Lecture 6

Middle English Morphology

The changes in morphology are closely related to changes in the sound system. As the inflections in all parts of speech were placed at the end of the word, they invariably were pronounced in a reduced form and disappeared altogether. So the paradigms of all parts of speech were to great extent simplified, and many forms were lost altogether.

Middle English Noun

Old English complex classification of nouns was based on differences in declension, in endings that were added to them in various forms; as the endings were levelled, the grounds for distinguishing the very classes become insignificant.

The category of gender was lost; and the loss was total, with no remnants in any of the nominal parts of speech (personal pronouns are not counted, because he and she replace living beings, and to some extent have the very meaning of gender).

The category of number was preserved; it had grounds. What were the possible endings of all the classes of nouns? If we have a look into the Old English nominal paradigms, we'll see that the plural ending originally were:

-as ( of the a-stems masculine, r-stems masculine)

0 (a-stems neuter, some r-stems)

-u (neuter a-stems, i-stems, -s stems, some r-stems )

-a (o-stems, u-stems)

-e (masculine i-stems, some root stems)

-an (n-stems).

Due to the reduction of the unstressed vowels all these came to

-es -0 -e or -0 -en

So finally we have -es (for the majority of nouns, which becomes the rule), -en, which becomes a competing ending, and a group of conservative nouns retain the vowel interchange. Ending -es was invariably added to form the plural form of numerous borrowings, both from French and from Scandinavian origin) (two felawes:, the chambres and the stables^ fresshe floures )

Several nouns (former belonging to root stems) however retain their Old English plural with the mutated vowel (such as man - menn,foot -feet, goos - geese etc.;) - these were more frequently used than those that changed their ending to -es (book - bookes, ook (oak) - ookes). Some former -n-stems still retain their suffix as a marker of the plural form. So in Chaucer's works we find the following plurals (here and later on the examples are given from his Canterbury Tales):

Thou seist, that oxen, asses, hors. and houndes...( you see that oxen, asses, horses and hounds...);

from hise eyen ran the water doun... (from his eyes the water ran down);

to looken up with eyen lighte (to look up with light eyes)

The nouns naming some domestic animals (former -a- stems neuter gender with long root vowel) such as sheep, swyn, hors retained their old uninflected plurals. The plural of child developed in a unique way - it retained its suffix of the former -s- stems (it was -r- through rhotacism) and additionally got the -en suffix - children.

As smale children doon in hir childhede (as small children do in their childhood)

Case

The number of cases was reduced from Old English four to two, the Nominative and the Genitive. In Old English the nouns in the Genitive case had the following endings in the singular:

-es (a-stems and masculine and neuter nouns from other groups)

-e (o-stems, /-stems, root-stems)

0 - (r-stems)

-a (w-stems)

-an (n-stems)

The ending -es of the a-stems nouns, which were the most numerous group, becomes predominant; it irradiates not only to the singular but also to the plural. So all the other groups of nouns now take this ending in the Genitive. The very nature of the Genitive case is almost unchanged, it has the same functions as that of the Old English noun, and practically all nouns can be used in this form. The plural of nouns was formed by adding the same ending, so in the long run it began to be perceived as the ending rendering both leanings. Several nouns that had other plural endings took this ending after their own ending of the plural. So, in Middle English only some nouns had distinct paradigm of four forms:

man - menn

mannes - mennes

nama - namen

names - (namene) names

In other cases the context resolved the ambiguity:

he hadde a fyr-reed cherubynnes face (he had fire-red cherub's f

at the kynges court ( at the king's court)

His lordes sheep (his lord's sheep)

a wydwes sone (a widow's son)

waspes nest (wasps' nest)

dayes light (day's light)

sette fae foxes tayles alle on fire (and set the foxes' tails all on fii

at his beddes heed (at the head of his bed)