Old English Middle English Present Day English 4 types of verbs : strong, weak, preterit present and irregular Their main Characteristics: •Weak verbs show a dental suffix in their past participle and preterit •Strong verbs form their preterit by changing their stem (7 classes) •Preterit show both (dental suffix + change in the stem) •There are only 4 irregular verbs: don, gan, beon, willan •Strong verbs had 4 stems: 1 for present i; 2 for preterite ,depending on person agreement , and 1 for past participle Main differences: •many Strong verbs become weak verbs •French loans were conjugated as weak verbs: E.g: Defend; conquer; enter; consume; consist •Scandinavian loans remained with their conjugational system (strong) ME conjugational system (Similar to OE) •Most suffix vowels are unstressed and written with «e» • Loss of final -n •Loss of final -e •Introduction of -ing (emerges in the South) •Grammaticalisation of lexical some verbs (Will) •Introduction of modals (shall, shul) Strong vs weak regular vs irregular 7 classes: can be divided phonetically (by their pronunciation) Conjugational system of irregular verbs in ModE Very few remains of the previous systems and they serve both regular and irregular verbs -S for 3rd person singular -ing for present participle Subjunctive and conditionals are expressed through the use of modals and auxiliaries. Class I: Dwinan Class II: Sucan / Leogan Class III: Breidan / Helpan / Climban Class IV: Scieran Class V: Fretan / Licgan Class VI: Acan / Scapan / Steppan / Wadan Class VII: Bannan / Fealdan / Hatian / Wealcan Class I: Dwinen Class II: Suken / Lien Class III: Breyden / Helpen / Climben Class IV: Scieren Class V: Freten / Lien Class VI: Aken / Scapen / Steppen / Waden Class VII: Bannen / Folden / Haten /Walken Class I: Dwindle (disappear gradually) Class II: Suck / Lie Class III: Braid / Help / Climb Class IV: Share Class V: Fret (become uneasy) / Lie Class VI: Ache / Shape / Step / Wade Class VII: Ban / Fold / Hate / Walk soþlice nu ic eow bodie mycelne gefean. se bið eallum folce. béon (S)(3p.sg.present) the future form is deduced by the context- bið – there wasn’t a determined form for future. And þis tacen eow byð; Ge gemetað an cild hreglum bewunden. Métan (W) (3p.pl.past) find - gemetað The initial ‘ge-‘ reflected past in OE, that’s why we find it in some past participle forms Gode sy wuldor (…) on eorðan sybb mannum godes willan; willan (W) inflected infinitive-gerund wish – willan. It is relevant the changed from a LEXICAL VERB to a FUNCTIONAL VERB and geseon þæt word þe geworden is. þæt drihten us ætywde; weorðan (S) (past participle) become + beón (s.v.) (3p.sg.present)be - geworden is (passive) (The relevant here is just to show the structure of passive forms in OE to PDE. In OE it was become + beón , and now it is in the other way round, to be + become ) (…)hig be þam worde þe him gesæd wæs be þam cilde gesecgan (W) (past participle) tell + beón (s.v.) (3p.sg.past) be - gesæd wæs Here we find an OE passive construction, where first comes the past participle of the verb tell and then the verb be. And ealle þa ðe gehyrdon wundredon be þam þe him þa hyrdas sædon hierdan (W)(past participle) hear – gehyrdon Maria geheold ealle þas word on hyre heortan smeagende; sméagend (W noun) an examiner inquirer (dative). Interpreted as a gerund, because noun forms were used as verbal forms in some cases – smeagende The endings -iende, -ande, -ende become a nominal form into a verbal function –gerund- The modern version: Shall be Shall find Was said : in ME we have already stated the PDE form for passives. Has/Had heard : we now have a Past/Present Perfect Pondering : PDE form derived from ME ‘berende’. For future form, which nowadays is more frequently used for requests, not for future predictions (for that, we use ‘will’, from ‘willan’) The Transformation of Verbs from OE to ModE Andreychuck, Margarita Dhesi, Cristina Moreno, Mario English has undergone many changes from OE to PDE e.g. from a semantically oriented language in OE to a syntactically oriented one in eModE. This project is aimed at showing the changes which occurred in VERBAL SYSTEM: in particular the change from Strong to Weak verbs. First of all, we will show two hypotheses about WHY this happened. In addition, we will see some examples of those transformations. Furthermore, we will present the characteristic from each period of the English verbs. Both hypotheses might have taken place simultaneously –language change usually occurs due to several causes (…) lo soþli I euangelise to ȝou a gret ioȝe þat shall be to alle puple- Shall be : we can appreciate the introduction of some modal verbs as to give an aspectual reference to a verb. & þis a tocne to ȝou, ȝee shul finden a ȝung childd wlappid wiþ cloþis, & (…) Shul finden : now it is used for future. Introduction of another modal verb to express future. Later on, instead of having two words for the same purpose, they lose ‘shul’ and keep ‘shall’, as seen in a previous example. soþli þey seende knewen of þe wrd, þat was seid to þem of þis child Was seid: the position of the verbs is inverted, but it follows the same structure (beón + past participle) & alle men þat hadden herdd, wondreden, & of þese þingis þat weren seid (…) hadden herdd : hadden is a past form that indicates a perfect tense. Thus, it starts the introduction of an auxiliar + past participle verb. forsoþe Marie kepte alle þese wrdis, berende togidere in hir herte beren (process of full verbalization from OE noun to ME verb) (gerund) – berende References: - BAUGH, A. C. & CABLE, T. (2002), A History of the English Language. 5th ed., London (Routledge) - KRYGIER, M. (1994), The Disintegration of the English Strong Verbs System. Frankfurt am Main ( Lang) - Rleber, S. (2006) Strong verbs in Old and Middle English and irregular verbs in Modern English. A history of verb development and a comparison of classifications. Eberhard-Karls-Universität Approximate Statistics for original strong verbs: Approximately 367 verbs in OE During ME the number decreases to less than 100 The change slowed down during the 15th century likely because of the emergence of printing Today Over 50% of the original strong verbs have vanished