III. Verb in Middle and Early New English.

In ME the inflectional system of the verb was very complicated because of phonetic changes, the tendency towards the leveling of different forms, and because of a high degree of diversity in the evolution of the same phenomenon in different dialects. In the course of ME the verb-inflection underwent further modifications due to the operation of some phonetic changes, such as the dropping of [ə] and [n] when final, and also due to analogy. In the 15^th century Tense was marked by:

- [ed] (hop-ed-e)

- [d] (her-d-e)

- [t] (kis-t-e)

- [þ] (cū-þ-e).

OE ME OE ME

sprecan wrīteth (South)

spræcon sp(r)ēken (>e, ModE speak) wrīteþ (Pres., sing., 3^rd p.)

sprecen wrītes (North) - dominant

wrīteth (South)

wrītaþ (Pres., pl.) wrīten (Midlands) -dominant

wrītes (North)

OE ME

Participle I

wrītande (North)

wrītende wrītende (Midlands) -inge (descended from the verbal substantive)

wrītinde (South)

ME verbs, like OE ones, were divided into strong, weak, irregular.

1) Strong verbs. The chief changes in the forms of strong verbs took place in passing from OE to ME. They were caused by the general tendency towards the gradual loss of inflexions, and partly by the process of analogy. Thus, for example, the inflexions of the OE infinitive –an and of the Past Plural –on were reduced to –en.

a) the prefix –ze was first reduced to –i, and then lost.

b) the consonant interchange in the root was also lost (ceosan – coren).

c) the monophthongization of the OE diphthongs caused phonetic changes in the gradation of the 2^nd, 3^rd, and partly of the 7^th classes.

d) the 4 principal forms of strong verbs began to be reduced to 3. This process probably started in the 6^th and the 7^th classes where the Past Singular and Past Plural forms had identical stem-vowels already in OE. Besides, in ME the Past Plural begins to be leveled according to the Past Singular (in the 4^th and 5^th classes). Also, the graded vowel of the Participle II passes over to the Past Plural (in the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd classes).

Inf. Past, sg. Past, pl. Part.II

I class

wrīten – wrōt – wrīten - wrīten

II class

chēsen – chēs – chōsen - chōsen

III class

drinken – drank - dronken - dronken

IV class

bēren – bar - bar – bōren

V class

gēten – gat – gat - gēten

VI class

shāken – shōk – shōken - shāken

VII class

fallen – fell – fellen - fallen

In ME some strong verbs tended to build their forms on the analogy with the weak ones (e.g. to sleep).

The process of reducing the 4 main forms to 3, which began in ME, reached its climax in ENE. In the 15-16^th centuries the distinctions of number in the Past Tense of strong verbs disappeared, and 3 main forms were fixed: Infinitive, Past, Participle II.

A large number of former strong verbs (about 90) passed over onto the class of weak verbs (e.g. to help).

2) Weak verbs. In ME the differences between the 3 classes of weak verbs tended to disappear. This tendency, which started already in OE, became vivid through the following changes in the forms of weak verbs:

a) in the 14^th century the unvoicing of the dental suffix –d (into –t)from the verbs like kepte, melte spread over to verbs whose stems ended in -nd, -ld, -rd, -l, -m, -n, -v, etc.

b) the stem-suffix -o- of the 2^nd class was reduced to -e- (e.g. OE lufian-lufode-lufod > ME loven-lovede-loved).

c) the infinitive of classes 1 and 2 lost the element -i- (e.g. OE macian > ME māken).

d) the double consonants in such verbs as habban, seggan, libban, etc.were contracted; besides, -b- was replaced by -v- on the analogy with the forms in -v- (ME haven, seyen, liven).