Transcript ME Grammar

ME Grammar
Noun, pronoun, adjective
Noun
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Case
Gender
Declension
Case system
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fiscas (OE Nom/Acc. Plural of astem)
fishes (ME Nom/Acc. Plural but also
Genitive and Dative)
OE
Nominative
Early ME
1066 - 1300
Common
Late ME1300
- late1400s
Common
Accusative
Dative
Dative
Genitive
Genitive
Genitive
OE –es ending (a-stem Sing., Gen.,
M/N)
 Possessive case:
Arthur his men – Arthur’s men
 His→ is → - s
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Question on ME phonetics
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Variant 1
1) How did the pronunciation of the
following stressed OE vowels change
in ME: [ā], [æ:], [æ], [ü]?
Variant 2
1) Which new diphthongs appeared
as the result of vocalization of [w, ,
’]?
Question on ME phonetics
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Variant 1
2) What was the general tendency in
the development of the OE
diphthongs?
Variant 2
2) How did the spelling of the OE
words cēpan, cīld, cumen change?
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Variant 1
3) In which position did the stressed
OE vowels become long in ME?
Variant 2
3) In which position did the stressed
OE vowels become short in ME?
The Adjective
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It lost all its grammatical categories
with the exception of the degrees of
comparison.
The agreement of the adjective with
the noun was practically lost during
ME.
The 1st category to disappear was
gender,
which
ceased
to
be
distinguished in the 11th century.
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The category of number was
expressed with the ending –e
The distinctions of strong and weak
declension is only obvious in the
singular
Strong – good, Weak – goode
By the XV the ending –e disappeared
The
adjective
turned
into
an
uninflected part of speech.
Degrees of comparison
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OE –ra
ME –re → –er
OE –est/ -ost
ME –est
The only adjective with the root
vowel interchange in ME is ‘old’
A new means for the formation of
the degrees of comparison –
analytical: with the help of ‘more’
and ‘most’.
Pronoun
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Personal pronouns
the loss of dual number
The genitive case > possessive
pronouns
Accusative + Dative = Objective
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hēo (3rd, Sing, Fem.)
she
they with its oblique forms them,
their
my (+cons.), myn(+vowel).
Case
Singular
1
Person
Com
mon
ic/ich>
i >I
Objec me
tive
2
Person
Plural
1
2
3
Person Person Person
3 Person
Masc.
Femin. Neut.
thou
He
she
hit
we
ye
hi,
they
thee
him
here
hit
us
you
hem
Demonstrative pronouns
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In Early ME the OE demonstrative
pronouns lost most of their inflected
forms.
This/that
This – thise (thes(e))
That – tho (thos(e))
Interrogative
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The paradigm of hwā
Who (Nom.)
Whom (Objective)
The genitive case of hwā – hwæs,
developed into a separate interrogative
pronoun whose
OE hwi (instrumental case) – ME hwy
Indefinite pronouns
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Most indefinite pronouns of the OE
period simplified their morphological
structure and some of them fell out
of use
OE ǣƷhwelc – ME eech
OE þyslic – ME such
OE nān-þinƷ – ME nothing
OE demonstrative and interrogative
pronouns became a source of a new type
of pronouns - relative
Development of articles
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The definite article developed on the basis
of demonstrative pronouns sē, sēo,
þæt.
In OE they were used as noun
determiners
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During ME there was an important
formal
difference
between
the
demonstrative pronoun and
the
definite article
The demonstrative pronoun had the
number distinction, while the definite
article acquired the weakened form
the, and became uninflected.
Indefinite article
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It developed from the OE numeral
and indefinite pronoun ān
In the 13th c. - oone/one and their reduced
form an/a are used in all regions