Lecture 8.

Changes in the Morphology in Middle English. The Middle English Noun

1. Changes in the Morphology in Middle English

2. General survey of Grammar changes

 The grammar system of the language in Middle and New English periods underwent radical
changes. As we remember, the principal means of expressing grammatical relations in Old English
were the following:

 suffixation;

 vowel interchange;

 suppletive forms, all these means being synthetic.

 In Middle English many grammatical notions formerly expressed synthetically either disappeared
from the grammar system of the language or came to be expressed by analytical means. There
developed analytical forms consisting of an auxiliary verb plus notional word, and, also, SVO-order,
special use of prepositions, etc. – analytical means.

In Middle English, we observe the process of the gradual loss of declension by many parts of
speech, formerly declined. Thus in Middle English there are declinable parts of speech: the noun,
the pronoun and the adjective, against five existing in Old English (the above plus the infinitive and
the participle). In PDE, the noun and the pronoun (mainly personal) are the only declinable parts of
speech.

 2.1. The Middle English Noun

2.1.1. Morphological classification

 In Old English, there were three principal types of declensions:

a-stem, n-stem and root-stem declension, and also minor declensions: i-stem, u-stem and others.

These are still in place in Middle English, but the number of nouns belonging to the same declension
in Old and Middle English varies. The n-stem declension though preserved as a type has lost many
of the nouns belonging to it, while the original a-stem declension grows in volumes, acquiring new
words from the original a-stem, root-stem declensions, and, also, different groups of minor
declensions and also borrowed words. For example:

Table 1.

Declension Number OE ME PDE

a-stem Singular stān stōn stone
  Plural stān-as stōn-es stones
n-stem Singular nama name name
  Plural nam-en nam-en names
root-stem Singular bōc book book
  Plural bēc book-es books
borrowed Singular corage corag-es courage
  2.1.2. Grammatical categories
 There are only two grammatical categories in the declension of nouns against three in Old
English: number and case, the grammatical category of gender having been lost at the beginning
of the Middle English period.

 A.    Number

There are two number forms in Middle English: SINGULAR and PLURAL. The dual form no longer
existed in Middle English.

 B.    Case 

 The number of cases in Middle English is reduced as compared to Old English. There are only two
cases in Middle English: Nominative and Genitive, the Old English Accusative and
Dative case having coalesced with the Nominative case at the end of Middle English. For example:

 Nominative OE stān   vs. ME stōn; nama vs. name;

Genetive     OE stānes vs. ME stones; naman vs. names.

 Thus, we see that the complicated noun-case paradigm that existed in Old English was largely
simplified in Middle English, which is reflected in the following:

(1) reduction of the number of declensions;

      (2) reduction of the number of grammatical categories;

 (3) reduction of the number of categorical forms within one of the two remaining grammatical
categories – the category of case.

2.1.2. The Middle English Adjective

 Only two grammatical phenomena that were reflected in the adjectival paradigm in Old English are
preserved in Middle English: declension and the category of number.

The difference between the Indefinite (strong) and the Definite (weak) declension is shown by the
zero ending for the former and the ending –e for the latter, but only in singular. The forms of the
definite and the indefinite declension in the plural have similar endings. For instance:

SING INDEFINITE a yong squire;

SING DEFINITE     the yonge sonne.

As we have seen above, all grammatical categories and declensions in Middle and disappeared.
Contrary to that, degrees of comparison of the adjective were not only preserved but also developed
in Middle and PDE.      

Table 2.

Degrees of Comparison
Period Positive Comparative Superlative
OE heard heardra heardost

ME hard hardre hardest

PDE hard harder hardest

OE eald ieldra/yldra ieldest

ME ald eldre eldest

PDE old elder eldest

OE Ʒōd betera betst

ME good bettre best

PDE good better best

It should be noted, however, that out of three principal means of forming degrees of comparison that
existed in Old English: suffixation, vowel interchange and suppletive forms, there remained as a
productive means only one: suffixation, the rest of the means are observed only in isolated forms. At
the same time, there developed new analytical forms, like the ones we come across in the works of
J. Chaucer, as: comfortable – more comfortable.

2.3. The Middle English Pronoun

In Old English, all pronouns were declined, and the pronominal paradigm was very complicated. In
Middle English, the system was greatly simplified and nowadays the traces of the pronominal
declension is mainly represented by the declension of the personal pronoun and on a small scale –
by demonstrative and interrogative (relative) ones.

A.    Case

The four-case system that existed in Old English gave way to a two-case system in Late Middle
English. The development may be illustrated by the following scheme of the pronominal paradigm.

Table 3.                                                                                                                         

B.    Gender

As a grammatical phenomenon, gender disappeared already in Middle English, the

pronouns he and she referred only to animate notions and it – to inanimate.

C.    Number

The three number paradigm that existed in early Old English (singular, dual, plural) was substituted
with a two number paradigm already in late Old English.

D. The article

The rise of the formal means of the category of definiteness /indefiniteness falls on the Old English
period, when the meaning of the demonstrative pronoun was weakened, and it gradually started
acquiring the status of article in such phrases as:

Sē mann (the mann), sēo sǽ (the sea), þæt lond (the land)

However, one can speak in terms of the category if there is an opposition of at least two units. Such
opposition arose only in late Middle English, when the indefinite article an appeared.

The indefinite article developed from the Old English numeral ān. In Middle English ān split into two
words: the definite pronoun an, losing a separate stress and undergoing reduction of its vowel, and
the numeral one, remaining stressed as a notional word. Later the indefinite pronoun an grew into
the indefinite article a/an, and together with the definite article the formed a new grammatical
category – the category of definiteness / indefiniteness, represented by formal units the and a
(an) respectively.

 2.4. Summary

 The system of the declinable parts of speech underwent considerable simplification, at the same
time developing new analytical features:

1.    Reduction in the number of the declinable parts of speech.

2.    Reduction in the number of declensions (whatever is preserved follows the a-stem masculine).

3.    Reduction in the number of grammatical categories.

4.    Reduction in the number of the categorical forms (the category of number of personal pronouns
and case – all nominal parts of speech).

5.    Formation of the new class of words – article.

2.5.1. Non-finite forms (Verbals)

 The VERBALS in Old English and in Middle English are represented by Infinitive and Participle. The
Middle English Participle acquires a new ending, as a result of blending of the Old English Present
Participle “-ende” and the Old English verbal noun in “-inge”.

In the process of English history the VERBALS are gradually shifting from the system of declension
into the system of conjugation thus in Old English the verbals, the Infinitive and the Participle could
be declined. By the end of the Old English period, the Participle lost its declension forms. In the
course of the Early Modern English the VERBAL categories of voice and aspect were
grammaticalized. The Old English preposition tō preceding the Dative case of the infinitive lost its
prepositional meaning, and became the marker of the infinitive.

 2.5.2. Grammatical Categories

 In structural terms, the Middle English verbal system is almost identical with the Modern English
system. Middle English verbs had the following categories:

 one voice (active voice);

 two numbers (singular and plural);

 three persons;

 two tenses (present and preterite);

 three modes (indicative, subjunctive, imperative);

 two participles (present and preterite).

All other tenses, aspects and voices were formed, as in Modern English, by means of auxiliary
verbs, such as `be,' `have,' or `will.' In contrast to PDE, the Middle English pattern of verbal inflexion
is quite complicated because of a great amount of temporal and regional variation.

2.5.3. Morphological classification of Middle English verbs

A. Classes of Strong Verbs

The subdivision of Old English verbs into strong and weak is preserved with modifications in Middle
English. Apart from some leveling of inflections and the weakening of endings in accordance with the
general tendency, the principal changes in the verb during the Middle English period were the
serious losses suffered by the strong conjugation. This conjugation, although including some of the
most important verbs in the language, was relatively small, as compared with the large and steadily
growing body of weak verbs. For example, the -an of the OE infinitive became -en and later -e: OE
drīfan> ME drīven>drive.

While an occasional verb developed a strong past tense or past participle by analogy with
similar strong verbs, new verbs formed from nouns and adjectives or borrowed from other languages
were regularly conjugated as weak. After the Norman Conquest, the loss of native words further
depleted the ranks of the strong verbs. Those that survived were exposed to the influence of the
majority, and many have changed over in the course of time to the weak inflection. Nearly a third of
the strong verbs in Old English seem to have died out early in the Middle English period. Cf.:

Table 4.

Class INFINITIVE PAST SING PAST PL PAST PTCPL PDE

Class 1 wrīten wrɔ:t wrīten wrīten write
Class 2 chɛ:sen chɛ:s chɔ:sen chɔ:sen choose
Class 3 helpen halp hulpon holpen help
Class 4 bɛ:ren bar bɛ:ren bɔ:ren bear
Class 5 sp(r)ɛ:ken sp(r)ak sp(r)ɛ:ken sp(r)ɛ:ken speak

        - was wɛ:ren - be

Class 6 shāken shook shooken shāken Shake
Class 7 blɔ:wen blew blewen blɔ:wen blow

knɔ:wen knew knewen knɔ:wen know

 
 B. Classes of Weak Verbs
Weak verbs were not as complex as strong ones, since they had a greater regularity and
simplicity. That is why they were productive, i.e. all borrowed verbs used weak model of
form-building (suffix -t/-d) (e.g. ON to skate, Fr. to charm, Lat. to decorate, etc.). As it has
already been mentioned above, many originally strong verbs turned into weak (e.g. to
bake, to laugh, to help, to lie, etc.). The opposite process of turning of weak verbs into
strong was very rare; it was based on phonetic similarity between some strong and weak
verbs.  This was a result of mere confusion that later was accepted as a norm due to its
persistent and regular character (e.g. to wear was originally weak and became strong
because of the mistaken analogy with to swear, to ring (mistaken analogy with to
sing), to hide (mistaken analogy with to ride).
In Late Middle English – Early Modern English, with the loss of the final -e in the second
and the third form became homonymous. Thus, we speak of three principal forms of
such verbs as to love or to keep mainly due to the analogy with original strong verbs.
Table 5.
CLASS INFINITIVE PAST PAST PTCPL PDE
Class 1 fillen filden fille to fill
Class 2 loven lovede luven to love
Class 3 haven havede havden to have
2.5.4. Changes in the verb conjugation
 Unlike the morphology of the noun and adjective, which has become much simpler in the course of
history, the morphology of the verb displayed two distinct tendencies of development: it underwent
considerable simplifying changes, analytical forms and new grammatical categories. The decay of
OE inflections, which transformed the nominal system, is also apparent in the conjugation of the verb
though to a lesser extent. Many markers of the grammatical forms of the verb were reduced, levelled
and lost in ME and early PDE; levelling and the loss of endings resulted in the increased
neutralisation of formal oppositions and the growth of homonymy. ME forms of the verb are
represented by numerous variants, which reflect dialectal differences and tendencies of potential
changes. The intermixture of dialectal features in the speech of London and in the literary language
of the Renaissance played an important role. Number distinctions were not only preserved in ME but
even became more consistent and regular; towards the end of the period, however, — in the 15th c.
— they were neutralized.

In the 13th – 14th c. the ending –en became the main, almost universal, marker of the PL forms of
the verb. The Past Tense stems of the strong verbs merged into one form. All number distinctions
were thus lost with the exception of the 2nd and 3rd PERSON, PRESENT INDICATIVE.

 2.5.5. The rise of analytical forms in verbal system in ME.

OE texts did not manifest any fully developed analytical constructions, yet, some free syntactic
combinations were similar to them in terms of their functions and structure. The rise of analytical
forms proper, like FUTURE, PERFECT, PASSIVE, falls on the Middle English period, but others, like
CONTINUOUS and DO-forms, came into use in early PDE English.

The Future Tense. In OE, the Present Tense could indicate both present and future actions,
depending on the context. In parallel with this form, there existed other ways of presenting future
happenings, e.g., modal phrases. In ME, the use of modal phrases, especially with the verb shall,
became increasingly common. Modal operator SHALL (< OE scullan) + INFINITIVE was now the
principal means indicating future actions in any context. Shall could retain its modal meaning of
necessity, but often weakened it to such an extent, that the phrase could denote “pure” futurity. In
Late ME texts shall was used both as a modal verb and as a FUTURE AUXILIARY.

Also, forthcoming actions were expressed with the help of WILLAN + INFINITIVE; in this case the
meaning of volition must have been more obvious than the modal meaning of shall.