2015-05-23
671
The seven classes of OE strong verbs underwent multiple grammatical and phonetic changes. In ME the final syllables of the stems were weakened, in Early NE most of them were lost.
1.The OE endings •an, -on, and -en (of the 1st, 3rd and 4th principal forms) were all reduced to ME -en; consequently in Classes 6 and 7, where the infinitive and the participle had the same gradation vowel, these forms fell together. In Classes 1 and 3 it led to the coincidence of the3rd and 4th principal(основные) forms. 2. There were phonetic changes in root of verbs. The major factor is lengthening of root the vowel: in 4 and 5 class because the syllable is opened, also in 3 class - where after n goes d – (findan-> fiindan). Destruction of interchange [z~r] under Verner's law (remains only was-were). The 4 and 5 class in ME it begins to merge in favour of 4-th class. It is visible at Chaser. 4. Beren-bar-bren-boren.5. Treden-trad-trde-treden/trodden. The letter "o" gets into 2 and 3 form. Treden-trod - troden (ступать).
Early NE. Formation of a paradigm from 3 forms comes to the end. 1 class - has the form of Preterit Sg in all verbs, except bite. 2 class has the form of мн.ч. In 3 class it is differently, basically the form мн.ч. find-found-found, but ring-rang-rung. 4 and 5 class has vowel of Participle2, and these classes completely coincide. In 6 and 7 class ед.и мн.ч пр.времени were identical.
2) presence/absence of the suffix of Partis2
The unaccented inflection of infinitive was lost already in the ME, and Part2 in ME was: Зe-treden, зe-writen, зe-funden.
As a result, ранне-NE has the form without prefix. Remains: speak-spoken, find-found, but ring-rung. 3 class has rejected a prefix and the form of Preterite and Part2 coincided, as well as at weak verbs. Part2 has no suffix.There were kept some distinction in 5 class: англ get/forget - got/forgot, амер gotten/forgotten.
One of the most important events in the history of the strong verbs was their transition into weak. In ME and Early NE many strong verbs began to form their Past and Participle II with the help of the dental suffix instead of vowel gradation. Therefore the number of strong verbs decreased. In OE there were about three hundred strong verbs. Some of them dropped out of use owing to changes in the vocabulary, while most of the remaining verbs became weak. The changes in the formation of principal parts of strong verbs extended over a long period — from the 12th to'18th c.
