13. Strong verbs in Gothic language.

Main Forms : Infinitive, Past Singular, Past Plural, Participle II.

7 Classes formed by ABLAUT. (Ablaut is an independent vowel intergange unconnected with any phonetic condition; different vowels appear in the same environment, surrounded by the same sound.)

There are 5 classes of ablaut:

I: i: - ia – i – i

II: iu – au –u – u

III: i – a – u – u

IV: i – a – ē – u

V: i - a – ē – i.

VI: IE o-o-o-o > PG a-o-o-a

P. 91 SABO

Class I. Ablaut grades i: - ia – i – i

( Complicator – i )To this class belong: greipan “to seize”

Class II. Ablaut grades eu/iu – au – u – u

(Complicator – u )Here belong: kiusan “to test’

Class III. Ablaut grades e/i – a – u – u

( Complicator - Sonorant + Consonant) For example, wairpan

Class IV. Ablaut grades e/i – a – ē – u

(Complicator - Sonorant ). For example, niman

Class V. Ablaut grades e/i– a – ē - i

(Complicator - Consonant) giban

Class VI. Ablaut grades a – ō – ō – a

To this class belong: faran

Reduplicated Strong verbs in Gothic.

Reduplication – addition of an extra syllable consisting of the initial consonant and the vowel [e] ‘’ai’’ Gt in the Past Tense. Reduplication is also found in Sanskrit, Greek and Latin. The origin of reduplication was probably connected with emphatic repetition meant to stress the completion of an action

I minor class – haitan

II minor class – letan

14. The weak verbs in Old Germanic languages.

There are 2 main classes of verbs in Old Germanic languages ( strong and weak). The difference between them lay in the formation of the principal forms^ Pterterite and Participle 2.(before the dental suffixes t, d, “th”)

In Gothic they are divided into 4 classes The weak preterite is a special Germanic formation, and many points connected with its origin are still uncertain. All the weak verbs are intransitive.

1. First Weak Conjugation.

In Gothic the verbs of this conjugation are sub-divided into two classes: - (1) verbs with a short stem syllable, as nasjan “to save”, or with a long open syllable, as stōjan “to judge”; (2) verbs with a long closed syllable, as sōkjan “to seek”; and polysyllabic verbs.

Germanic suffix –j- in different Germanic languages reflected as –ia-, -ij-, -i-.

2. Second Weak Conjugation.

PG forms corresponding to the Gothic and OHG were with stem-forming suffix being –o-.

3. Third Weak Conjugation.

It had a stem-forming suffix –ai- that apears only in Gothic (Preterite and Past participle), in Present the alternation of vowels proves to be a – ai. In other Germanic languages the suffix fell out or appeared as –e-.

4. Fourth Weak Conjugation

This class of verbs is characteristic of the Gothic language only. They belong to the so-call inchoative class of verbs, that is denoting the beginning of the action. They had the suffix –n- na no

15. Preterite-present verbs in Old Germanic languages.

Have 5 forms: Inf, Present Sg, Present Pl, Past , Participle II

Have 6 classes:

I Class: Gt witan, OHG wissen (to know), Gt aihan (to have)

II Class: duzan (бути придатним)

III Class: Gt kunna(can)

IV Class: Gt. skulan (shall)

V Class: OE mazan (may), OE zeneah (enough)

VI Class: OE motan (must)

The Present Tense of Pr-Pr verbs corresponds to the past tense os strong verbs while their past is derived according to the past tense of weak verbs. Originally the present-tense forms of Pr-Prs were Part tense forms of strong verbs which derived from IE. The IE resultative aspect merged with aorist aspect in the Past tense forms of PG strong verbs. The resultative aspect could also be interpreted as signifying the present result of a past action : know < have learnt.

Pr-Prs could also convey a kind of attitude to an action expressed by another verb. Eventually they developed into modern modal verbs.

These verbs are very important for later periods. From these verbs we get the present day core modal verbs. There is an important difference: in OE pr-pr verbs were morphologically defined; in PrDE modal verbs are syntactically defined.