General characteristics of the Old English verb. Major and minor groups of verbs.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 1436.

In OE the verb is characterized by many peculiar features. Though the verb has few grammatical categories its paradigm has a very complicated structure. All the forms of the verbs are synthetic, as analytical forms only begin to appear. There is the opposition in E of finite forms to non-finite forms. e.g.: rise :: risan (inf); risende (participle). The non-finite forms are closer to the nouns and adjectives than to the verb itself especially at the morphological level. Grammatical categories. OE verbs have: 1) Number; e.g.: ic helpe (sg.) – we helpath (pl.) 2) Person; e.g.: ic helpe (1^st) – thu hilpst (2^nd) – he hilpth (3^rd ) 3) Mood; (Indicative – hilpst, Imperative – helpath, Subjunctive - helpe) 4) Tense. In OE there are only 2 tensees: The present (ic helpe) and The past (ic healp). To express the Future actions the forms of the present Tense are used together with different lexical means. There are 2 more categories the existence of which is still debatable. Aspect. There is a division into perfective and non-perfective aspects. They expressed morphologically with the help of the prefix ‘3e-'. With – perfective, without – non-perfective/a non completed action. There are also other means of expressing aspective meanings. Verb phrases made up of the verbs: haban, beon, weorthan. Voice is not fully developed in OE. The category of passive voice already in OE acquires some means of expression. With the help of the verbs: beon and weorthan. The majority of all OE verbs fall into 2 great divisions: the strong verbs and the weak verbs. But also there are Preterite Present and anomalous verbs. The difference between all the types is in the way of building of the principal form of the stem. In OE there are 2 non-finite forms of the verb: the infinitive and the participle. The majority of all OE verbs fall into 2 great divisions: the strong verbs and the weak verbs. Besides these 2 groups there are few verbs which can be put together as minor groups: the Preterite Present verbs and suppletive/anomalous verbs. The difference between all the types is in the way of building of the principal form of the stem. The strong verbs are called so because they have the power to change their forms without the help of any tense-forming suffixes (stem + inflection). They use ablaut or gradation for disperse. There are 7 classes of verbs in OE. About 300 verbs, which were native. Each strong verb has 4 principal forms: the infinitive, past singular, past plural, participle II.

The peculiarities of OE verb classes: I) i-class. This class always has the letter ‘i'. II) u-class. Because of ‘u' in the 3^rd form and ‘o' in P.II. A diphthong in the infinitive and past singular. III) 2 consonants after the root vowel. IV) Long vowel ‘ae' in the 3^rd form. V) long voewel ‘ae' in the 3^rd form. The stem of the verb ends in a noise consonant. VI) Special type of ablaut. The short ‘a', ‘o', long ‘o' and long ‘a'. (quantitative ablaut). VII) Reduplication. The repetition of initial syllable. Strong verbs are usually not derived from other verbs and other parts of speech. They are the root-verbs. The weak verbs are typical only of Germanic languages. They build their past forms with the help of the dental suffix which existed in OE in 2 variants: -d/-t. weak verbs have 3 principal forms: the infinitive; the past tense; participle II. There are 3 classes of weak verbs in OE.

Peculiarities of classes: II) The connecting vowel ‘o' in the past and P.II. III) The dental suffix is added to the stem without any connecting vowel. This class is few in number. Weak verbs are very productive in OE. They constitute 3 quarters of all verbs. All the new verbs that appeared build their past according to the weak congregation. Preterite-present verbs combine features of strong and weak verbs. They build their present tense in the way strong verbs build their past (with the help of ablaut). But their past tense is built according to the weak congregation (with the help of the dental suffix). The reason is in the semantic nature of such verbs. They all denote states of mind which are the result of some past actions. The result is viewed in the present but the action is connected with the past. There were 12 verbs and 7 of them survived.

Anomalous verbs. Among the verbs of minor groups there are several anomalous verbs with irregular ones: irregular; suppletive/substantive. 1. willan (irregular verb) – volition, desire. It resembles Preserite-present verbs in meaning and function and is also followed by an infinitive. Its past form – ‘wolde'. This verb eventually has become a modal verb and together with Preterite-present verb ‘sculan' has developed into the auxiliary. 2. don – dest – deth; buan. These verbs combine features of weak and strong verbs. The forms of the Present Tense in the 1^st and 2^nd persons are built with the help of sound interchange. The verb ‘don' has weak past tense – ‘dyde'. Participle II – ‘3edon'. 3. 3an – 3oun – eode (P.) – 3e3an; beon – eom, beo (Pr., 1^st p.) – eart, bist (Pr. 2^nd p.) – bith (Pr. 3^rd p.). They are suppletive/substantive. They differ from other verbs in building up their forms from different roots. ‘3an' build the Past tense from different root. ‘beon' is an ancient suppletive verb, the Present forms of which in OE exist in different modifications. Pl. – sint, sind(on), beoth. Past singular forms – 1^st p. waes; 2ns p. waere; 3^rd p. waes. Past pl. – waeron.