- •Introductory lecture The History of the English language-Subject and the aims of the History of the English language.
- •Lecture 1 The Origin of the English Language
- •The Anglo-Saxon Conquest
- •Formation of Germanic States in Britain
- •The Writing and the Written monuments of oe
- •The Three Periods in the History of the English Language
- •Phonetic Structure of the oe Vowels
- •The Ablaut (Gradation)
- •Mutation (umlaut)
- •Monophtongs
- •Diphtongs
- •Lengthening of vowels
- •Palatalization
- •Palatalization of consonants
- •Other changes and loss of consonants
- •Lecture4 The Grammar Structure of Old English
- •Morphology. Nouns
- •The Strong Declension of Nouns
- •The weak declension of nouns
- •A separate group of nouns.
- •Old English Adjectives
- •Old English Pronouns
- •Lecture5 The Old English Verb
- •Infinitive Past Past Second
- •Indef. Past Indef. Sing. Past Indef. Plural Past Participle
- •The conjugation of verbs
- •Strong verbs
- •Preterite - present verbs
- •Lecture6 old english syntax
- •The meaning of case forms
- •The usage of pronouns
- •Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Indicative Subjunctive
- •The category of mood in oe
- •Lecture 7 Historical change The reason for studying historical change
- •The importance of text analysis
- •The Middle English Period
- •Lexical influence of the French language
- •The formation of the English national language
- •Lecture 8 Phonetic changes in me
- •Consonant changes
- •Spelling changes in the period after the Norman Conquest
- •General view of the me sound system
- •Lecture 9 Middle English Morphology
- •Middle English Pronouns
- •The demonstrative pronouns
- •Middle English Verbs
- •Lecture 10 Middle English Syntax
- •Lecture 11 The Modern English Period The formation of the English national language
- •Phonetic changes. Vowels.
- •Consonants
- •Voicing and Voiceless Fricatives.
- •Loss of Consonants in Clusters.
- •Loss of consonants in initial clusters
- •Lecture 12 Grammatical changes.
- •Morphology. The Substantive.
- •Interrogative
- •Impersonal and Personal Constructions.
Lecture5 The Old English Verb
1. General characteristics of the OE verb.
2. The OE strong verbs.
3. The conjugation.
4. Preterite-present verbs.
The OE has a great variety of form and two types of conjugation: strong and weak. Like in all Germanic languages OE verbs are divided into strong verbs and weak ones. Strong verbs form their principal forms by means of the ablaut. Weak verbs form their principal forms by adding a dental suffix to the root of the infinitive.
Strong verbs. Strong verbs are divided into seven classes, according to vowel gradation. In classes I-V the gradation system is based on the following principle: the first vowel is found in the infinitive and in the present forms, the second vowel in the 1st and 3rd person singular, past indicative, the 3rd in the 2nd person singular and in the plural past indicative and the past subjunctive, the 4th in the second participle. The 6th and 7th classes have a different system.
Infinitive Past Past Second
Singular Plural Participle
ī ā i i (ClassI)
wrīran wrāt writon written (to write)
ēo ēa u o (ClassII)
bēodan bēad budon boden (to offer)
(a) before “nasal+consonant”
i a(o) u u (ClassIII)
drincan dranc druncon druncen (drink)
(b) before “1+consonant”
e ea u o
helpan healp hulpon holpen (help)
(c) before “r+consonant”, “h+consonant”
eo ea u o
steorfan stearf sturfon strofen (die)
feohtan feaht fuhton fohten (fight)
Class IV
Before 1, r
e æ ǣ o
stelan stæl stǣlon stolen (steal)
beran bær bǣron boren (bear)
Class V
(before a consonant other than a liquid or nasal)
tredan træd trǣdon treden ‘tread’
Class VI
a ō ō a
faran fōr fōron faren ‘go’
Class VII
feallan feoll feollon feallen ‘fall’
The infinitive had the an ending.
The Past Indefinite Singular -no ending.
The Past Indefinite Plural -on.
The Past Participle -en.
Class I verbs: belīfan ‘stay’, drīfan ‘drive’, bītan ‘bite’, bīdan ‘bide’, rīdan ‘ride’, slīdan ‘slide’.
Class II verbs: crēopan ‘creep’, nēotan ‘enjoy’, scēotan ‘shoot’, frēosan ‘freeze’.
Class III verbs: bindan ‘bind’, findan ‘find’, windan ‘wind’, winnan ‘work’, sinnan ‘reflect’, swimman ‘swim’, climban ‘climb’.
Class IV verbs: cwelan ‘die’, helan ‘conceal’, brecan ‘break’.
Class V verbs: metan ‘measure’, swefan ‘sleep’, sprecan ‘speak’.
Class VI verbs: hladan ‘lade’, wadan ‘walk’, bacan ‘bake’, wascan (waxan) ‘wash’.
Class VII verbs: blondan ‘blend’, slæpan ‘sleep’, fealdan ‘fold’, healdan ‘hold’, crāwan ‘crow’.