name
Possessive case. However, unlike ModE, the possessive case was not restricted to
nouns denoting living beings.
Old English Middle English

Cases Cases
Nominative
Dative Common
Accusative
Genetive Genetive
(Possessive)
In Late ME, the two case system was established everywhere.

Cases The form of the Common case mostly goes back to the OE nominative
and accusative cases, sometimes – to the OE dative case. Cf. OE Nominative,
Accusative hwæl – Dative hwæle. In ModE, the form of the Dative case remained:
whale < OE hwæle. Sometimes two different case forms of the same word split into
2 words, e.g. OE Nominative, Accusative sceadu > ME shāde (shade), OE Dative
sceadwe > ME shadwe (shadow). Cf. ModE mead – meadow.
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Genetive The singular ending -es spread to all numbers, so that, in fact,
there were no distinctions between singular and plural (The inflexional word-
form derivation was replaced by agglutination). So it became possible to join es
to a group of words.
In 14-th c. literary texts (Midland dialect) the predominant type of
declension is:
Case Singular number Plural number

Common stǭn dǭr stǭnes dǭres
Possessive stǭnes dǭres stǭnes dǭres
Several nouns with a root-stem, which had mutation in the nominative and
accusative plural had the following system of declension:

Common man, fōt men, fēt
Possessive mannes, fōtes mennes, fētes
In the XIII c. a specific possessive construction appeared, containing a

possessive pronoun Arthur his men > Arthur’s men; the painter’ys name, where
’ys is regarded as a shortened form of his – literally «the painter his name». The
initial h- of the pronoun his (due to its usually unstressed position) was often lost
and coincided with the genitive endings -es, -is, -ys, promoting the use of the
inflectional Genetive with animate nouns. In the XVII – XVIII cc. a new graphic
marker of the Genetive came into use: the apostrophie, e.g. man’s, children’s.
In ME the Genetive case was not used in the function of an object to a verb
or to an adjective. It was used only attributively. However, even in this function it
had a rival – phrases with the preposition «of». In some texts there appears a
certain differentiation: the inflectional Genetive is preferred with animate nouns,
while the of-phrase is more widely used with inanimate ones.
With the loss of case endings, the role of prepositions grew even more
important. Many prepositional phrases came to denote the relations formerly
expressed by case forms. Some meanings of the preposition of were akin to those
of the ME possessive case, e.g. the droghte of March (the drought of the March).
Phrases with the preposition to replaced the Dative case in expressing the indirect
object, e.g. Frenssch of Paris was to hire unknowe (Chaucer) (The French of
Paris was unknown to her).
By the end of the ME period the agreement of the adjective with the noun in
gender and case was lost. Tha first category to disappear was gender (XI c.). The
instrumental case had already fused with the dative by the end of the OE period.
Towards the end of the 13-th c., all case distinctions were lost. So, in the attributive
73
group, consisting of a noun and an adjective, the case was expressed only once by
the noun, e.g. Nominative, sg: good dai – Possessive, sg : good daies.
There remained only some number distinctions and distinctions between
strong and weak forms.
The peculiar suffix -en (< OE -an) of the weak declension lost its n and was
reduced to –e. Thus, the paradigm of the adjective consisted of four forms
distinguished by a single vocalic ending.
3.8.3.1. Declension of Adjectives in Late Middle English

Declension Singular number Plural number
Strong yong yonge
Weak yonge yonge
In other words, it was still possible to distinguish between the strong and
weak form of an adjective in the singular. Cf. the yonge sonne (young sun) (weak
declension) – a yong Squier (a young squire) (strong declension) and between the
singular and plural form of a strong adjective, e.g. smale faules maken melodye
(Chaucer) (plural form).
Some adjectives ending in -e, e.g. wēste, wilde, swēte, rīce were already
unchangeable, contributing to the decay of adjectival endings.
In the Northern dialects the declension of adjectives was completely lost, the
only surviving -e was dropped and the adjective became invariable, except for
degrees of comparison.
3.8.3.2. Degrees of Comparison

The OE suffixes of the comparative and the superlative degrees weakened: -
ra > -er, -ost > -est, e.g. glad – gladder – gladdest.
Moreover, the suffixes -er, -est were used not only with monosyllabics but
also with longer adjectives, e.g. one of the beautifullest men in the world
(Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State).
Several adjectives kept a mutated vowel in the comparative and superlative
degrees, e.g.
old – elder – eldest, long – lenger – lengest, strong – strenger – strengest.
Yet, the interchange of the root vowel was less common than before.
Since most adjectives with the root vowel alternation had parallel forms
without it, the forms with an interchange in NE fell out of use, e.g.
long – longer – longest replaced OE long – lenger – lengest.
However, the interchange of root vowel survived in the adjective old – elder
– eldest, where the difference in meaning from older – oldest was most essential.
Other traces of the old alternation are evident in the pair farther – further,
and in the words nigh, near and next, which go back to the degrees of comparison
of the OE adjective nēah (near).
Several adjectives preserved suppletive degrees of comparison: gōd – better
– betst, evil – werse – werst, mochel – mōre – mōst, litel – lasse – l st.
74
The most important innovation in the ME period was the growth of
analytical forms of the degrees of comparison (phrases with more, most), which
go back to OE combinations of the adverbs mā, bet, betst, swiþor (more, better),
swiþost (most, best) with participles (the XIII c.). Later this usage spread to
adjectives and became common in the XVI c.
It is noteworthy that in ME such phrases went together with all kinds of
adjectives, irrespective of the number of syllables and mostly with mono- and
disyllabic words, e.g. more swete for sweeter, better worthy for worthier (Chaucer).
The two sets of forms (synthetic and analytical) were in free variation until
the XVII and XVIII cc., when the modern standard usage was established.
Another curious peculiarity in Early NE texts is the so-called «double
comparatives» and «double superlatives», e.g. more fressher (Malory), most
unkindest (Shakespeare).
We will grace his heels with the most boldest and best hearts of Rome
(Shakespeare, Julius Caesar)
3.8.4. Adverbs
3.8.4.1. Formation of Adverbs

In ME the adverbs in -e derived from adjectives are still in use, e.g. deepe
(deeply), loude (loudly), and the suffix -e may be added optionally to any other
type, e.g.
her(e) < OE hēr (here), wher(e) < OE hwǣr (where), ther(e) < OE þǣr
(there), mǭst(e).
If the adjective ended in –e the adverb did not differ from it, e.g. newe.
The unmuted and mutated adverbs tend to be levelled in either direction, e.g.
sefte/softe (softly), swete/swote (sweetly).
At the same time a new way of deriving adverbs, which had arisen in OE, by
means of the suffix -ly was gaining ground, especially in the North. From the
XIV c. -ly becomes the more usual form, except in the South, e.g.
special – specially, thrifty – thriftily.
There was also a tendency for the fossilized genetive sg in –es to spread as
an adverbial suffix, e.g.
ME hennes, hens < OE hionan (hence), ME sithens, sins < OE siþþan
(since), ME alway, always < OE ealne weʒ (all the way).
3.8.4.2. Comparison of Adverbs

Degrees of comparison of adverbs were derived by the same suffixes that
were used for adjectives, e.g.
gretly – gretter – grettest.
In a few adverbs mutation is preserved, e.g.
longe – lenger – lengest.
The OE mutated comparisons without ending were preserved throughout the
ME period (mainly in the South and Midlands), e.g.
75
leng (longer) beside the fuller forms lengre, langre.
A few adverbs preserved suppletive degrees of comparison: much –
mǭ/mǭre – mǭst, litel – lasse – l st, wel – bet/ bettre – best, evile – wers /
wers(e) – werst.
In ME, phrases of the type «more, most + adverb» appear, e.g. more esily in
herte, most resonably (from Chaucer).
3.8.5. The Pronoun
The system of pronoun declensions underwent simplification in ME.

(1) Personal pronouns lost their dual forms. (2) Their dative and accusative
cases had mostly fallen together already in OE. In ME the fusion of the two cases
into one, objective case, was completed. (3) The OE genitive forms of the
personal pronouns narrowed their meanings to that of «possession» and came to
form a separate group of possessive pronouns. Thus, the ME personal pronouns
distinguished only two cases, nominative and objective.
1-st person
Nominative I, ich wē
Objective mē ūs
Note The following changes occurred here since the OE period (1) OE ic >
ME ich, i > ī > NE [ai] (according to the Great vowel shift); (2) mē > mī; (3) wē
> wī; (4) ME ūs > us > NE [лs].
2-nd person
Nominative thou [θū] yē
Objective thee [θ ] you
Note The plural form of the objective case you ousted all the other forms, sg
and pl.
3-rd person
Singular number Plural number
Case Masculine Neuter Feminine All genders
number number gender
Nominative hē hit, it hē, she hī, they
Objective him hit, it hir, her hem, them
Note The pronouns of the 3-rd person preserved gender distinctions.
3.8.5.2. Possessive pronouns
76
Singular number Plural number
1 2 3 person 1 2 3
person person person person person
masculine neuter feminine
mīn, thīn, his his hir, her our your hire,
mi/ my thī/ thy their
Note The forms mīn, thīn were used if the following word began with a
vowel or with h-, e.g. myn advocate (my advocate), myn herte (my heart) or as a
predicative, e.g. Mine eyes were half-closed in sleep. Soft music came to mine
ear. (Oina-Morul from «The Works of Ossian, the Son of Fingal», James
MacPherson) The forms «my», «thy» were used before a word with an initial
consonant (except h-), e.g. my blisse, thy child.
In the XVII- XVIII cc the two variants of the possessive pronouns split into
two sets of forms called in modern grammars «conjoint» and «absolute». In early
NE the possessive pronouns of the plural number acquired the ending –es: oures,
yours, theirs. There also arose a new possessive pronoun «its» (derived from it),
which replaced neuter «his». The pronoun «its» was built on the analogy of the
genetive case of nouns, of the form «his» or the new variants of other possessive
pronouns, like «oures», «yours».
In ME, some lexical replacements took place. (1) The OE feminine
pronoun of the 3-rd person sg he < OE hēo and the masculine pronoun hē became
homonyms, which was very inconvenient. From about 1300 on the forms sce,
sho, sche, she appeared in the Northern and East Midland dialects. Some
scholars regard those forms have developed from OE hēo, others speak of the
influence the demonstrative feminine sēo, still others consider Scandinavian sja
as the source of the pronoun she. However, this replacement was incomplete, as
the objective forms of OE hēo were preserved (hir, her). Thus, a new suppletive
pair emerged (she – her). After the vocalization of r «her» changed into [hə:]. (2)
As the plural form of the 3-rd person hē < OE hīe coincided with the masculine
and feminine forms in the singular, it was replaced by the Scandinavian forms
thei / they. The form theim / them replaced the objective form hem. The form
hem remained in the contracted forms: take’em, let’em, which survived in ModE.
Besides, the Scandinavian «their» replaced the corresponding ME possessive
pronoun hire. The two sets of forms occurred side by side in Late ME texts: That
hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke (Chaucer) (Who has helped them
when they were sick).
3.8.5.3. Demonstrative Pronouns

In Early ME the OE demonstrative pronouns sē (masculine), sēo (feminine),
þæt (neuter), þes (masculine), þēos (feminine), þis (neuter) lost most of of their
case and gender distinctions: out of 17 forms each retained only two. The ME
descendants of these pronouns are that and this. The former nominative and
accusative cases, neuter, singular served in ME as singular of all cases and
77
genders. The pronoun this came to denote a thing nearer in time or space, the
pronoun that pointed at what was farther away in time or space. Each pronoun
had a corresponding plural form:
sg this pl thise/thes(e) NE this – these
sg that pl tho/thos(e) NE that – those
Number distinctions in demonstrative pronouns have survived in ModE. No
other noun modifier agrees now with the noun in number, except this and that.
3.8.5.4. Rise of the Articles

The other direction of the development of the demonstrative pronouns led to
the formation of the definite article.
The definite article is an outgrowth of the OE demonstrative pronoun sē.
The suppletivity observed in OE was lost. The sound [s] of the OE nominative
case, singular (masculine sē and feminine sēo) was replaced by the sound [θ] on
the analogy of the oblique cases (þæs, þæm, þone, etc.). With the development of
ēo > ē, the forms þē and þēo fell together as þe, later spelt «the».
The neuter form þæt (ME that), retained its full demonstrative form, while
«the» was weakened, both in meaning and form. Gradually they became two
different words.
As a demonstrative pronoun «that» preserved number distinctions whereas
as a definite article (usually in the weakened form the [θə]) it was uninflected.
The meaning and functions of the definite article became more specific
when it came to be opposed to the indefinite article.
The indefinite article developed from the OE numeral ān (one), whose
meaning weakened to «one of many», «some» even in OE. Compare with the
Russian в один прекрасный день. The weakening of the meaning went together
with the weakening of the stress. The long [ā] was shortened in the unstressed
position, so that ān changed into an. Later the unstressed [a] was reduced in
pronunciation to [ə]. The consonant [n] was usually lost before consonants but
retained before vowels. The stressed OE ān retained its meaning «one» in ME. Its
phonetical development was rather complicated: OE ān > ME ǭn > n > NE u:n
> wu:n > wun > wлn.
Note The development of a labial before [u] is common in some languages,

e.g. the Ukrainian for уж, ухо is вуж, вухо.
According to other sources, OE ān > ME n > wǭn > wōn > NE wu:n >
wun > wлn.
Cf. R осьм (осьмушка) – восемь, острый – вострый.
3.8.6. The Verb: General Characteristics
78
In ME, the verb underwent two opposite changes: it became simpler in its
synthetic forms and at the same time more complicated due to the growth of new
analytical forms and categories.
The verb retained nearly all the grammatical categories it possessed in OE:
tense, mood, person, number. Only the category of aspect was lost. This is
attributed partly to the phonetic process that brought about the disappearance of
many stressed aspect prefixes, including ʒe-. However, the main cause was the
contradictory nature of the category even in OE. Verbal prefixes, especially ʒe-
(reduced to y- in ME), which could express the perfective meaning, in the
opinion of most scholars, were mostly word-building prefixes. The lexical
meaning of the prefixes prevented them from becoming a purely grammatical
device of expressing aspect distinctions.
Person and Number The person and number distinction were preseved in
ME, but they differed considerably in various dialects.
The ending of the 3-rd person, singular, present, indicative was –eth (< OE -
eþ) in the South and –es in the North. By the end of 18-th c. the verb ending –es
became the dominating inflection of the 3-rd person singular. Why the Northern
ending became later the national standard is not quite clear.
The ending of the plural present indicative was –eth (< OE -aþ) in the South,
-en (from the Subjunctive mood) in the Midland counties and –es in the North.
The ModE zero ending of the plural has developed from the Midland forms.
The form of the 2-nd person singular went out of use with the replacement
of thou by you and fused with the form of the first person.
Conjugation of Verbs
Present indicative
Early ME Late ME Early ME Late ME
1 ich tell-e I tell-e we tell-eth (in the we
South) you tell -e
2 thou tell-est you tell-e ye} tell-(e)s (in the they
3 he tell-eth (in the he tell-es North)
South), he tell-es they tell-en
(in the North) (Midlands)
The verbs haven and bēn preserved their forms of the 3-rd person, singular
in -eth: hath, doth long after; later has and does ousted them. .
The use of -eth was stylistically restricted to high poetry and religious texts.
The loss of the plural ending –n in the past indicative led to the
disappearance of person and number distinctions, with the exception of the form
of the 2-nd person singular, which kept the ending -est, but for a short time.
79
Conjugation of Verbs
Past Indicative
tellen (a weak verb), bynden (a strong verb)
1 I told-e, bǭnd we
2 thou told-est, bound-e you told(en), bound(en)
3 they
he told-e, bǭnd
3.8.5.1. Changes in the Morphological Classes of Verbs in Middle English and

Early New English
All types of verbs existing in OE – strong, weak, preterite-present and
irregular – were, on the whole, well preserved in ME.
3.8.6.1. Strong Verbs

In ME strong verbs underwent essential changes.
Both the infinitive ending -an and the past plural ending -on were weakened
to -en (-n) and coincided with the ending of the past plural -en. As a result, many
basic forms of the verb fell together and became homonymous.
Changes of the Basic Forms of Strong Verbs in Middle English and Early New English
Class Period Infinitive Past sg Past pl Past Participle
OE wrītan wrāt writon writen
1 ME writen wrote writen writen
NE write wrote written
OE cēosan cēas curon coren
2 ME chesen chees chosen chosen
NE choose chose chosen
OE findan fand fundon funden
3 ME finden fand founden founden
NE find found found
OE beran bær bǣron boren
4 ME beren bar beren/bar boren
NE bear bore born
OE sp(r)ecan sp(r)æc spǣcon specen
5 ME speken spak speken/spak spoken
NE speak spoke spoken
OE scacan scōc scōcon scacen
6 ME shaken shook shoken shaken
NE shake shook shaken
OE cnāwan cnēow cnēowon cnāwen
7 ME knowen knew knewen knowen
NE know knew known
80
In Early New English the final -n was lost in the infinitive and the past tense
plural, but sometimes it remained intact in the past participle, probably, to
distinguish the participle from other forms. Cf NE stole – stolen, spoke – spoken,
but bound – bound.
In the Northern dialects the root vowel of the past singular began to penetrate
into the past plural, whereas in the South and South-West the root vowel of the past
singular was often replaced by that of the past plural or the past participle, thus
preparing the reduction of four main forms of strong verbs to three .
With the loss of the distinction between the past singular and past plural, the
number of the basic forms of the strong verbs was reduced from four to three.
Infinitive Past Past participle

write wrote written
shake shook shaken
Root vowel interchange as a form-building means became unproductive.

Grammatical alternation of consonants has been completely lost (Cf OE
cēosan–cēas– curon–coren – ME chesen–chose–chosen), except the interchange
of z-r in was-were.
The distinctions between the verb classes which had similar forms
disappeared, e.g. OE sp(r)ecan (class 5) began to build the past participle like
verbs of class 4 (spoken).
In ME and in Early NE the number of strong verbs diminished. More than a
hundred verbs were lost altogether, among them faren, niman. Some of them
became obsolete (e.g. weorþan), others became weak (slǣpan > sleep): they
began to form their past and past participle with the help of the dental suffix
instead of vowel gradation (slept).
Out of 195 OE strong verbs, preserved in the English language, only 67 have
retained strong forms with root-vowel interchanges. 128 verbs acquired weak
forms. Nowadays most of them belong to regular or standard verbs.
The number of new verbs, which joined the classes of strong verbs, was very
small – several former weak verbs: NE dig, hide, stick, wear and three
borrowings – take < Sc taka, thrive < Sc þrīfa and strive < Fr estriver.
3.8.6.2. Weak Verbs

In ME there were only 2 classes of weak verbs. The 3-rd class was already
extinct. The former verbs of the 3-rd class either joined the other classes or
became irregular, e.g. ME liven < OE libban (NE live) joined class 1. ME haven
< OE habban (NE have) and ME seyen < OE secʒan (NE say) became irregular.
ME verbs of the 1-st class took the ending -de in the past and the ending -ed
in the past participle.
The OE suffixes -ode, -od in the verbs of the 2-nd class were reduced to -
ede, -ed.
81
Consequently, the only difference between the two classes of weak verbs
was the presence or absence of the element -e- before the dental suffix in the past
tense form.
In Late ME the vowel -e- was lost. As a result, the distinctions between
different classes of weak verbs disappeared.
A few verbs of the 1-st class, which had had the suffixes -ede, -ed in OE
(verbs with a short root vowel followed by r like nerian-nerede-nered), were
included into the 2-nd class in ME.
Changes of the Basic Forms of Weak verbs in Middle English and Early New English
Classs Period Infinitive Past Past Participle
OE dēman dēmde dēmed
1 ME deemen deemde deemed
NE deem deemed deemed
1 OE styrian styrede styred
2 ME stiren stirede stired
NE stir stirred stired
OE lōcian lōcode lōcod
2 ME looken lookede looked
NE look looked looked
ME weak verbs served as the source of modern standard (regular) verbs. The
infinitive ending -en was unstable and soon was lost. The suffix of the past tense
-ede and the suffix of the past participle -ed were reduced to -ed and the two
forms became homonymous.
Infinitive Past Past participle

love(n) loved(e) loved
The dental suffix –d /-t turned out to be very productive. All the borrowed
and newly built verbs in ME and in NE built their past tense and past participle
on the pattern of weak verbs: skate, die, call (of Scandinavian origin), assist,
charm (of French origin), execute (of Latin origin).
A few weak verbs adopted strong forms, e.g. the weak verb wear (class 1)
acquired new forms by analogy with the strong verbs bear, tear (class 4). Many
former strong verbs began to build weak forms alongside strong ones; the strong
forms later fell into disuse, e.g. sleepen, wepen (class 7). Chaucer uses two
parallel forms for the past of sleepen and wepen: sleep-slepte, weep-wepte.
Some verbs is a mixture of the two types, strong and weak, e.g. OE scēawian
(weak verb of class 2) has adopted the suffix -n in the past participle from the
strong conjugation, though its past tense has remained weak: NE show, showed,
shown.
3.8.6.3. Preterite-present Verbs
82
Preterite-present verbs were rather well preserved in ME, except the verb
ʒeneah (enough). Nevertheless, they underwent multiple phonetic, morphological
and semantic changes in accordance with the general tendencies of the period.
The ME verbs dowen < OE duʒan (be worthy), thurven < OE þurfan
(need), unnen < OE unnan (grant), munen < OE munan (remember) first lost
their infinitives and then fell out of use in the 15-th c. By the end of the ME
period the verb thurven was ousted by the verb needen < OE nīedan.
The ME verb witen (know) was in use up to the 17-th c. Later it was ousted by
the verb «know», but it survived in the idiom to wit (namely). The form of the
present singular wot < OE wāt is still present in the saying God wot (God knows).
The ME verb ōwen < OE āʒan (possess) developed into the verb to owe
with the same meaning. At the same time in past tense forms aught (in the North)
and ought (in the South) another shifting of meaning from «past» to «present»
took place. Aught and ought acquired a new modal meaning in combination with
to + infinitive.
The ME verb cunnen < OE cunnan very early lost its infinitive, and the
form of the 1-st and 3-rd persons singular penetrated the plural in the North.
In ME the verb can and especially its past participle is still used in the
original meaning «know», e.g. to ferne halwes couthe in sundry londes (Chaucer)
(to old saints, known in various lands). However, the verb can, couth/coude is
much more common as a modal verb, denoting physical and mental ability.
Gradually it replaced ME verbs mōt (NE must) and may in these meanings. The
insertion of «l» in spelling in ME could < coude may be due to the analogy with
«should» and «would.
The adjectives couth [ku:θ], uncouth [′лn′ku:θ] (rude) came from Northern
dialects.
ME may (< OE mæʒ) and its past meahte/mihte were the only forms preserved
in ME. Compared with OE may has narrowed its meaning, for some of its functions
(namely, indication of physical and mental ability) have passed to the verb can.
The verb mōtan already had no infinitive in OE. In ME, the present tense
forms mōt, mōten were lost, while its past tense form mōste (NE must) acquired
the meaning of obligation and became a present tense form.
In Late ME and Early NE shal (< OE sceal) and its past tense form sholde
(< OE sceolde) (NE should) split into two separate modal verbs, each with its
own meaning; simultaneously sholde acquired the present tense meaning. Shal
also came to be used as an auxiliary verb to build future forms.Later the OE verb
willan (which was outside the group of preterite-present verbs), mostly used as as
a modal verb expressing volition, began to build future forms.
The ME verb durren < OE durran developed into the modal verb dare < dar,
dare. In NE, it acquired the regular past tense form dared, which was used alongside
the old form durst. Cf. I did not dare to say anything. I durst not say anything.
Changes of the Preterite–Present Verbs in Middle English and Early New English
Period Infinitive Present sg Present pl Past Past
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participle
OE witan wāt witon wiste ʒewiten
ME witen wǭt witen wiste witen
NE – wot – – –
OE āʒan āʒ āʒon āhte āʒen
ME – ouh owen ughte owen
NE – owe – ought own
OE duʒan dēaʒ duʒon dohte –
ME dowen deh dowen doughte –
NE – – – – –
OE cunnan can(n) cunnon cūþe cūþ/cunne

ME cunnen can cunnen coude couth
NE – can – could –
OE unnan ann unnon ūþe ʒeunnen

ME – an unnen oughte –
NE – – – – –
OE durran dear durron dorste –
ME durren dar durren durste –
NE – dare – durst/dared –
OE Þurfan Þearf Þurfon Þorfte –
ME – tharf thurven thurfte –
NE – – – – –
OE sculan sceal(l) sculon sceolde/ –

ME – shal shulen scolde –
NE – shall – sholde/should –
should
OE munan mon/man munon munde ʒemunen
ME – man munen – –
NE – – – – –
OE – mōt mōton mōste –
ME – mōt mōten mōste –
NE – mote – must –
OE maʒan mæʒ maʒon meahte/mihte –

ME – may mowen mighte –
NE – may – might –
OE – ʒeneah ʒ enuʒon ʒenohte –
ME – enough – – –
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NE – enough – – –
3.8.6.4. Suppletive verbs

The ME infinitive been < OE bēon was preserved, while its parallel form
(OE wesan) was lost. Nevertheless, the past tense forms from wesan, namely
«was», «were» survived in ME.
The verb gǭn < OE ʒān lost its past tense form -ede < OE ēode and acquired
the new past tense «wente», which came from an entirely different verb, the past
tense of the verb wenden < OE wendan (class I, weak verbs) (turn). Thus, the
verb gǭn remained a suppletive verb.
Conjugation of the verb bēon in Old English, Middle English and Early New
English
Present Indicative
Number Person Old English Middle English Early New
English
Singular 1 ic eom, beo i(ch) am I am
2 þū east, bist thou art –
3 hē is, biþ he is he is
Plural 1, 2 3 wē, ʒē, hīe sind, earon, we, ye, they we, you, they
beoþ been/are(n) are
Conjugation of the verb bēon in Old English, Middle English and Early New
English
Past Indicative
Number Person Old English Middle English Early New English
Singular 1 ic wæs i(ch) was I was
2 þū wǣre thou wǣre –
3 hē wæs he was he was
Plural 1, 2, 3 wē, ʒē, hīe wǣron we, ye, they we, you, they
wǣren were
Conjugation of the verb ʒān in Old English, Middle English and Early New
English
Present Indicative
Singular 1 īc ʒā i(ch) gǭ I go
2 þū ʒǣst thou gǭst –
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3 hē ʒǣþ he gǭth he goes
Plural 1, 2, 3 wē, ʒē, hīe ʒāþ we, ye, they gǭn we, you, they go
Conjugation of the verb ʒān in Old English, Middle English and Early New
English
Past Indicative
Singular 1 īc ēode i(ch) wente I went
2 þū ēodest thou wentest –
3 hē ēode he wente he went
Plural 1, 2, 3 wē, ʒē, hīe ēodon we, ye, they we, you they went
wenten
3.8.6.5. Rise of Analytical Forms

The most important feature of the verb in ME is the development of
analytical forms to express new grammatical meanings.
The growth of analytical forms of the verb is not only the peculiarity of
English but also a common Germanic tendency. The beginning of these changes
lies in Late OE and in ME. The development of analytical forms was a long and
complicated process, which extended over many hundred years and included
several kinds of changes.
Future Forms
There were only two tenses in OE: present and past. The present tense
denoted both present and future actions, depending on the context. With verbs of
perfective meaning or with adverbs of future the present forms acquired the
meaning of futurity. Future actions could also be denoted by verb phrases with
modal verbs sculan, willan, maʒan, cunnan, etc. e.g. forþǣm ʒē sculon wēpan
(therefore you shall weep).
The analytical future developed from two free syntactic combinations:
sculan and willan + infinitive.They weakened their modal meanings to such an
extent that the word combination denoted mere future. We observe isolated
instances of both combinations without any modal shades of meaning as early as
OE. In ME after the 12-th c. such instances become much more common,
especially with shal + infinitive, which makes it possible to regard the
combination as a new analytical form of the future. In the XIV and XV cc., the
verb will increases its frequency as well, and in Early NE it becomes another
auxiliary of the future. The conversion of the modals shall and will into the future
auxiliaries was possible due to their meaning: the notion of wish (will) and the
notion of obligation (shall) are very often associated with the idea of future.
Simultaneously shal and will went on functioning as modal verbs. Thus, in ME
86
shal and will split into two homonymous sets of forms: modals and future tense
auxiliaries. The discrimination of these forms poses difficulties even in ModE.
The contracted form -’ll emerged in the 17-th c. mostly with will and later
extended to shall.
In 1653 John Wallis formulated the rule about the regular interchange of
shall and will depending on the context (shall for the 1-st person, will for the 2-nd
and 3-rd persons).This differentiation became a mark of the British Standard.
Will has ousted shall completely in American English and together with -’ll is
now ousting the auxiliary shall from British English, which may be regarded as a
tendency towards further simplification.
With the rise of analytical forms the sphere of the present tense was, accordingly,
narrowed, though it could still be used in some future environments, namely in
clauses of time, condition and concession. ModE usage of the type «if you see him
tomorrow» goes back to OE and ME present forms with future meaning.
The inclusion of the future tense form into the verb paradigm has
transformed the category of tense: nowadays it consists of three members:
present, past and future.
Perfect Forms
Like other analytical forms of the verb, perfect forms developed from free
syntactic combinations of: habban + past participle of a transitive verb and bēon +
past participle of an intransitive verb.
The main source of the perfect forms was the OE «possessive construction»,
consisting of the verb habban (have), a direct object and past participle of a
transitive verb, which served as attribute to the object, e.g. Hæfde sē ʒoda cempan
ʒecorene (Beowulf) (literally: Had that brave (man) warriors chosen).
The other source of the perfect forms was the OE phrase, consisting of the link
verb bēon and past participle of an intransitive verb, e.g. Nū is the day cumen
(Beowulf) (Now the day has (literally is) come).
The past participle, like other attributes, agreed with the noun (the subject - in
the construction with bēon and the object – in the construction with habban) in
number, gender and case, e.g. Hwæne mīne daʒas āʒāne bēoþ (Ælfric) (when my
days are gone = when I die) Here the past participle āʒāne agrees with the subject in
case and number (nominative, plural).
Towards ME the past participle lost its forms of agreement with the noun, the
verb «have» lost the meaning of possession and was used with all kinds of verbs
without restriction, which shows that it was developing into a universal auxiliary,
whereas the use of «be» grew restricted. Shakespeare employs «be» mainly with the
verbs of motion, but even with these verbs «be» alternates with «have», e.g. He is
not yet arrived… On a modern pace I have since arrived but hither.
The modern phrase «to be gone» (The snow is gone) goes back to the perfect
forms with be.
The verb phrases with haven developed into two different directions. (1) In
most cases the object and past participle changed their places: the participle came
87
after «have» and was followed by the object, which referred now to the analytical
form as a whole, e.g. He hath to hem declared his entente (Chaucer) (He has
declared his intention to them) (2) The verb phrase retained the original word order.
The modern predicative construction with passive subject of the type He had
his watch repaired descends from the prototype of perfect forms.
At first, perfect forms seem to have denoted a completed action. Nowadays
they denote anteriority (the action that took place before a time either mentioned
or understood).
The opposition perfect – non-perfect created a new grammatical category,
which Prof.A.I. Smirnitsky proposed to call category of «time correlation».
The new category established itself in the XVII c. The rapid growth of
analytical perfect forms was, perhaps, due to the influence of the Scandinavian
dialects where perfect forms had already existed.
Passive Forms
In OE there was no opposition of the active and passive forms of the finite
verb, except the opposition of the present and past participles. Nevertheless, there
were free syntactic combinations consisting of bēon / wesan, weorþan and the
past participle of transitive verbs, which served as the main source of
analytical passive forms.
The verb phrase with «bēon» denoted a state resulting from a previous
action, whereas the phrase with «weorþan» (become) denoted the transition into
the state expressed by the past participle. The word «weorþan» occurred only in
the past tense. The doer of the action was never mentioned.The past participle
agreed with the subject in number and case. Cf.
Þæs ʒēares wǣrun ofslæʒene VIIII eorlas and ān cyninʒ (that year were
killed 9 earls and one king) (nominative, plural)
Æþelwulf aldorman wearþ ofslæʒen (Athelwolf, alderman, was killed)
(Anglo-Saxon Chronicles) (nominative, singular)
The past participle was often separated from the finite forms by other words.
In the following examples «bēon» opens the sentence and the past participle
closes it, with the subject and object between them (framing structure):
wæs sē īrenþrēat wǣpnum ʒewurþad (that iron army (clad in iron) was with
weapon adorned (distinguished) (Beowulf).
þǣr wæs micel wæl ʒeslæʒen ( there was a big army slain) (Anglo-Saxon
Chronicles)
In Early ME «werthen» (<OE weorþan) was still common, but not as
common as the verb ben (< OE bēon). Soon «werthen» was replaced by
numerous new link verbs: becomen (become), geten (get), semen (seem). There
are no instances of «werthen» in Chaucer. So, «ben» (> NE be) became the only
auxiliary of the passive. Now it could express not only a state but also an action
even in the Future tense and in the Perfect forms, e.g. How shal the world be
served? (Chaucer);
88
With many a tempest hadde his berde been shake. (His beard had been
shaken with many tempests) (Chaucer).
The new passive forms acquired a regular means of indicating the doer of
the action or the instrument with the help of which the action was performed. Out
of a variety of prepositions employed for this purpose in OE – from, mid, wið, bi
– only two were selected: by and with.
Though the original word order within the passive phrase remained intact for
rather a long time a number of instances increased where the past participle stood
close to the auxiliary and since the 15-th c. only the adverbs of indefinite time
and manner occurred between the auxiliary and past participle.
With the establishment of the passive, the old forms acquired the meaning of
non-passive or active forms, and the opposition passive – active constituted the
category of voice.
In Late ME there arose new types of passive constructions built from
intransitive verbs, i.e. whose subject corresponded to indirect and prepositional
objects. It became possible after the loss of case inflections when both the
indirect and prepositional objects in initial position came to be understood as the
object of the sentence, e.g. He shulde soone delivered be gold in sakkis gret
plenty (Chaucer) (He should be given (delivered) plenty of gold in sacks).
We’ll be waited on (Shakespeare).
Continuous Forms
The origin of the continuous forms is not quite clear. There may be two
sources:
(1) OE phrases consisting of the verb «bēon» and the present participle in -
ende, which denoted a state of the person or thing, expressed by the subject of the
sentence, like wæs ʒonʒende, sprecende wæs (Bede); Syngynde he was or
floytynge al day (Chaucer) (He was singing or playing the flute all day long).
(2) OE phrases consisting of the verb «bēon», the preposition on (or its
reduced form and a verbal noun in -inʒ, like hē is on huntinʒe (he is in hunting,
he is hunting); She wyst not… whether she was a-waking or a-slepe (Caxton)
(She did not know whether she was awake (was on waking) or asleep.
The prepositional phrase indicated process, taking place at a certain period
of time.The meaning of process acquired by the continuous forms in Early NE
may have come from the prepositional phrase.
In the XV-XVI cс. the two phrases were often confused, which was
obviously connected with the disappearance of the OE participle in –ende and its
substitution by a new participle in -inge.
Thus, it is quite possible that the continuos forms resulted from the merging
of OE –ende phrases with OE phrases in -inʒ.
By the end of the ME period the continuous forms were widely spread, but it
was not until the XVIII c. that the opposition of the continuos and non-
continuous forms made up a new grammatical category – aspect.
89
3.8.7. Development of the Syntactic System
Subject In OE the distinctive feature of the subject was its nominative case.
In ME with the loss of case endings, the nominative, dative and accusative cases
merged into the common case, and only the position of a noun (and not its case
inflexion as in OE) could show whether it was the subject or the object.
Now the place before the predicate belonged to the subject and after the
predicate – to the object, which is confirmed by the predominance of this word
order in statements in prosaic texts and also, indirectly, by the transition of the
impersonal sentences into personal.
In OE the formal subject «hit» was used only in the impersonal sentences
indicating weather phenomena. In ME the subject «it» occurs in all types of
impersonal sentences, e.g.
For it reyned almost euery ethir day. (Brut, about 1205) (For it rained almost
every other day.)
Of his falshede it dulleth me to ryme. (Chaucer, about 1384-1400) (Of his
falsehood it annoys me to speak.)
The structure «Me thinketh it» gradually yielded to the word order «It
seemed me» (it seemed to me). In Late ME the impersonal constructions of the
type «me liketh» (R Мне нравится) changed into «I like».
Closely connected with this tendency was the development of new
interrogative forms with «do». The use of «do» made it possible to retain, at
least, the notional part of the predicate after the subject in interrogative
sentences, but the old forms with the predicate before the subject went on
functioning alongside even in Early NE.
Cf. Madam, how do you like this play? – Madam, how you like this play?
What doth this meane, my Lord? – What meanes this, my Lord? (Shakespeare,
Hamlet, about 1600)
Due to the growth of new verb forms, the subject could now denote not only
the agent but also the recipient of the action. In the pattern «the manne liketh» the
noun was understood as the subject, though originally it was an object in the dative
case (Cf R Мне нравится).
The OE inverted word order remained in the statements opening with an
adverbial modifier of place and time or object, where the predicate preceded the
subject, e.g.
Than went thai to king in hy, and hym salusit full curtasly (The Bruce, 1375)
(Then they went to the king and saluted him courteously) – Cf (Затем пошли они к
королю, и его приветствовали учтиво.)
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, (Chaucer) (Then folks long to go
on pilgrimages.). …and thidir com alle the lordes. (and there came all the lords.)
For hym was levere have at his beddes heed twenty bookes, clad in blak or reed
(Chaucer)
(For he would rather have at the head of his bed twenty books bound in
black or red)
90
Alongside there was direct word order in sentences beginning with an
adverbial modifier, e.g. erlich in a morning þai seye a bot cum waiueing (early
one morning they saw a boat come tossing)
The weakening and loss of inflections resulted in the weakening of
agreement and government. The tendency grew to place the modifiers as closely
as possible to the words they modified.
Attribute In OE the attribute was mostly expressed by the adjective, which
possessed gender, number and case inflections. In ME there were still some cases
of agreement of the noun and an adjective in number.
Cf. Goode men, herkneth everych on. (Chaucer) (Good men, listen) – A
good man was ther of religioun (Chaucer) (There was a good man, a priest).
The last traces of agreement in adjectives were lost in the 15-th c. when the
inflection -e was lost and the adjective took position before the noun or between
the noun and its determiners: articles and pronouns (enclosure).
The postposition of the adjective modifiers was in complete agreement with
the OE usage, but some linguists attribute it to the French influence, e.g.
brother dere (dear brother), woundes newe (new wounds).
A noun in the attributive function had the form of the genitive case. It was
also joined to the modified word by the preposition «of». In Chaucer’s time the
inflectional genitive was used both, with animate and inanimate nouns, e.g.
fadres sone (father’s son), seintes lore (saint’s lore), every shires ende (end
of every shire), the sergeaunts of the toun of Rome (the officials of the town of
Rome), men of armes (men of arms)
Verb-Predicate In OE the verb took various objects (direct and indirect)
and adverbial modifiers expressed by the oblique cases of nouns. The indirect
object was expressed by the genitive, accusative and dative cases. Most
prepositions governed the dative case, e.g.
he ūs hafað þæs leohtes (Genetive case) bescyrede (they deprived us of this
light)
In ME the genitive case was no longer used in verb phrases. It occurred only
in the attributive function and was restricted to noun phrases, e.g.
the cause of everiche maladye (Chaucer) (the cause of every malady), a
compaignye of sundry folk (Chaucer) (a company of different people)
In ME with the fusion of all the cases into the common case, the use of
prepositions in verb phrases grew, and so did the number of transitive verbs,
which took an object without a preposition, e.g.
Mars shal helpe his knyght.
ME witnessed a remarkable growth of link-verbs: about 80 verbs occur as
copulas in texts between the 15-th and 18-th c. The new link verbs made up for
the loss of some OE prefixes and compound verbs, denoting the growth of a
quality or the transit6ion into a state, e.g.
It falleþ profyte to summe men to be bounde to a stake. (Wyklif) (It appears
good for some men to be bound to a stake.) The rose looks fair (Shakespeare).
91
Negation The negative particle «not» gradually ousted the negative
particle«ne» used with verbs. In the 11-th c. «do» combines with «not» in
negative sebtences, e.g.
Thou dost not love her.
The two forms of expressing negation coexist for a long time alongside, e.g.
We do not know how he may soften at the sight o’ the child… (Shakespeare)
– I know not why, nor wherefor to say live, boy… (Shakespeare).
The analytical forms with «do» became widespread by the end of the XVII c.
The use of several negative particles and forms continued throughout the
ME period, e.g.
No berd hadde he, ne nevere sholde have (Chaucer) (He had no beard and
never would have one.) He nevere yet no vileynye ne sayde in al his lyf.
(Chaucer) (He (had) never said a rude word in his life yet) Cf (Он еще никогда
не сказал ни одного грубого слова в жизни.)
Gradually multiple negation went out of use. In the 18-th c., in the age of
Correctness, multiple negations were banned as illogical.
3.9. MIDDLE ENGLISH VOCABULARY CHANGES
In ME the vocabulary underwent great changes.

Borrowings played a much greater role in ME than in OE. They came
mostly from two sources: Scandinavian and French.
In ME many OE affixes were still productive.They could be added freely to
stems of French origin. In fact, they were added to French words almost
immediately after the words had been introduced. Suffixes such as -ful, -less, -
ness were early used with French words so we find faithful, faithless, clearness
recorded by 1300.
3.9.1. Native Derivational Affixes
Suffixes Out of native noun-forming suffixes the most productive was -er (<
OE -ere), which could derive agent-nouns from both native and borrowed verb
stems, e.g.
hunter, gardener, pardoner (a seller of indulgences), traveler (< OFr
travallier), carpenter (< OFr carpantier).
The verbal suffix -ing / -yng (< OE -ung) was also widely spread: ME
metyng (NE meeting), ME praying (NE praying), ME prechyng (NE preaching),
techynge (teaching).
The native suffix -man was used oftener in ME than in OE, e.g.
ME gentil-man (NE gentleman), ME shipman (sailor), craftsman.
The adjective-forming suffix -y (< OE -iʒ) retained its productivity in ME:
angry < Sc anger, happy < hap (luck) < OSc happ, hearty < heart (OE heorte).
The suffixes -ful and -less yielded many new words in ME: doubtful-doubtless
< ME doubt, fearful-fearless < fear (< OE fær), useful-useless < use (< OFr us).
92
One of the most widely spread verb suffixes in ME was –en: happen, loosen,
blacken.
Prefixes Among the native productive verb prefixes mis-, un-, be- took the
leading place: mistake, misunderstand, unbind, behave, belong, betray.
3.9.2. French Derivational Affixes
Suffixes Unlike native affixes (whose birth can be observed historically),

French affixes came into English ready made. A considerable number of French
derivational affixes (both suffixes and prefixes) entered the English language with
derivatives.Quite often a family of words was borrowed, and it was easy to single
out affixes, e.g. govern – govern-ment, agree – dis-agree – agree-ment. However, it
was only through their frequent usage in many words that the meaning of those
affixes became clear to English speakers and made it possible to derive new words
from native English stems, i.e. after the complete assimilation. It explains why
derivatives of the type «hindrance» crop up about 1375 at the earliest. The early
assimilation of -able is exceptional. Some French affixes, such -ance,-al (the type of
arrival) have never become productive with native words.
(1) The adjective-forming suffix –able / -ible, which meant «capable of
undergoing the action denoted by the verb stem», first entered the English
language in such words as remarkable, passable, amiable. Later it was added to
native stems, e.g. readable, eatable, understandable.
(2) The noun-forming suffix -esse (> NE -ess) denoting female beings first
came into the English language with such words as dutchesse, empresse,
princesse. Eventually it ousted the OE suffix -in with the same meaning and was
added to native stems. Cf. OE ʒyden – ME godesse (NE goddess), shepherdesse
(NE shepherdess).
(3) The noun-forming suffix -et with diminutive meaning penetrated into
English with nouns coronet (a small crown), cabinet. In some words the final
consonant of the stem was -l as in islet, circlet; it is from words of this type that
the prefix -let was formed, e.g. ringlet, booklet.
(4) The French noun-forming suffix -ee, which denoted «a person taking a
passive part in some action or agreement», came into English with such words as
lessee, employee. Eventually the suffix was added to a stem of Scandinavian
origin: trustee. Later it turned out to be one of the most productive suffixes.
(5) The noun-forming suffix -ment denoting processes and states, which
entered the English language with such nouns as government, treatment,
agreement, came to be added to native verb stems: fulfillment, bewilderment.
(6) The noun-forming suffix –ance / -ence, which denoted states, qualities,
attitudes and behaviour, penetrated into English with such words as ignorance,
arrogance, innocence, excellence, entrance. It gave a derivative from a native
English stem: hindrance.
(7) The noun-forming suffix -al < OFr -aille, which was used to derive
abstract nouns from verb stems, came into English with such nouns as funeral,
refusal, arrival, proposal. The only native derivative is burial.
93
(8) The noun-forming suffix -age became familiar to English speakers from
such words as courage, carriage, marriage. With the suffix -age new words were
derived from the stems of Scandinavian origin: luggage, leakage.
(9) The suffix -ard (of German origin) penetrated into English with the
French words coward, bastard. It yielded the nouns drunkard, dullard, wizard
(from the stem of the adjective wīs).
Prefixes
(1) The prefix dis- / des- with a negative meaning came into English with the
French verbs disagree, disdain, disappoint. Eventually it derived verbs from native
stems: disown, disburden and from the stem of a Scandinavian origin distrust.
(2) The French prefix en- (< L in-) became familiar to English speakers
from such words as encage, encircle, encompass. It was joined on to native stems
to derive the verbs endear, embed (enb>emb).
(3) The French prefix re- (< L re-) denoting repetition of an action or
process, which came with such words as remember < OFr remembrer, repose <
Fr reposer, repentaunt, repentant < OFr repentant, resemble < OFr resembler was
joined on to native stems: return, reread, rewrite, remake.
Zero Derivation One of the most important ME innovations was the
development of a new type of derivation. Owing to the leveling of endings and
the loss of –n in unstressed syllables OE noun «ende» and the verb «endian» fell
together as ME «ende», OE «luf» and «lufian» fell together as ME love. Such
cases of homonymy served as models for the creation of new nouns from verbs
(smile - verb > smile - noun) and vice versa (chance – noun > chance- verb).
This new means of word derivation came to be known as «zero derivation»
or «conversion».
The term conversion belongs to H.Sweet, the term zero derivation belongs to
H.Marchand.
Composition Many new words in ME were built by combining two stems, e.g.
penknife, bonfire, grandfather, afternoon, breakfast, somebody, everything,
meanwhile, anywhere, tomorrow.
3.9.3. Scandinavian Borrowings
Apart from many place names (over 1400) in -by (< Sc town), -thorp (< Sc
village), -thwaite (< Sc clearing) the number of Scandinavian borrowings was not
very great, but they were mostly everyday words of very high frequency.
According to the estimates of scientists, the total number of Scandinavian
borrowings makes up about 900 words; about 700 of them belong to Standard
English. A semantic range of Scandinavian borrowings varies from everyday
words to military and legal terms.
Some of the Scandinavian words found their way into the oral speech of
Anglo-Saxons as early as the IX c., but it was not until ME that Scandinavian
borrowings became part and parcel of the English vocabulary.
The greater part of Scandinavian borrowings was not recorded until the XIII c.
94
As the two languages were closely related, English and Scandinavian
dialects shared a considerable part of the vocabulary. Cf
OSc steinn – OE stān (NE stone), Osc dōmr – OE dōm (NE doom), OSc kyn
– OE cyn (NE kin),
and it is often difficult to say whether the form of a given word is
Scandinavian or English. The word «sister», for instance, is usually regarded a
development of the Scandinavian systir, but it might be also a development of the
OE sweostor under the Scandinavian influence. OE ʒiefan, ʒietan would have
normally developed into E yev (yiv), yet but under the influence of Sc giva, geta
they have become E give, get.
The reliable criteria of distinguishing Scandinavian loans from native words
is the consonant cluster sk: skill (NE skill), Sc skinn (NE skin), Sc sky (NE sky),
which does not occur in native words, as OE [sk] has been palatalized and
modified to [] fish < OE fisc, ship < OE scip.
Other criteria are the sounds [k], [g] before front vowels, which in native
words became [tʤ]: kid (Sc) – chin (< OE kin), girth (Sc) – yield (OE ʒieldan).
These criteria, however, are not always reliable, as [k] was retained in some
native words: king < OE cyninʒ, keep < OE cēpan.
The sounds [sk] and [] are sometimes found in related words in the two
languages: shirt (native) –skirt (Sc loan), shatter (native) –scatter (Sc loan), shriek
(native) –scream (Sc loan), which are etymological doublets, i.e. which go back
to the same Gc root but have undergone different phonetic and semantic changes.
The extent of Scandinavian influence can be inferred from the fact that even
personal pronouns were borrowed. The Scandinavian forms þeir (>E they), þeim
(>them), þeirra (> E their) gradually ousted the respective forms hīe, him, hira.
The Scandinavian conjunction þo (> E though) replaced the OE conjuction þeah.
The earliest Scandinavian borrowings are
(1) the nouns:
Sc vindauga (the eye of wind) > ME windoʒe (NE window)
Sc Angr > ME anger (NE anger)
Sc happ > ME hap (luck), which yielded the words happy, happiness,
happen, perhaps
OSc hūsbōndi (householder) > OE hūsbōnda > husbonde (the head of the
family) (NE husband)
OSc felaga (a partner, a shareholder) > OE fēolaʒa > ME felawe (NE fellow)
OSc laʒu > OE laʒa > ME lawe (NE law), which yielded ME outlaw, bylaw
(town, local law), NE in-law, NE lawyer
OSc knifr > OE cnīf > ME knyf (NE knife)
(2) the verbs:
OSc taka > OE tacan> ME taken (NE take)
OSc kalla > OE ceallian > ME callen
The English language adopted many Scandinavian adjectives:
Sc illr (bad, sick) > NE ill
95
SC mjukr > NE meek (gentle and quiet)
Sc laus > NE loose
Sc lagr > NE low
Sc veikr > NE weak
Sc vrangr > NE wrong
The fate of borrowed Scandinavian words was different.
(1) Some of them, which denoted new things or phenomena, entered the
English language without replacing any words of the English vocabulary. This is
the case of law, outlaw and fellow.
(2) Others ousted the original English words, e.g. The Scandinavian verbs
callen and taken ousted the native English verbs clipian and niman respectively.
The Scandinavian verb kasta > ME casten (NE cast) ousted the OE verb
werpan with the same meaning. The same notion came to be denoted by the
original English verb throw < OE þrāwan (turn).
The Scandinavian adjective veikr > NE weak ousted the native adjective
wāc, from which the verb weaken was built. Thus, in ModE the verb weaken is
native and the adjective weak is a borrowing.
(3) Both the borrowed and the native words survived as synonyms with a
slight difference in meaning. Cf. NE bloom (< OSc blōm) and native blossom,
NE ill (< OSc illr) and native evil, NE sky (< OSc sky – cloud) and native
heaven, NE die (OSc deyia) and native starve.
In this case the meaning of one or both of the words narrowed and the
spheres of reference of the synonyms were divided, e.g. OE steorfan (NE starve)
had had a more general meaning (die) before deyen was adopted from OSc deyia
(NE die); then it narrowed its meaning to «die of hunger». The verb deyen joined
easily the noun death (< OE dēað) and the adjective dead (< OE dēad), forming a
family of words: to die – dead – death.
(4) In some cases only the meaning of an English word, not its form was
influenced, e.g. the word bread, which meant «a piece of bread» in OE, gained its
present meaning (food) due to the Scandinavian influence.
The OE word drēam meant «joy», its present meaning came with the
Scandinavians.
In OE wiþ (NE with) meant «against», whereas in Scandinavian it had the
sense of accompaniment, expressed in OE by «mid».
(5) Some Scandinavian borrowings disappeared with the disappearance of
objects they denoted, e.g. barda, cnearr, cseʒð (different types of ships).
(6) Scandinavian military and legal terms were replaced by French terms,
e.g. Sc liþ – Fr navy, Sc orrest – Fr battaile (NE battle).
3.9.4. French Borrowings
The number of French borrowings during the ME period was much greater
than that of Scandinavian loanwords, and their character was different since the
relations between both the peoples and their languages were different.
96
Some French borrowings penetrated into the English language in the IX- X
cc., long before the Conquest, e.g. mount, castle, tower, pride, proud.
The process of borrowing French words went on during the XII-XIVcc.
Prior to the XIII c., no more than one thousand French words entered the
English language, whereas by 1400 their number had risen to 10,000. (75 % of
them are still in common use.)
The majority of the English loanwords adopted in ME were first recorded in
the texts of the XIV c. Chaucer’s vocabulary, which amounts to 8,000 words,
contains about 4,000 words of Romance origin, i.e. French and Latin borrowings.
The development of feudalism and new relations between the lords and
peasants brought with them such loans as manor, villain, peasant.
The relations between the English people and the French aristocracy are
evident in the semantic correlation of some English words and some medieval
French borrowings. As Walter Scott pointed out in «Ivanhoe», the domestic
animals kept their English names while the English were looking after them in
the fields (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine), but they were given French names when
they appeared on the Norman’s lord table (beef, lamb, veal, mutton, pork).
Compare also the English house and the French palace, the English miller,
blacksmith and the French painter, tailor, the English breakfast and the French
dinner, supper, the English hand and the French face.
After the Conquest French became the state language of the country. It was
the language of law courts, debates in Parliament, school teaching.
Most French loanwords were aristocratic words testifying that the Normans
were the conquerors, the rulers of the country. Here belong:
Designations of feudal ranks: baron, baronesse (NE baroness), duke,
duchesse (NE dutchess), prince, princesse (NE princess), emperor, sovereign, peer,
noble;
Titles of respect: sir, madame (NE madam), mistresse (NE mistress);
Governmental and administrative words: countee (NE county), contree
(NE country), court, crown, counseillen (to give advice), counsel (NE counsel),
governen (NE govern), government, majesty, nation, pouer (NE power), reign,
royal, serven (NE serve), tax.
However, the words king and queen survived. In 1265 on the initiative of
Simon-de-Montfort, the Earl of Leicester, the Council was founded to govern the
country, which was called Parliament (from Fr parle – speak);
Legal terms: accusen (NE accuse), accusacioun (NE accusation), court,
condemnen (NE condemn), executen (NE execute), judge, jury, justice, prisun
(NE prison), sentence, traitor, tresoun (NE treason);
Military terms: admiral, army, assault, banner, bataille (NE battle), captain,
defeat, enemy, lieutenant, navy, officer, regiment, siege, soldier, sergeant, victory
werre (of Gc origin) (NE war);
School: lesson (originally reading), page, library, pen, pencil, pupil
(originally orphan), science;
Art and literature: art, beauty, colour, column, figure, image, music,
ornament, peinten (NE paint), poem, romance;
97
Amusements, reflecting the life and habits of the nobility of France: ese
(NE ease), feste (NE feast), dinner, soper (NE supper), daunce (NE dance), dress,
deintee (NE dainty), dignitee (NE dignity), fashion, jewel, leysir (NE leisure),
plesir (NE pleasure);
Town occupations: bocher (NE butcher), peintre (NE painter), tailor
However, the native words were used to denote country professions: miller,
shoemaker and shepherd.
Household articles: table, plate, saucer, napkin;
Religion and church: cloister (NE cloister), conscience, chapel, frere (NE
friar), preyen (NE pray), preire (NE prayer), religion, saint, sermon.
There were also many other words, which were not connected with any
specific semantic sphere, such as air, coveren (NE cover), change, large,
montagne (NE mountain), place, riviere (NE river), etc.
Frequently it was necessary to explain a French word with the help of an
English synonym. As a result, many synonymic pairs appeared in the XII-XIII cc.
of the type «safe and sound». Some of them survived in ModE: with might and
main, really and truly, by leaps and bounds.
If we take into consideration not only the meaning of words but their forms as
well, we have to distinguish between two varieties of French borrowings: Norman
French (NFr) and Central French (CFr). The Norman conquerors brought with them
a peculiar Northern dialect of French that differed in a number of ways from Central
French or Parisian French, the source of Modern French (ModFr), e.g. NFr [k]
corresponded to CFr [t], and NFr [t] corresponded to CFr []. Up to the XIII c.,
French borrowings came mostly from NFr. Later the overwhelming majority of
French loanwords came from CFr. It often happened that a word was borrowed
twice, first from NFr, then from CFr, thus forming etymological doublets, e.g. canal
(< NFr) and channel (< CFr), catch (< NFr) and chase (CFr).
Some French loans gave way to native English words, e.g. amity (which is still
found in Shakespeare) was replaced by friendship, moiety was replaced by half.
When both the native and the French word survived, there arose
differentiation in their meanings or the sphere of their usage, e.g. in such pairs as
work – labour, life – existence, the native word has a more concrete meaning,
while its French countertpart is more abstract. The native verb «beginnen» is
colloquial, while its French counterpart «commencen» is an official term used in
official documents.
Sometimes the French word ousted its native synonym into a different
sphere of meaning, e.g. the French word autumn replaced OE hærfest (denoting a
season of the year) but it survived with the meaning harvest.
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Part 4
NEW ENGLISH
4.1. THE FORMATION OF THE ENGLISH NATIONAL LANGUAGE
The XIV–XVcc. saw the decay of feudalism and the birth of new capitalist
relations.
The downfall of feudalism was accompanied by a civil war known as the
Wars of Roses (1455-1485). It ended in the battle of Bosworth with the victory of
Henry Tudor (Henry the 7th) over Richard the 3rd and the establishment of the
absolute power of Tudors. Henry the 7th reduced the power of old nobles and
created a new aristocracy out of gentry and town bourgeoisie.
In the XVI c. England became one of the most developed industrial
countries of Europe.
The economic concentration and the rise of common market produced great
changes in social life and stimulated a renewed interest in learning, science,
classical art and literature, in Latin and Greek.
The great geographical discoveries gave a new impetus to the progress of
trade and the establishment of ties with Italy, Spain, Russia and the New World.
Hence, there came many borrowings from Italian, Spanish, Russian and the
language of American Indians.
The economic and political unification played a decisive role in the
development of the English nation and new social classes.
99
One of the most characteristic features of a nation is the national language,
which stands above all territorial and social dialects and unites the whole nation.
The English national language developed on the basis of London literary
English, established since the age of Chaucer. Cheap printed books made them
available not only to the nobility and clergy but to people of lower social ranks.
The London form of speech spread across other regions.
This period is known as the age of Shakespeare or the age of Literary
Renaissance (or the Elizabethan age, for it coincided roughly with the reign of
Elizabeth).
These were the years of creative work for such celebrated men-of-letters as
William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Francis Beaumont,
John Fletcher.
The first explanatory English-English dictionaries and the first English
grammars appeared.
The earliest of them are Alexander Gill’s book Logonomia Anglica (that is,
English word-law (1621), Charles Butler’s English grammar (1634).
The idea of a strict norm in language belongs to Samuel Johnson, the author
of the famous Dictionary (1755).
4.2. CHANGES IN PRONUNCIATION
4.2.1. Development of Unstressed Vowels
4.2.1.1. Loss of unstressed –e [ə]

During the XIV-XV cc., the vowel [ə] in unstressed endings was lost:
(a) when it was final, e.g. ME helpe > NE help, ME sone > NE son,
(b) when it was followed by a consonant, e.g. ME bookes > NE books.
If the root vowel was long, the letter e in writing remained intact, e.g. ME
fowles [΄fu:ləs] > NE fowles [fu: lz], ME tables [΄ta:bləs] > NE tables [ta:blz],
ME bathed [΄ba:ðəd] – NE bathed [ba: ðd].
Thus «silent» -e (or«mute» -e) arose.
Sometimes «silent» -e was added to the words with a long root vowel which
had never had any unstressed vowel OE hūs > ME hous > NE house [hu:s].
The sound [ə] or its variant [i] remained in a limited number of cases, mostly
between sibilants (glasses, ashes, pages) or between dentals (wanted, decided).
Unstressed vowels in the middle of the word were reduced to two varieties:
[i:] and [ə]
(1) in the first syllable of disyllabic words, e.g.[i:] begin, return; [ə] admire,
command;
(2) in the second syllable of disyllabic words, e.g. [i:] wishes, ended; [ə]
patience, purpose.
If a part of a compound word preserved its meaning, the unstressed syllable
did not weaken: hatband, doorstep.
Unstressed [ou] also often preserved its quality: window, sorrow, yellow,
fellow.
100
4.2.1.2. Loss of Vowels in Intermediate Syllables
In some three-syllable or four-syllable words the vowel of a middle syllable
was lost, e.g.
ME chapiter > NE chapter
ME courtesy [΄kə:tisi] > NE curtsy [΄kə:tsi]
The two words were preserved: courtesy – with the meaning «politeness»,
curtsy – with the meaning «a ceremony of showing respect». Thus, a word with a
new spelling and pronunciation acquired a new meaning.
Sometimes the spelling form indicated no change in pronunciation, e.g.
ME colonel [[΄kolənəl] > NE colonel [΄kə:nəl]
Sometimes the vowel was lost only in pronunciation but not in spelling, e.g.
ME business [΄bizinis] > NE business [΄biznis], ME medicine [΄medisin] >
NE medicine [΄medsin]
The loss of unstressed vowels in final position is so characteristic of the NE
period that Henry Sweet called it «the period of lost endings».
4.2.2. Stressed Vowels
4.2.2.1. The Great Vowel Shift

The vowel shift covers roughly the XV-XVI cc. There is no unanimity
among linguists as to the chronological frame of the vowel shift. Henry Sweet
and Otto Jespersen think that the shift was completed only in the XVIII c., while
H.C.Wyld (after studying all sorts of documents of the XV–XVI cc.: private
letters, diaries, etc.) came to the conclusion that the shift was completed by the
late XVI c.
As the result of the vowel shift all the long vowels became narrower (closer)
and the narrowest (closest) long ones developed into diphthongs. These
diphthongs were sounds of a new type, in which the first element was
comparatively short and open, and the second element, representing the original
sound, more clearly marked. Four diphthongs resulted from this development:
[ai, ei, ou, au].
(1) ī > ai time ME [΄tīmə] > NE [taim]
(2) ū > au ME mous [mūs] > NE mouse [maus]
(3) ǭ > ou ME hoom [hǭm] > NE home [houm]
(4) ā > ēi name ME [nāmə] > NE [neim]
(5) > ī: he ME [h ] > NE [hi:]
(6) ę > ī: ME see [s ę] > NE sea [si:]
(7) > ū: tooth ME [t θ] > NE [tu:θ]
The names of some letters of the English alphabet can serve as examples of the
Great Vowel Shift. Compare the names of some letters before and after the shift:
101
Before the Vowel A [a:] E [e:] O [o:] I [i:] B [be] K [ka:]
Shift
After the Vowel A [ei] E [i:] O [ou] I [ai] B [bi:] K [kei]
Shift
The spelling form did not indicate any change in pronunciation, which
contributes greatly to the present discrepancy between spoken and written
English.
As the result of the vowel shift there appeared no new sounds that had not
existed in ME. Cf
[ei] ME wey [wei] – NE make
[i:] ME time – NE see
[ai] ME sayde – NE time
[ou] ME bowe – NE go
[u:] ME hous – NE moon
[au] ME drawen – NE house
Nevertheless, the Great Vowel Shift has left the deepest traces on the sound
system of the NE period. It has changed not only separate sounds but also the
whole system of vowels.
It has led to the decrease in the number of long vowels and to the complete
change of their distribution, e.g. long [i:] appears in the NE word see (< ME s ę), and
it does not appear in the word time (< ME [΄tīmə]), which becomes in NE [taim].
Some linguists (V.Plotkin in particular) attribute the Great Vowel Shift to
the loss of the final [ə] in the 15 th c., which transformed disyllabic words into
monosyllables. The difference between such words as ME fat [fat] and fate
[′fa:tə], bit [bit] and bite [′bi:tə] was not sufficient. The Great Vowel Shift
emphasised this difference by changing the quality of the long vowels: ME fate
[′fa:tə] > NE [feit], ME bite [′bi:tə] > NE [bait].
4.2.2.2. Shortening of Long Vowels

There were two shortenings of long vowels: the first took place in the XVI –
XII c., the second one – in the XVIII c.
The first shortening:
The long sound [ę] was shortened before [d], [t], [θ] in its [ē] stage (ę > ē >e)
and did not develop into [i:] on the pattern of the Great Vowel Shift, e.g.
bread: ME [br ę d] – NE [bred]; sweat: ME [sw ę t] – NE [swet]; breath:
ME [br ę θ] – NE [breθ]
Note 1. The digraph ea shows that the vowel [e] before the vowel shift was [ę]
Note 2. The long vowel [ū] was shortened before [d], [θ], e.g.
mother [΄mūðə] > [΄muðə].
In the XVII c. short [u] was delabialized and developed into a new sound [л]
[΄mлðə]
102
The second shortening:
Long [ū] was shortened before [k], [d], [t], e.g.
ME book [būk] > NE [buk], ME foot [fūt] > NE [fut], ME good [gūd] > NE
[gud].
4.2.2.3. Development of Short Vowels

In the XVI c. ME [a] normally changed into NE [æ], e.g.
ME that [θat] > NE [ðæt] (OE þæt), ME man [man] > NE [mæn].
As [æ] was an allophone or variant of [a] with the same spelling form it was
merely a replacement of one dominant allophone by another OE æ > ME a > NE
æ (the so called «shuttle» development).
After [w] the development of [a] was different. It was rounded and coincided
with [ɔ] < ME [o], e.g. was, want, what, quantity.
Note. The influence of w was neutralized by a following guttural, e.g.

wax [wæks], wag [wæg].
ME [o] was delabialized in Early NE and sounded [a], like in Russian or

French. Cf.
E frock, Fr frac, R фрак
Later on, the rounding was partly restored in English, though it is still less
rounded than, for instance, in Russian or Ukranian [o]. Cf
E pot – R пот
Note. In the United States the vowel [ɔ] in the words pot, not, etc. is not
labialized in most regions.
4.2.2.4. The Development of the New Short [л]

Short [u] was delabialized in the XVII c. It developed into a new sound [л],
as in cup, son, sun, up. Cf. OE cuman > ME comen [kumən] > NE come [kлm]
A preceding labial or labiodental usually prevented the delabialization of [u],
as in English full, pull, bull. Cf. OE putian > ME puten > NE put.
Still, sometimes delabialization took place even after a labial, as in bug,
bulb, etc.
4.2.2.5. Changes in Diphthongs
(a) The ME diphthongs [ai] and [ei] were gradually leveled under one sound
[ei]; the spelling was mostly ay or ai. Cf.
ME day [dai] > NE day [dei], ME wey [wei] > NE way [wei], ME seil [seil]
> NE sail [seil]
(b) ME [au] was monophthongized and became [ɔ:]
ME paw [pau] > NE paw [pɔ:], ME law(e) [lau] > NE law [lɔ:], ME cause
[kauz] > NE cause [kɔ:z], ME pause [΄pauzə] > pause [pɔ:z]
(c) ME [eu] > [iu], which soon became [ju:], as in new, dew, view.
The sound [ü] in French loan-words was usually replaced by the diphthong
[iu], later [ju:].
103
This is the reason why the letter u is called [ju:], the letter q – [kju:], the
word «due» is pronounced [dju:]
Note. After [r, l, ʤ, t] the first element is often lost in NE, e.g. rule, crew,
blue, jury, chew.
4.2.2.6. Vowel Changes under the Influence of Consonants

In the XVI-XVII cc. new long monophthongs and new diphthongs with the
second element [ə] appeared as the result of the vocalization of r.
To begin with, the sound [e] before [r] in the same syllable changed to [a]
already in the XV c. so that [er] changed into [ar]. This change was in most cases
reflected in spelling. Cf.
ME derk > NE dark, ME ferm > NE farm, ME sterre > NE star.
In some words like clerk, sergeant the older spelling has been preserved. The
spelling of heart shows the attempt to record the transition of [e] into [a] with the
help of the digraph [ea].
Although the change of [er] to [ar] was fairly common, it did not affect all
the words with the given sounds, e.g. ME serven [‛servən], person [′persən]
By NE period the articulation of the sound [r] changed. From being a
vibrating sound, like the Russian [р], it became more liquid and in Early NE [r]
was vocalized to [ə] after vowels.
(1) In most cases this [ə] and the preceding short vowel were fused into one
long vowel.
As a result, new long vowels have appeared in English, e.g.
ME a + r > NE [α‫ ]׃‬as in dark, part, star, heart
ME o + r > NE [ɔ:] as in port, form, more, war
ME i + r > NE [ə:] as in bird, first
ME u + r > NE [ə:] as in burden, fur
ME e + r > NE [ə:] as in person, serve
Note. In most regions of the United States the sound [r] is still heard after vowels.
If the sound [r] happened to follow a long vowel, the result was a diphthong
with [ə] as the second element, sometimes a triphthong:
ME [ę] + r > NE [εə] or [iə] as in bear, clear
ME [ ] + r > NE [iə] as in beer, here, dear, beard
ME [ō] + r > NE [uə] as in moor, poor
ME [ǭ] + r > NE [ɔə, ɔ:] as in oar, board
ME [ā] + r > NE [εə] as in hare, dare
ME [ī] + r > NE [aiə] as in hire, fire
ME [ū] + r > NE [auə] as in our, flower
Thus, a whole set of new diphthongs and triphthongs have appeared.
Of great consequence was also the influence of the consonant [l] on the
preceding vowel, especially [a].
104
The influence is connected with the development of an u-glide before [l],
mostly after [a], sometimes after [o]. Thus, [a] > [aul] > [ɔ:l] as in all, fall, salt, bald.
[o] > [ou] > [oul] as in folk, bowl < ME boole.
The consonant [l] was often lost especially before [k, m, f]. Still there were
no changes in spelling.
When [l] was lost before [k] the glide remained and the diphthong [au]
normally developed into [ɔ:] as in walk, talk, chalk.
When [l] was lost before [m] or [f] the labial glide disappeared before the labial
consonants and the preceding [a] was lengthened [α:] as in palm, calm, half, calf.
English [α:] has also developed from ME [a] before the voiceless fricatives
[s], [f] and [θ], as in grass, grasp, past, ask, after, staff, path. The process of
development seems to have been [a> æ > æ: > α:].
In most regions of the United States the vowel here is still [æ].
4.2.3. Consonants
4.2.3.1. Voicing of Voiceless Consonants

One of the most important changes of the XVI century was the voicing of
consonants [f], [s], [θ], and the clusters [ks] and [t] in weakly stressed and
unstressed syllables (if they were preceded by an unstressed vowel and followed
by a stressed vowel), e.g.
possess [po΄zes].
Note. After a stressed vowel, voicing usually did not take place, e.g.
off [of], cloth, rich, exercise.
The phonetic conditions of the Early NE voicing of fricatives and sibilants

resemble those of Verner’s Law in Old Germanic languages, that is why
O.Jespersen called this voicing «Verner’s Law in Early New English», e.g.
f > v ME of [of] > NE [əv]
s > z ME is [is] > NE [iz]
θ > ð ME the [θə] > NE [ðə, ði], ME that [θat] > NE [ðæt], ME they [θei] >
NE [ðei], ME with [wiθ] > NE [wið]
ks > gz ME anxietie [aŋksie΄tiə] > NE [æŋ΄zaiti]
t> ʤ ME knowleche [΄knoulət] > NE [΄nɔli ʤ]
Note. The change of [θ] > [ð] affected mostly articles, pronouns, adverbs
and conjunctions.
4.2.3.2. Loss of Consonants

Development of [x]
During the XIII-XV cc., a number of consonants were lost. We must
distinguish two variants of the development of [x] (written gh): (1) before t and
(2) in final position.
(1) ME [x] (mostly before t) was lost and the preceding short vowel was
lengthened, e.g.
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ME light [lixt] > NE [li:t], ME night [nixt] > NE [ni:t], ME eight [eixt] >
NE [eit], ME daughter [΄dauxtər] > NE [΄dɔ:tə]. Long [i:] arising from this
change took part in the vowel shift, e.g. light [li:t] > [lait], night [ni:t] > [nait]. In
forms like brought, fought the [ou] developed into [ɔ:]
The spelling did not reflect this change.
After the digraph gh had become silent, it was introduced in some words,
which had never had the souns [x], e.g.
the word delit of French origin (< Fr delit) became delight by analogy with
light, night.
In Northern dialects the [x] before [t] has been preserved to our days.
(2) [x] final mostly changed into [f], e.g. ME laugh [laux] > NE [lauf] >
[lα:f], [x] changed into [f] if it was preceded by [u], e.g. ME enough
[i΄nux] > NE [i΄nuf] > [in΄лf].
In a few words final [x] was lost, as in bough, dough, though, through, but
the spelling did not reflect this change.
Simplification of Consonant Clusters

(1) Initial [k] or [g] before [n] and [w] before [r] were lost in the second half
of the XVII c., e.g.
kn > n ME knee [kn ] > NE [ni:], ME knowen [΄knouən] > NE know [nou]
gn > n ME gnawen [g΄nauən] > NE gnaw [nɔ:] ]
wr > r ME written [΄wrīten] > NE write [rait], ME wrong [wrong] > NE [rɔŋ]
(2) The consonant [l] was lost before [k], [m], [f], [v] in the middle of a
word, e.g.
lk > k ME talk [talk] > NE [tɔ: k], ME walk [walk] > NE [wɔ:k]
lm > m ME calm [kalm] > NE [kα:m], ME palm [palm] > NE [pα:m]
lf > f ME half [half] > NE [hα:f]. ME calf [kalf] > NE [kα:f]
lv > v halves [΄ halvəs] > NE [hα:vz], calves [΄ kalvəs] > [kα:vz]
(3) In the XVI-VII c. final [b] after [m] and [m] before [n] were lost.
mb > m ME climban [΄klimbən] > NE climb [klaim], ME comb [kǭmb] >
NE [koum]
mn > n ME autumne [΄autumn] > NE [΄ɔ:təm], ME columne [΄kolumn] >
NE [΄kɔləm]
The spelling did not reflect this change. Moreover, silent b was wrongly
added in NE words that had never had b, e.g.
OE cruma > ME crume > NE crumb [krлm]
OE lim > ME lim > NE limb [lim]
OE þūma > ME thume > NE thumb [θлm]
(4) In the XVI c. the consonant t was lost in consonant clusters stl, stn, ftn, e.g.
[stl] > [sl] ME castel [΄kastəl] > castle NE [΄kα:sl], ME whistlen [΄wistlən]
> NE whistle [΄wisl]
[stn] > [sn] ME listen [΄listən] > NE [΄lisn], ME fasten [΄fastən] > NE
[΄fα:sn]
[ftn] > [fn] ME often [΄oftən] > NE [΄ɔfn], ME soften [΄softən] > NE
[΄sɔfn]
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(5) Final [ng] was simplified to [ŋ], e.g. ME thing [θing] > NE [θiŋ]
4.2.3.3. Change of [d] to [ð] when Close to [r]

In the XVc. the consonant [d] changed into [ð] in the neighbouhood of [r], e. g.
ME fader > NE father, ME moder > NE mother, ME weder > NE weather,
ME gadere > NE gather
A similar change of [t] > [θ] occurs in autour > author.
4.2.3.4. Development of Sibilants and Affricates in Early New English

In the XVII c. new sibilants and affricates developed from the combinations
sj, zj, tj, dj in French loanwords after the stress from the ultimate or penultimate
syllable moved closer to the beginning of the word. This change took place
mostly after stressed vowels, e.g.
sj > ʃME description [des΄kripsjen] > NE [dis΄kripən]
zj > ʒ ME pleasure [΄plezjer] > NE [΄pleʒə], ME decision [də΄sizjen] > NE
[di΄siʒən]
tj > tME nature [΄neitjər] > NE [΄neitə], ME picture [΄piktjer] > NE
[΄piktə]
dj > dʒ ME soldier [΄souldjer] > NE [΄souldʒə], procedure [prose΄dju:rə] >
NE [prə΄si:dʒə]
Three of these sounds [, t, dʒ] merged with phonemes already existing in
English, while the fourth, [z], made a new phoneme. Now the four sounds formed
a well-balanced system of two correlated pairs:  - ʒ, t - dʒ.
The same consonant clusters remained in stressed syllables, e.g. mature
[mə΄tjuə], duty [΄dju:ti].
In some ModE words, we still find the clusters with [j] in unstressed
position. Usually they are secondary variants in British or American English, e.g.
issue [′isju:].
According to A.C.Gimson, in the case of t, d + u both variants may be heard,
e.g. actual [΄æktuəl] - [΄æktjuəl], educate [΄edʒukeit] – [΄edjukeit].
4.3. CHANGES IN SPELLING
The introduction of printing at the beginning of the New English period

greatly contributed to the unification and fixation of English spelling. Begun by
Caxton in the last quarter of the XV c. this process practically ended in the first
half of XVIII century, after which the orthography altered but little.
In general, the spelling changes during the New English period were less
radical than the ones of the Middle English period. Very many words in ModE
are spellt in the same way as they were by Caxton, nearly five centuries ago.
107
In fact, most phonetic changes of the NE period did not reflect on spelling,
which accounts a good deal for the present discrepancy between spoken and
written English.
The phonetic change, which had the most disturbing effect upon the spelling
of that period, was the loss of ME [ə] (written e).
In many cases the letter e disappeared as well as the sound, e.g. ME sone >
NE son, ME nute > NE nut
In many other cases the letter remained, though the sound disappeared, e.g.
name, write, love.
The letter e in a final position came to be regarded as a sign indicating the
length of a preceding vowel, e.g. hat – hate, bit – bite.
It was added in such capacity to many a word which had never before had
the letter, e.g.
ME stoon (< OE stān) > NE stone, ME mis (< OE mӯs) > NE mice, ME to
(< OE tā) > NE toe.
The addition or retention of the so-called silent e was often quite superfluous
or even misleading. Thus, the ME hous showed quite plainly that the vowel was
long and the addition of e in NE house was unnecessary. The retention of e after
v in such words as live, give, have is misleading as it conceals the difference in
the vowels of live [liv] and alive [ə΄laiv], have [hæv] and behave [bi΄heiv], etc.
In the XVI c.new digraphs oa and ea were introduced to represent the long open
[ǭ] and [ę], e.g.
ME rood > NE road, ME boot > NE boat, ME se > NE sea, ME deel > NE
deal.
It was an improvement on ME spelling which had mostly made no
difference in representing [ ] and [ǭ], [ ] and [ ].
Most double consonants preceding the final weak [ə] were simplified after
the loss of the latter, e.g.
ME lette >NE let, ME stoppe > NE stop, ME dogge > NE dog, ME sunne >
NE sun.
The combinations of ss, ff, ll, ck (kk) were, however, retained, e.g.
ME kisse > NE kiss, ME stuffe > NE stuff, ME pulle > NE pull, ME locke >
NE lock.
Moreover, these combinations were transferred to other words with
originally a single final letter, e.g.
ME glas > NE glass, ME staf > NE staff, ME small > NE small, ME sik >
NE sick.
Medially, all consonants were usually doubled after a short vowel, just as a
sign that the vowel was short, e.g.
ME super > NE supper, felow > NE fellow, ME sumer > NE summer, ME
bery > NE berry, ME matere > NE matter.
The written forms of many a word, especially those borrowed from French,
were altered to make their Latin or Greek origin more obvious to the eye. Thus,
the letter b was inserted in ME dette (> debt), doute (> doubt), under the
108
influence of Latin «debitum and dubitare». French «rhithme» changed to rhythm
under the influence of Latin «rhythmus». The spelling school replaced scool to
conform to Latin schola.
Not infrequently, the supposed connection with Latin was false. The s in
island, e.g., is due to false association with Latin insula, whereas it is a native
English word, ME īland < OE īʒland, īʒ denoting «island».
4.4. LOCAL DIALECTS IN NEW ENGLISH
Superseded by the literary language, all dialects, except Scottish, were

reduced to the state of merely oral languages, used by the local population.
Scotland’s political independence [restored in 1314] had important
consequences for her language. When the English national language was
forming, Scotland remained outside this process. A special national language
arose in Scotland, which is often called Scots, and a separate national literature
(J.Barbour, R.Burns).
In NE there are six groups of dialects: Lowland (Scottish), Northern,
Western, Midlands (Central), Eastern and Southern.
Each group has its peculiarities at the four levels of the language – in the
sound system, in grammar (both morphology and syntax) and vocabulary.
4.4.1. Scottish Dialect
(1) In Scottish ME [ū] has not undergone the vowel shift. Thus, the words
house, out, down, mouth, crowd, now are pronounced [hu:s], [u:t], [du:n], [mu:θ],
[kru:d], [nu:].
(2) OE [ā], that changed in English into [ǭ] > [ou], remained intact and
became [ei] in the vowel shift. The literary stone, bone, whole, road correspond
to Scottish stane, bane, hail, raid.
(3) Words like dance, glance, chance, etc. are usually pronounced with long
[æ:] [dæ:ns], [glæ:ns], [tæ:ns].
(4) The consonant [r] has not undergone vocalization and is pronounced
(with a roll of the tip of the tongue) in kirk, perk, wark [kirk], [perk], [wлrk].
(5) Many Scottish dialects have preserved the guttural spirant [x], which is
denoted by gh, e.g. naught, ought, brought.
In Scottish some old plural forms of the nouns and possessive pronouns have
survived, e.g.
eyen (NE eyes), shoon (NE shoes), yon (NE yours).
Some Scottish words go back to Old Germanic roots, e.g.
dochter – G Tochter (NE daughter), nocht – G nicht (NE nothing), ken – G
kennen (NE know).
Some words go back to Scandinavian roots, e.g.
109
sark OE serc OSc serkr (NE shirt), kirk OE cirice OSc kirkja (NE church), brig
OE brycg < OSc bryggia (NE bridge).
4.4.2. Northern Dialects
Differences between Northern and Scots are insignificant as the basis of

Scots is the Northern dialect.
(1) In most Northern dialects ME long [ū] has not undergone the vowel shift
and remained unchanged, e.g.
clouts [klu:ts] (NE clothes), noo [nu:] (NE now), hoose [hu:s] (NE house),
aboot [ə΄bu:t] (NE about)
(2) OE long [ā] developed into [ei] in the vowel shift (as in Scottish), e.g.
stane [stein] (NE stone)
(3) ME long open [ę] that has changed in literary English into long closed
[i:] in the vowel shift, in Northern dialects has not narrowed. The literary
pronunciation of speak, heal, deal [spi:k], [hi:l], [di:l] corresponds to Northern
[spe:k], [he:l], [de:l]
(4) Long [α:] developed only before [m] and [f] as in calm [kα:m], palm
[pα:m], calf [kα:f], half [hα:f]. In all other cases, Northern dialects have long
[æ:], e.g.
dance [dæ:ns], chance [tæ:ns], ask [æ:sk], past [pæ:st].
(5)In Northumberland, Durham, Lancashire and Yorkshire short [u] did not
change into [л]. The corresponding words are pronounced with [u] or a vowel
intermediate between [u] and [o], e.g.
cum [kum] (NE come [kлm]).
(6) ME short [a] has not changed into [æ] Thus, words like hat, cat, hand,
etc. are pronounced [hat], [kat], [hand]
(7) In Northern Northumberland a uvular [r] is pronounced.
(8) Initial [h] has mostly been dropped.
(9) There is a tendency to drop final [l] and [l] before dental consonants, e.g.
ca’ (NE call), owd (NE old), saut (NE salt).
4.4.3. Western, Central and Southern Dialects
In the sound system Northern, Western, Central and Southern dialects share
some features:
(1) the ME long open [ę] ( that turned into closed [ ] and narrowed to [i:] in
literary English) remained unchanged;
(2) ME short [a] has not developed into [æ];
(3) Initial [h] is dropped, e.g.
’ave (have) – (The West country), ’im (him), ’ill (hill) ’ere (here) – (The
South East); ’eard (heard) – (The Midlands)
Other features are typical only of certain dialects.
110
In some Southern dialects initial [s], [f], [θ] in words of Germanic origin
have been voiced, i.e. become [z], [v], [ð] respectively; initial [thr-] has changed
into [dr-], Cf. Zo – G so, NE so; volk – G Volk, NE folk; dree – G drei, NE three.
The consonant [ŋ] in unstressed syllables has changed into [n].
4.5. SOME ESSENTIAL GRAMMATICAL CHANGES OF THE NEW

ENGLISH PERIOD: MORPHOLOGY
4.5.1. The Noun
4.5.1.1. Number
The 15th and 16th centuries saw the process of eliminating survival plural
forms.
The regular forms eyes, foes ousted eyen, fōn, which were still used by
Chaucer.
In some nouns the alteration of the final consonants [f], [θ] with the
corresponding voiced consonants [v], [ð] was eliminated, e.g. roof-roofs, belief-
beliefs, death-deaths, hearth-hearths.
However, with other nouns the alteration remained, e.g. wife-wives., life-
lives, half-halves, calf-calves, wolf-wolves, bath-baths, path-paths, youth-youths.
With a few words two variants are possible [-vz, -fs], [-ðz, -θs], e.g. scarf-
scarves, scarfs, truth-truths.
The noun staff (ME staff-staves) split into two separate words: staff-staffs
and stave-staves.
The alteration [f-v] extended to the word handkerchief, whose second part is
of French origin; alongside the plural form «handkerchiefs» a new form
«handkerchieves» was occasionally used.
A few nouns preserved their plural forms in –en (weak declension) or with
vowel alternation (root stems), e.g. ox-oxen, child-children, woman-women, foot-
feet, goose-geese, tooth-teeth, mouse-mice, louse-lice. Here also belong the
forms brethren – members of the same community (alongside brothers – sons of
the same mother) and kine (alongside cows).
A few nouns retained their uninflected plural forms, e.g. sheep-sheep, deer-
deer, swine-swine, fruit-fruit, fish-fish and the names of several kinds of fish:
trout, salmon and cod.
4.5.1.2. Cases
In NE, the two-case system, typical of Chaucer’s language, remained
unchanged. However, the range of the genitive case was narrowed. It came to be
used almost exclusively with nouns denoting living beings. In the genitive
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singular the apostrophe was first used about 1680. The use of the apostrophe in
the genitive plural dates from about 1780.
4.5.2. The Pronoun

The ME forms of personal pronouns underwent little change in NE.
The personal pronoun of the 2nd person plural ye, you and the
corresponding possessive pronoun your gradually ousted the corresponding
singular pronouns thou, thee, thine from everyday usage.
In the 16th c. the distinction between nominative ye and objective you began
to disappear. In the XVII c. ye finally became archaic. By the end of the XVI c.
the pronoun «hit» lost its initial h (it) finally.
4.5.2.2. Possessive Pronouns

The possessive pronouns my, mine (<ME mī, mīn), which were originally
but phonetic variants, (the –n was lost before consonants, as in an, a: mīn eyes,
mīn ears but my lord) acquired different combinability and consequently different
functions. Cf. It is my book. – This book is mine. This distinction became
relevant and spread to other possessive pronouns to which the suffix –s was
added, hence the forms her and hers, our and ours, your and yours, their and
theirs. The neuter possessive pronoun was his up to the XVII c. The form «its»
was introduced in the XVII c.
The adjective lost all its inflections but those of the degrees of comparison.
Synthetic and analytical forms of comparison began to differ: suffixes came
to be used with monosyllabic and some disyllabic adjectives, more and most
were limited to disyllabic and polysyllabic ones.
Vowel interchange in the comparative and superlative degrees of some
adjectives disappeared. The series of the type long - longer - longest replaced
long - lenger - lengest. With the adjective old both forms older-oldest and elder,
eldest survived with some difference in meaning and function.
A few adjectives preserved suppletive degrees of comparison up to the
present time, e.g.
good - better - best, bad – worse - worst, much – more - most, little – less - least.
Note In NE the adjective bad replaced evil, which acquired the meaning
«wicked».
4.5.4. The Adverb
112
In NE the suffix -ly became the only productive adverb-forming suffix. This
suffix can be joined on to the stem of any adjective whose meaning admits of
adverb formation.
The ME adverbs with the -e suffix (inherited from OE) lost their -e and
coincided with the corresponding adjectives. A few adverbs of this type have
been preserved up to the present time, e.g. fast, loud, hard, whereas others were
replaced by new adverbs derived by means of the -ly- suffix.
In the formation of degrees of comparison no change occurred in NE as
against ME.
4.5.5. The Verb
4.5.5.1. Personal Endings

The verb lost the ending of the infinitive and all the inflections of the present
tense but that of the 3-rd person singular. The latter acquired the form -(e)s (from
the Northern dialects) instead of the Southern -(e)th.
The form of the 2-nd person singular thou speakest was lost or became archaic.
4.5.5.2. Changes in Strong Verbs

Most verbs (except be) have lost the distinctions between the past tense
singular and the past tense plural, so there remained only three basic forms
instead of four: infinitive, past tense, past participle.
Of the two past tense stems some verbs have preserved that of the singular
(the influence of the Northern dialects), some – that of the plural (the influence of
the Western dialects) and some – neither the one nor the other.
Most of the former strong verbs of the 1-st class have preserved the singular
past tense: wrote, drove, rode. It is clear that they have developed from OE
wrāt, drāf, rād, not from OE writon, drifon, ridon.
On the contrary, the past tense bit of the verb bite (OE bītan, a strong verb
of the 1st class) is a development of the OE plural past stem biton, not bat.
Now the verb bear has the past tense form bore, which could not develop
either from OE past singular bær, or from the past plural bǣron. It was built on
the analogy of the stem of the past participle born. Similarly, wore and tore were
built after worn and torn, spoke was built after spoken. Whether the past
singular or the past plural took the upper hand would, apparently, depend on the
frequency of their usage.
The past tense forms acquired their final shape only in the XVII-XVIII cc. In
Shakespeare’s time wrote, rode, sang, began could be used alongside writ, rid,
sung, begun.
With a few verbs hesitation in their main forms occasionally goes on until
today, as in the verb spun, whose past tense is either span or spun.
In Shakespeare’s time and sometimes even later the past participle coincided
with the past tense.
113
4.5.5.3. Changes in Weak Verbs
With the disappearance of an –e before –d in the past tense form the
distinction between the 1st and 2nd classes did not exist any longer.
In NE a number of strong verbs (about 70) became weak. Among them are:
gripen – grip (class 4); chewen – chew, lien – lie (tell lies), crepen – creep
(class 2); climben – climb, helpen – help, melken – milk (class 3), meten – met
(class 5); shaven – shave, baken – bake, washen – wash, steppen – step, laughen
– laugh, waken – wake (class 6), leapen – leap, slepen – sleep, walken – walk,
wepen – weep, flowen – flow (class 7).
Some of these verbs have preserved strong forms alongside of the weak
ones. The verb climb sometimes had a strong past tense form clomb.
A few verbs preserving strong forms occasionally had new weak forms. The
verb weave (OE class 5, ME class 4) sometimes had the form weaved alongside
of its usual forms wove, woven.
The verb shave (originally a strong verb of class 6) had alongside of weak
forms a strong past participle (shaven), used attributively, as in shaven cheek.
The process of strong verbs becoming weak is still going on. In popular
language we find such forms as knowed for knew, seed for saw, etc.
Some weak verbs became strong. The OE weak verb hӯdan - hydde - hӯded
(ME hīden - hīdde - hid) became a strong verb of the 1-st class hide - hid -
hidden. Cf. bite - bit - bitten
The verb dig (ME diggen – diggede - digged), probably of French origin,
had weak forms in Shakespeare’s time. Later it developed strong forms dig - dug
- dug after the pattern of the 3 rd class of strong verbs. Cf. sting - stung - stung,
win - won - won
The OE weak verb of the 1 st class werian - werede - wered (ME weren –
werde - wered) acquired forms of a strong verb of the 4-th class: wear- wore-
worn Cf. bear - bore - born, tear - tore - torn
Some verbs preserved their weak forms of the past tense and acquired only
past participle after the pattern of a strong verb. The weak ME verb shewen -
shewede - shewed < OE scēawian - scēawode - scēawod (class 2) acquired past
participle after the pattern of the 7-th class of strong verbs: show - showed -
shown. Cf. know - knew - known, throw - threw - thrown, blow - blew - blown
A few irregular weak verbs became regular, e.g. reach - reached - reached <
ME rechen - raughte - raught; stretch - stretched - stretched < ME strechen -
straughte - straight. The original past participle of this verb has survived as the
adjective straight.
4.5.5.4. Rise of Invariable Verbs

In NE a group of invariable verbs appeared, from verbs with a root ending in
-d or -t, e.g. cut - cut - cut < ME cutten - cutte - cutt, shut- shut - shut < ME
shutten - shutte - shut, set - set - set < ME setten - sette - sett, hurt - hurt - hurt <
ME hurten - hurte - hurt, put - put - put < ME putten - putte - put.
114
The verbs cast, hit, thrust (all three of Sc. origin) and the verb cost (of Fr.
origin) also belong here: cast - cast - cast < ME casten - caste - cast, hit – hit - hit
< ME hitten - hitte - hit, thrust - thrust - thrust < ME thrusten - thruste - thrust,
cost - cost - cost < ME costen – coste- cost.
Some strong verbs also became invariable burst < OE bresten - brast - brosten -
brosten (class 3) and let < l ęten - lēt - lēten - l ęten (class 7), which developed a
weak past tense lette already in ME.
4.5.5.5. Changes in Preterite-Present Verbs

(1) The verb wot < ME w t (know) was still found in Shakespeare, e.g. I
wot well where he is. Later the verb disappeared from literary speech. Its use was
limited to dialects and poetry.
(2) The verb owe (< OE āʒ, ME ouh) is found in Shakespeare with the
meaning «possess» and in its modern meaning, e.g. I am not worthy of the health
I owe (possess); who now the price of his dear blood doth owe.
In the XVII c. the verb owe is ousted by the new verb own derived from the
adjective.
Ought (a past tense form) has acquired its modern meaning in Shakespeare
and thus, has been separated from the past both phonetically and semantically,
e.g. the watch ought to offend no man. In Shakespeare there is only one example
of ought with the meaning «owed», e.g. and said this other day you ought him a
thousand pound. Usually the weak regular past tense form owed is used, e.g. the
noblest grace she owed (possessed).
In the development of this verb the shifting of the meaning from past to
present took place twice. The OE form āʒ, originally a strong past, acquired the
meaning of present in OE. The form āhte (derived according to the weak
conjugation) in its turn acquired the meaning of present in NE.
(3) The ME verb deh, dowen < OE deaʒ, duʒon disappeared.
(4) The ME verb an, unnen < OE ann, unnon disappeared.
(5) The verb can remained intact.The absence of the ending in the 3-rd
person singular in the present tense (he can) testifies to its belonging to the
preterite-present type.
The form could is used to mean either the past indicative or the present
subjunctive.
(6) The ME verb tharf, thurven < OE þearf, þurfon (need) disappeared.
(7) The verb dar, durren < OE dear, durron has survived in the forms dare
and durst (past, now archaiс). Alongside of durst this verb had a past tense
form, dared, derived on the analogy of regular weak verbs. The preterite-present
origin of the verb is still felt in the 3-rd person singular present form without -s,
as in he dare come alongside of he dares to come.
(8) The verb shall was retained in NE mainly as an auxiliary of the future
tense. The form «should» has preserved its meaning of the past tense only in the
«future in the past», otherwise it has acquired a modal meaning close to that of
115
«ought». Thus, in most cases «should» is no longer a past tense form of the verb
«shall», but a separate verb.
(9) The ME verb man (remember) has disappeared.
(10) The verb «may» has been retained in NE. However, its form «might»
hardly ever refers to the past tense (except indirect speech); due to its modal
meaning it has acquired the meaning of present unreal conditional. Thus, in this
verb the change of the past meaning into present has taken place for the 2-nd
time. The absence of an -s inflexion in the 3-rd person singular present indicative
is a sure sign of its preterite-present origin.
(11) The ME verb mōt, mōste has survived.The form mote is still found in
Early NE as an archaism, e.g.
as fair as fair mote be (E.Spenser).
The past form moste (could) had sometimes been used in a present meaning
in ME already. This use and the concomitant change of the meaning «can» into
«must» began with the use of the conditional form. ME «þou mōste» (you might)
came to mean «you must». In NE «must» refers to the present tense. It has the
meaning of the past only in indirect speech. Thus, the verb mōt, mōste underwent
the change of meaning from past to present twice during its history.
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.
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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
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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.
4.7. NEW ENGLISH VOCABULARY CHANGES
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The XV c. in Europe is marked by two important phenomena: the Renaissance,
a great cultural movement with its centre in Italy, and great geographical
discoveries, which had a far-reaching effect on the English language.
The ideas of the Renaissance came to England only in the XVI c. together
with the ideas of Reformation (the establishment of the national church) and were
called the «New learning». The most significant period of the Renaissance in
England falls to the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
The revival of interest in Roman and Greek culture paved the way for Latin and
Greek borrowings. The mixed character of the English vocabulary, particularly the
great number of French loanwords borrowed during the ME period facilitated an
easy adoption of words from Latin and other Romanic languages.
4.7.1. Latin Loanwords
The most numerous were borrowings from Latin. Here belong:

(1) verbs in -ate, derived from the past participle (in -ātum) of Latin verbs
of the 1-st conjugation in -are, e.g.
exaggerate, narrate, separate, irritate;
(2) verbs in -ute, derived from the past participle (in -utum) of a group of
Latin verbs of the 3-rd conjugation in –uere, constitute, attribute,
contribute, pollute;
(3) verbs derived from the past participle of other Latin verbs of the 3-rd
conjugation, e.g.
dismiss, collect, correct;
(4) verbs derived from the infinitive of Latin verbs of the 3-rd conjugation,
e.g. permit (< L permittere), admit (< L permittere), admit (< L admittere),
compel (< L compellere), expel (< L expellere), produce (< L producere},
enduce (< L inducere);
(5) adjectives derived from Latin present participles in -ant (verbs of the 1-st
conjugation) and in -ent (verbs of the 2-nd, 3-rd and 4-th conjugations),
e.g. arrogant, reluctant, evident, transparent, expedient, obedient, patient;
also the nouns accident, incident, orient;
(6) adjectives derived from the comparative degree of Latin adjectives with the
-ior suffix, e.g.
superior, inferior, senior, junior, minor.
Not infrequently the same word was borrowed twice, earlier from French (often
with a different meaning), later from Latin. Thus, Latin – French etymological
doublets appeared, such as fragile – frail, defect – defeat, prosecute – pursue, secure
– sure, pauper – poor, hospital – hotel, history – story, example – sample.
There exist even Latin – Latin doublets and triplets borrowed at different
perods, e.g.,
the Latin word «discus» (<Greek) is represented in English by «dish» (OE
borrowing), «disc» (ME borrowing) and «discus» (NE borrowing).
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4.7.2. Latinization of French Loanwords
Due to the great influence of the Latin language, some English loanwords of
earlier French origin were latinized: their spelling, and in some cases
pronunciation, was brought closer to their Latin source. Thus, e.g., the ME word
«langage», under the influence of the Latin word «lingua», came to be
pronounced [′læŋgwi ʤ] and spelt with the letter «u» «language». ME
«aventure» (< Fr aventure) came to be spelt «adventure» under the influence of L
«adventūra» and pronounced [əd′ventə].
Sometimes latinization of French loanwords was the result of false
etymology. Thus, the ME words «avancen» and «avantage» were replaced by
«advance», «advantage» on the assumption that their Latin source had included
the the prefix ad-, while actually they were derived from the French words
«avant», «avantage», which came from the Latin phrase ab ante.
4.7.3. Greek loanwords
Greek loanwords are mostly terminological. Many of them came into the
English language through either Latin or French. They denote:
(1) names of most sciences, e.g.
mathematics, physics, psychiatry, botany, lexicology, etc.;
(2) special terms, e.g.
synonym, antonym, homonym, metaphor, metonimy, neologism, archaism,
etc.;
(3) social classes, political movements, state systems e.g.
aristocracy, anarchy, democracy, etc.
There are many compounds in English and other languages that have never
existed in Greek, but have been coined from Greek morphemes: telephone,
telegraph, telescope, microscope, etc.
English possesses a number of Greek doublets, such as fancy and phantasy,
diamond and adamant, blame and blaspheme.
4.7.4. French Loanwords
The influx of French borrowings has continued all through the NE period. In most
cases, these new loanwords differ from previous French borrowings in their
pronunciation and spelling. Compare the words «village» and «mirage» borrowed in
ME and NE periods respectively. In the former, the stress is on the 1-st syllable,
according to English accentuation, in the latter the stress is on the last syllable: [′viliʤ]
[mi′rα‫׃‬ʒ]. In the word «village», the letter «g» represents the typically English sound
[ʤ], in «mirage» «g» represents the characteristically French sound [ʒ].
Thus, «village» has been completely assimilated, while «mirage» has
preserved its alien pronunciation.
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The words liqueur [li′kjuə], coiffeur [kwα‫׃‬′fə:], bourgeois [′buəʒwα‫]׃‬,
chamois [′æmwα‫]׃‬, chemise [i′mi:z], machine [mə′ i:n], chateau [α‫׃‬′tou], beau
[bou], regime [rei′ʒi:m], trait [trei] can be easily identified as NE loanwords by
their peculiarities of spelling and pronunciation.
In the words «chamois, chemise, machine, chateau» the digraph «ch» is read
as [] as in Modern French. Final «s» and «t» are silent in the words chamois,
bourgeois, trait as in French.
In the words beau, chateau the French trigraph –eau has preserved its French
pronunciation [ou].
French loanwords of the NE period denote (1) things and notions typical of
feudal culture, such as ball, ballet [′bælei], billet-doux [′bili′du:] (a love letter),
intrigue [in′tri:g]; (2) words of a wider meaning, such as gazette [gə′zet], naïve
[nα‫׃‬′iv], serenade [seri′neid]
4.7.5. Mixed vocabulary of New English
Mass borrowings resulted in the formation of numerous hybrids.

(1) Native roots are widely used with borrowed affixes, e.g. The French
prefix re-, denoting repetion of the action, combines with the English
root: re-read, re-tell, re-new; The French suffix –able combines with the
English root: read-able; The Greek prefix ante- combines with the
English root: ante-room.
(2) Borrowed roots often go together with native affixes, e.g. The French
root combines with native suffixes and prefixes: merci-ful, duke-dom,
false-hood, use-ful, use-less, under-value.
4.7.6. Italian and Spanish Loanwords
Italian loanwords belong mainly:

(1) to the sphere of arts, e.g.
violin, opera, piano, libretto, sonata, tempo, bass, solo, ballerina, studio,
cupola, portico, balcony, parapet, terracotta, majolica;
(2) the military sphere, e.g.,
generalisimo, squadron, stiletto;
(3) physical features of an area, e.g.
volcano, lava, , granite;
(4) occurrences and way of life, e.g.
manifesto, ballot, carnival, garb, macaroni, madonna, casino, bandit, zero,
manage, bankrupt.
From Spanish and Portugese came many words connected with the
American and other colonies:
(1) names of plants, e.g.
potato, tomato, cocoa, tobacco, banana, maize;
(2) names of animals, e.g.
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alligator [′æligeitə], cobra [′koubrə], mustang [′mлstæŋ];
(3) names of races, e.g.
negro, mulatto [mju: ′lætou];
(4) local features, e.g.
hammock, canoe [kə′nu:], lasso [′læsou], sombrero, guitar, toreador, picador;
(5) trade, e.g.
cargo, embargo, controband, port, sherry, Madeira;
(6) the navy, e.g.
armada [α‫ ׃‬′mα‫׃‬də], flotilla [flou′tilə], capsize [kæp′saiz];
(7) and other spheres, e.g.
guerilla [gə′rilə], barricade [bæri′keid], tank, hurricane [′hлrikən]
4.7.7. Russian Loanwords
In the XVI-XVII cc. with the development of English-Russian political and

economic relations a number of Russian words were borrowed. They include:
(1) names of social relations and state institutions, e.g.
boyar, Cossack, muzhik, voivoda, tsar, duma, ukase;
(2) a system of measures and money, e.g.
verst, altyn, pud, rouble, copeck;
(3) names of everyday things, e.g.
telega, balalaika, samovar, vodka, kvas
4.8. THE EXPANSION OF ENGLISH
During the NE period English has spead far beyond the borders of England.
It is spoken now in Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Australia, New
Zealand and other countries.
Some linguists (Otto Jespersen, in particular) try to explain the expansion of
English by its properties, namely by more progressive analytical structure, and
exceptional vigour that helped it to come victorious in its rivalry with other languages.
In fact, the expansion of English, like that of French, Spanish, Portuguese
and Dutch can be accounted for by only historical (economic and political)
reasons. Once England was one of the first and mightiest countries and colonial
empires, and English was imposed upon the peoples of numerous colonies.
In 1603 Scotland and Ireland were brought under the English crown.
In 1620 the ship «Mayflower» with the first English settlers from London
and the counties close to it (Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex) came to America and the
colonization of the New World began. These settlers occupied territories on the
Atlantic coast, now known as New England (the states of Maine, Vermont, New
Hampshire, Massachusets, Conneticut and Rhode Island).
In the XVIII c., England occupied Canada, India and Australia. And
everywhere English was implanted after much fighting with the local population
and the suppression of its language and culture.
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In most countries, English has preseved its essential features with but slight
variation of pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, so that the relations, say,
between the national languages of England and the United States or the Australian
Commonwealth are those of variants of the same language. It is customary to
speak of American English, Canadian English, Australian English, etc.
4.9. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN THE USA
The most important of the English variants is American English.

N.Webster was the first to have described the differences in vocabulary and
pronunciation between the American English (AmE) and British English (BrE) in
his «Dictionary of the English Language» (1828).
AmE, in his opinion, is a pure uncorrupt descendant of Chaucer and
Shakespeare, while BrE has been spoilt by linguistic change. He admitted,
though, that the two types of English were basically identical.
As later investigations show, the attempt of the well-known American author
and journalist H.L. Mencken (1880-1948) to prove the existence of a separate
«American language» has failed. .
4.9.1. Some peculiarities of American Pronunciation
There is a greater uniformity in AmE than in BrE. Though linguists often

speak of the three dialectal regions (Eastern, Western and Southern, or Northern,
Midland and Southern), they usually recognize the existence of what is called
General (or Common) American, based on the Western type and used by the
great majority of the population, with some deviations in the South and in the
North-Eastern states of New England. It is on this General American that we are
mostly going to dwell.
Strange as it may seem, most of the peculiarities of American pronunciation
are not innovations, but rather well preserved features of British English of the
XVII – XVIII cc. It looks as though the Americans have preserved the speech of
the first settlers.
(1) ME [a] > NE [æ > ǣ > α‫ ]׃‬before fricatives [f, s, θ]. In BrE the final stage
of this process was reached in the middle of the XVIII c. In General
American and in the Southern type, stage [æ] or [æ:] has been preserved
in words like after [΄æftər] – [΄æ:ftər], ask [æsk] – [æ:sk], path [pæθ] –
[pæ:θ], etc. In the region of New England (the Eastern type) [α‫ ]׃‬is
common, which agrees with London English.
Note The only exception is the word father, which is always pronounced [′fα‫׃‬ðə].
In General American [æ] or [æ:] is also used in French loanwords before [n],
e.g. aunt [ænt] – [æ:nt], dance[dæns] – [dæ:ns], plant [plænt] – [plæ:nt].
(2) In ME [o] was first delabialized to [a] in the XVII c., but later on, the
rounding was partly restored to [ɔ] in BrE. In General American and in
123
the Southern type, stage [a] has been preserved, especially before stops
[p, t, k] and the sibilant [s], in words like not [nat], clock [klak], stop
[stap], lot [lat], pot [pat], possible [΄pasibəl]. In New England (the
Eastern type), in a closed syllable before a stop, [ɔ] is common. This,
again, agrees with London English.
(3) The process of development of the ME [u > o > л] took place in the XVII c.
In General American the final stage does not seem to have been fully
reached. In words like «us, up, but» the vowel is closer than in BrE and
slightly rounded.
(4) In BrE the consonant [r] underwent a series of changes. It lost its
vibration, became liquid and was finally vocalized after vowels in final position
or before consonants. In General American the last stage has not been completely
achieved. The sound [r] is still heard in the combinations -ar, -er, -ir, -ur, -or, in
words like star [stα‫ ׃‬r], dark [dα‫ ׃‬rk], her [hə:r], girl [gə:rl], first [fə: rst], hurt
[hə:rt], port [pɔrt], etc.
The consonant [r] is dropped in New England (Eastern type) and in the
Southern type, as in London English, e.g. first [fə:st], farm [fα‫׃‬m], etc.
(5) In general American after a dental consonant, in the words like tune
[tju:n], duty [΄dju:ti], stupid [΄stju:pid], student [΄stju:dənt], etc. there is often [u:]
instead of [ju:]: [tu:n], [΄du:ti], [΄stu:pid], [΄stu:dənt]. In fact, both variants are
found equally. In New England [u:] is used.
Note The above features should be regarded as typical of AmE, but not
exclusive of other varieties, e.g. in some regions of England (Great Britain),
especially in the West Country, the [r] after vowels is pronounced, whereas in
New England the Americans do not pronounce it. Similarly, in some Northern
dialects of England (Great Britain) there is [æ] in ask, past, etc. and [u] has not
become [л] in cup, sun, etc. whereas in the states of New England the vowels of
these words are [α‫ ]׃‬and [л] respectively.
Other peculiarities of American pronunciation are as follows:

(6) In the words «long, strong, song», etc. the vowel is long.
(7) Nasalization of vowels (the so-called «nasal twang») is also a
chracteristic feature of AmE. It is used not only before nasal sounds but also with
the diphthongs [ai], [au]. Nasal twang is considered to be the peculiarity of New
England, but, in fact, it covers larger territories.
(8) In manysyllabled words (mostly foursyllabled) the second syllable from
the end gets a secondary stress. Here belong words with the suffixes -ary, -ory, -
ery, e.g.
necessary [′nesə`sεəri], monastery [′manəs`tεəri], laboratory [′læbərə`tɔri],
preparatory [pri′pεərə`tɔri]
In New England (a) o, ou before r denote the sound [ɔ:], e.g. port [pɔ:t],
court [kɔ:t] as in London English.
(b) In words, like «stone, home, whole» a short non-labialized vowel is
pronounced. This pronunciation is represented by spellings like stun, hum, hull.
124
(c) Words ending in [ə] have an [i]-like sound at the end. This is represented
by spellings like idear for idea, Hanner for Hannah.
Within the Southern type there occur local peculiarities of pronunciation,
such as [æu] for [au] in words like down, town, and occasionally [εə] for [iə] in
words like hear, deer, dear, ear.
According to G.Ph. Krapp, it is much easier to imagine the Eastern or
Southern type of pronunciation than the Western, which appears like a
generalized national language, devoid of specific local features. The origin of this
lies, in Krapp’s view, somewhere between the Aleghanies and the Rocky
mountains.
There are also numerous differences
(a) in the pronunciation of individual words:
Common Spelling Different Pronunciation

British English American English
clerk klα‫ ׃‬k klə:k
depot ′depou ′di:po(u)
either ′aiðə i: ðər ( No change of i: >
ai according to the Great
Vowel Shift)
garage ′gærα‫׃‬ʒ gə′ra:ʒ
lieutenant lef′tenənt lu(:)′tenənt
nephew ′nevju: ′nefju:
schedule ′∫edju:l ′skedju:l
suggest sə′dʒest səg ′dʒest
tomato tə′mα‫׃‬tou tə′meito(u)
(b) in the position of the stress:

Common Spelling Different Stress
(nouns) British English American English
address ə′dres ′ædres
excess ik′ses ′ekses
inquiry ink′waiəri ′inkwiri
recess ri′ses ′rises
4.9.2. American Spelling
The author of most changes in American orthography is N.Webster. Having

left untouched the main principles of English spelling, he introduced some minor
changes in details (American Spelling Book, 1798). In 1906 American Simplified
Spelling Board adopted all N.Webster’s proposals.
(1) For the British English –our at the end of French and Latin loanwords like
armour, ardour, colour, favour, honour, labour the spelling –or was
introduced: amor, ardor, color, favor, honor, labor, etc.
125
(2) For British –re in words like centre, metre, litre, theatre, -er was
introduced in AmE: center, meter, liter, theater.
(3) The final consonant «l» is not doubled when you add a suffix, unless there
is a stress on the final syllable, e.g.
′travel – ′traveler, ′traveled, ′traveling but pro′pel –pro′peller, pro′pelled,
pro′pelling In BrE «l» is doubled in all cases.
(4) For British -ce American -se is used, e.g.
de′fense instead of de′fence, o′ffense instead of o′ffence, pre′tense
instead of pre′tence
(5) Such words as catalogue, cheque, plough, programme, through, though
have undergone simplification: catalog, check, plow, program, thru, tho.
(6) For British suffix -ise American -ize is used: analyze, mobilize, organize.
In fact, nowadays in BrE both variants are used.
4.9.3. Some peculiarities of American Grammar
Differences in morphology between BrE and AmE are negligible. The

American variant is more conservative. Thus, it has preserved the old synthetic
forms of present subjunctive (Subjunctive I), whereas in BrE they have mostly
been replaced by analytical forms, e.g.
I suggest that he go is predominantly (though not exclusively) American,
while I suggest that he should go is more characteristic of British English.
Likewise, the verbs get and prove have retained the old form of past
participle gotten and proven in the USA, whereas in England they were lost in
the XIII c. In AmE in the future tense the auxiliary will prevails over shall for all
persons.
In colloquial American speech we often find formations like I been, I taken,
I seen, etc. These formations are the result of a phonetic weakening and loss of
the auxiliary have [hæv > həv > əv > v]. The loss of the auxiliary «have» means
that the past participle tends to become a finite verb form.
4.9.4. Vocabulary of American English
Vocabulary differences between British English and American English are

most pronounced.
Quite often American English displays its conservatism in this sphere too. In
the United States, some words have preserved the meanings they had in England
in the XVII c., whereas in Great Britain these meanings are now expressed
differently. Here belong such words as «fall» replaced in England by «autumn»,
«guess» by «think», «baggage» by «luggage», «druggist» by «chemist»,
«homely» by «ugly», «to loan» by «to lend», «sick» by «ill» (in the predicative
function), «mad» by «angry», «sidewalk» by «pavement», etc.
On the contrary, some words, preserved in BrE, went out of use in AmE.
Here belong: a fortnight (two weeks), porridge, heath, moor, ironmonger, cock
(AmE rooster).
126
At the same time, new words were borrowed from the languages with which
AmE came into contact. Later most of them crossed the Atlantic and penetrated
into the vocabulary of BrE.
From various Indian dialects came:
(1) geographical names (in French spelling and pronunciation as once some
territories belonged to French colonists), e.g. Mississippi [̗misi′sipi], Chicago [i
′kɔ:go:], Michagan [′miigən], Illinois [ili′nɔi], Siox [su:], Arkansas [′α‫׃‬kənsɔ:]
(state) but [α‫ ׃‬′kænsəs] (city)
Note ch in French denotes [], s in the final position is silent.
(1) names of plants, e.g.

hickory, sequoia [si′kwɔiə], persimmon [pə:′simən];
(2) names of animals, e.g.
moose, skunk, cariboo [′kæribu:];
(3) objects and aspects of Indian life, e.g.
wigwam [′wigwæm], squaw [skwɔ:], tomahawk [′tɔməhɔ:k], pemmican
[′pemikən], mocasin [′mɔkəsin], caucus [′kɔ:kəs], pow-wau [′pauwau]
Though most of these words are also used in England, some of their
meanings are typical of the USA, e.g. pow-wau is used in the meaning «political
meeting», to pow-wau means «to confir, to discuss»; caucus means «an elective
party committee», to caucus means «to hold a caucus meeting»; to skunk means
«to defeat completely», etc
A few words were borrowed from the languages of European colonists.
From Spanish come: (1) geographical names, e.g.
San Francisco [sænfrən′siskou], Los Angeles [lɔs′ænʤili:z], Santa Fe
[sæntə′fei], etc
(2) topographical names, e.g.
Sierra Nevada, Sierra Madre, El Paso, Llano Estacado, Punta Rasa, canyon
[′kænjən] etc.
(4) objects and phenomena of everyday life, e.g.
hacienda [hαsi′endə] (estate), rancho, sombrero [sɔm′brεəro(u)], tornado [tɔr
′neido(u)], plaza [′plα‫׃‬zə], adobe [ə′doubi] (a mixture of mud and straw), padre
[′pα‫׃‬drei], quadroon [kwɔ′dru:n] (< Sp cuarteron), cafeteria [kæfə′tiəriə] (a
restaurant where people serve themselves)
Note The last word is built after the Spanish pattern (barberia, carniceria,
panaderia). After the same pattern new hybrid words chocolateria, fruteria,
sodateria were built.
It is not clear how the Spanish loanwords creole, alligator, mosquito,

cockroach (< Sp cucaracha) penetrated BrE: from AmE or through British sailors.
Dutch loanwords denote:
(1) some geographical names, e.g.
Brooklyn (Breuckelen), Bowery (< bouweru - estate), Catskill (< kill - canal);
127
(2) some aspects of life, e.g.
boss (< baas - master), dollar, dope ( < doop), waffle (< wafel), stoop ( < stoep - a
doorstep), cookie, Santa Claus (< Sant Klaas – Saint Nicholas).
German loanwords denote:
(1) mostly «food», e.g.
hamburger [′hæmbə: gə] – a steak, pretzel, noodle, sauerkraut, bock-beer, lager-
beer, leberwurst, frankfurter and some shops, institutions and objects connected
with them e.g. beer-garden, stein, Delikatessen, kindergarten (BrE infant’s
school), seminar, etc.
French loanwords are represented by such words as prairie [′prεəri], rapids,
Detroit [də′trɔit].
Many derivatives, compounds and stable word combinations were formed in the
USA. Some of them were later adopted in England, e.g. a cablegam (BrE a telegram),
a high school (BrE a secondary school), high-ball – whiskey or other liquer mixed
with water, soda or ginger ale and ice, a high-hat – US slang (BrE a top-hat), hijack -
US slang (to rob automobiles), chewing gum, trucker – a lorrydriver, etc.
It is easy to see the difference between BrE and AmE if we compare pairs of
words and word combinations denoting the same thing.
In Britain an information bureau is an inquiry office, a ticket agent is a
booking clerk, and a freight car is a goods wagon. Dessert in Britain means
fruit; in the USA you must use sweet if you want a dessert; if you ask for
buiscuits you will get crackers. The British equivalent of a cigar store is a
tobacconist’s. The British billion is American trillion, and milliard should be
used to signify American billion.
You can see that the above divergencies between BrE and AmE are not
differences between two languages. Both «ticket agent» and «booking clerk» and all
the other examples consist of English words formed and connected in typically
English ways. In general, the minor differences in grammar, pronunciation, spelling
and vocabulary conceal the fact that the Americans and the British speak essentially
one language; use the same grammar, practically the same phonetic and
orthographic systems and overwhelmingly the same vocabulary.
CONCLUSION
The English language of today is the result of more than 1000 years of
development.
It is genetically allied to IE languages (common origin), that is why there is
similarity between English and other IE languages, say, Russian.
128
At the same time, the English language reveals peculiarities typical only of
Germanic languages, e.g. phonetic IE - Gc correspondences according to The
First Consonant Shift.
Similarities between French and English in the vocabulary can be explained
only from historical point of view: by Norman Conquest of England and the
residence of the English and French on the same territory at the same time.
As the result of the internal development, the English language changed
from synthetic type to analytical one. The transition was slow and gradual.
Interrelated processes contributed greatly to the destruction of the old
synthetic system and its substitution for analytical one: the fixation of the stress
on the root syllable and the loss of unstressed inflections changed the
morphological structure of the word, led to the disintegration of the systems of
declension and conjugation, hence the gradual loss of synthetic ways and the
development of analytical means and more or less fixed word order in syntax.
The investigation of the English language throughout 3 periods of its
evolution confirms that a language is a closed code system unsusceptible to
structural changes from outside.
The only penetrable part of the language is vocabulary. Nevertheless, even
the heavy influx of Romanic words and affixes into the English language went on
in conformity with the general tendencies to put stress on the first (root) syllable
and to drop endings.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Barber Charles, Linguistic Change in Present-Day English, Edinburgh

and London, 1964.
2. Baugh A. C., Cable T.A History of the English Language, 4-th ed.
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1993.
3. Bell J. J. The History of England, St Petersburg, «Peter», 1995.
4. Gimson A.C. An introduction to the Pronunciation of English, London,
Edward Arnold (Publishers) LTD, 1965.
5. Ilyish B. History of the English Language, Leningrad, 1973.
6. Jespersen O. Growth and Structure of the English Language, Oxford, 1940.
7. Jespersen O. A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles,
London and Copenhagen, 1942.
8. Khaimovich B.S. A Short Outline of the History of English, Kiev, 1975.
9. Krapp G. Ph. The English Language in America, New York, 1925.
10.Marchand H. The Categories and Types of Present-Day English
Formation, Wiesbaden, 1960.
11.Mencken H.L. The American Language, New York, 1919.
12.Mincoff M. English Historical Grammar, 2-nd ed. Sofia, Naouka, 1967.
13.Quirk R. and Wrenn C.L. An Old English Grammar, London, 1955.
14.Quirk R. Essays on the English Language: Medieval and Modern,
London, 1968.
15.Rastoeguyeva T.A. History of English, Moscow, Vysšaya škola, 1983.
129
16.Sweet H. New English Grammar, Logical and Historical, Oxford,
Clarendon Press, part I-II, 1940.
17.Sereda L.M.,Griniewicz S.W., Thomas P. Introduction to the History and
varieties of the English Language, Bialystok, Wydawnictwo Wyzszej
Szkoly Finansow i Zarzadzania w Bialymstoku, 2003.
18.Wyld H.C. A History of Modern Colloquial English, Oxford, 1953.
19. Аракин В.Д. История английского языка: Учебное пособие для вузов/
В.Д. Аракин. – 2-е изд. – М.: Физматлит, 2003.
20.Арсеньева М.Г., Балашова С.П., Берков В.П., Соловьева Л.Н.
Введение в германскую филологию. Москва, изд-во «ГИС», 1998.
21.Бруннер К. История английского языка: в 2 т./ К. Бруннер. – Изд. 3е,
стереотип. – М.: УРСС, 2006. – Т.1.
22.Гухман М.М. Готский язык. Москва, МГУ, 1998.
23.Залесская Л.Д., Матвеева Д.А. Пособие по истории английского
языка для заочных отделений факультетов английского языка
педагогических институтов. Москва, «Высшая школа», 1984.
24.Иванова И.П., Чахоян Л.П., Беляева Т.М. История английского
языка. Учебник. Хрестоматия. Словарь.- СПб.: Изд-во «Лань», 2001.
25.Иванова И., Беляева Т., Чахоян Л. Практикум по истории
английского языка. - СПб.: «Лань», 2001.
26.Матвеева Е.А.История английского языка. Москва, Тезаурус, 2006.
27.Смирницкий А.И. Лекции по истории английского языка (средний и
новый период) второе издание. Москва, Добросвет, 1998.
28.Хлебникова И.Б. Введение в германскую филологию и историю
английского языка «ЧеРо», 3-е издание исправленное, Москва, 2001.
DICTIONARIES
1. The All Nations English Dictionary (International Phonetic Alphabet) All

Nations Literature, Colorado Springs, Co 80936, 1992
2. Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary, 5-th ed. Glasgo,
Harper Collins Publishers, 2006
3. Daniel Jones, English Pronouncing Dictionary. 15-th ed. Cambridge
University Press, 1997
SOURCES OF EXAMPLES
1. An Anthology of English and American Verse, Moscow, Progress

Publishers, 1972
2. Folk-Tales of the British Isles, Moscow, Raduga Publishers, 1987
3. William Shakespeare, The Complete Works of W.Shakespeare, vol.1-2,
Paris, Baudry, 1838.
4. Смирницкий А.И. Хрестоматия по истории английского языка с VII
по XVII вв. Москва, МГУ, 1998.
130
A CONSICE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
(КРАТКАЯ ИСТОРИЯ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА)
Тихонова Аза Петровна
Сдано в набор 05.04.2004. Подписано в печать 26.05.2003. Бумага

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Тираж 100 экз. Заказ
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ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ АГЕНСТВО ПО ОБРАЗОВАНИЮ

ГОУ ВПО «АДЫГЕЙСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»

(КРАТКАЯ ИСТОРИЯ АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА)

Настоящее учебное пособие по курсу истории английского языка предназначено

 Адыгейский государственный университет, 2009

Acc. = Accusative Nom. = Nominative

History of the English language as a scientific discipline presents a

English Gothic Russian Latin Greek Sanskrit

English Gothic Russian Latin Greek Sanskrit

English belongs to the Germanic branch of the IE family of languages.

1.2. ANCIENT GERMANIC TRIBES AND THEIR

1.3. GERMANIC ALPHABETS

1.4.1.1.The First Consonant Shift (Grimm’s Law)

II. ACT The IE voiced plosives b, d, g became in Gc voiceless p, t, k, e.g.

ІІІ. ACT The IE aspirated voiced plosives bh, dh, gh changed in Gc to

1.4.2. Word – Stress

Another important phonetic feature of the Gc languages is the position and

The Gc languages are also marked by some peculiarities in the development

1.4.3.2. Germanic Fracture (Breaking)

Infinitive Past singular Past Plural Past Participle

1.4.3.4. Unstressed Vowels

1.5. GRAMMATICAL PECULIARITIES OF GERMANIC

1.5.1. The Noun

The structure of a noun is supposed to have been the same in all IE

1.5.2. The Adjective

Gothic Strong Verbs

As the result of their common descent, the IE languages have preserved

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

Note. The symbol′ after the letter means «soft, palatal».

2.4. OLD ENGLISH DIALECTS AND WRITTEN RECORDS

There were four main dialects on the territory of Britain: Northumbrian,

2.5. SOME PHONETIC CHANGES OF THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD

2.5.2. Old English Breaking

Breaking is diphthongization of front vowels before h, l, r + another

Palatal mutation is a kind of regressive assimilation caused by the sounds [i]

1. æ > e *sætian > settan (to set)

1. ea > ie *eald + ira > ieldra (older)

Thus, i-mutation resulted in seven monophthongs and two diphthongs. By

2.5.4. Back or Velar Mutation (Velarization)

Back mutation is another regressive assimilation called forth by back vowels

2.5.5. Diphthongization of Vowels after Palatal Consonants

2.5.6. Lengthening of Short Vowels

2.5.7. Unstressed Vowels

Stress in OE mostly fell on the first syllable of a word. Words beginning

Sometimes new unstressed vowels developed, especially before r, l, n, e.g.

The OE consonant system included the following sounds: labial: p, b, m, f,

2.5.9. Palatalization of Velar Consonants

2.5.10. Assimilation, Metathesis, Doubling of Consonants,

(1) Due to assimilation before n, m the cluster fn often becomes mn,

2.6. OLD ENGLISH MORPHOLOGY

2.6.1. Old English Noun: General Characteristics

Note. With the change of IE o >GC a and IE ā > Gc ō IE o-stem became Gc

It has become traditional to call the declensions of stems ending in a vowel

masculine, neuter feminine all genders masculine,

2.6.2. Vowel Stems Strong Declension

Masculine gender Neuter gender

caru (care), lār (folk-lore), feðer (feather)

The ō-declension corresponded to the first or ā-declension of Russian or

hyll (hill), flǣsc (flesh), cwēne (woman)

sunu (son), hand (hand)