The OE personal pronouns and its futher development in ME and NE

OE personal pronouns had 3 persons, 3 numbers (sing, pl, dual) and 3 genders. Eg: ic – sing, wit – dual, wē – plural. Dual number – Germanic feature (wit – мы оба, git – вы оба).

Gender was in the 3^rd person sing. Eg: hē – hēo – hit (m – f – n).

Cases: m f n

N ic þэīī hē hēo hit

G min þin his hire his

D mē þe him hire him

Acc me þe hine hie hit

1^st pers. sg→2^nd pers.sg→3^rd pers. sg.

Many forms have survived in ME. Eg: “and I’ll love thee”.

In OE – a tendency toward harmony which increased in ME.

The fem. pronoun of the 3^rd pers. and mascul. pron. of the 3^rd per. could become identical. The language developed new ways:

1. The pl. “hie” is replaced by Sc (от скандинав.)“they” (13^th);

2. The object case represented by Sc “them” (OE hem);

3. The fem “hēo” → shē (ME) → she (NE) (as hēo was homonymous to hē; hit. The language discriminated this form, “he” – survived.

4. dual number pron. have disappeared;

5. possessive pron have appeared from Germ.

6. the new pron. “there” appeared (Sc);

7. In NE:

· the pron of the 2^nd pers. sg went out of use in the 17^th cent → “you” for sg and pl, the 2^nd pl “you” replaced “gē” OE.

· Late ME “she” is believed to have developed from the OE demonstrative pron of the femin. gender – “sēo”

· the other forms of OE “hēo” were preserved “hire/her” used in ME as the Obj. case and as a possessive pron. is a form of OE “hēo”. “Hers” was derived from “hire/here”.

The OE verb, its gram. categories and morphological types.

The OE verb had numerous persons, number cases, but fewer gram. categ. than Mod. verbs have.

The verb-predicate agreed with the subj. in 2 gram. cat.:

1. number: sg/pl.;

2. person was shown in the Pres. Tense of the Ind. Mood sg. Eg: hē binderþ (he binds) – 3^rd pers sg.

Mood:

1. Indicative – finde → Infin.- findan (sg)

2. Imperative – find

3. Subjective – finde

Tense: Present, Past.

Morphological types:

1. Strong verbs (purely of OE origin) form their Past tense by changing their root vowel. R. – беру – брал. Strong verbs represent an unproductive type.

4 forms: writ an (Infin), wrāt (Past sg), writon (Past pl), written (Past Participle).

2. Weak verbs form their tense with a help of –d/-t (dental suffix) → productive type; Germanic origin.

3 forms: maxean (Infin), maxode (Past sg), maxod (Participle II). Eg: maxodon – Past pl.

3. Preterent - Present (12^th cent). Their present forms were once past tense forms. Eg: dugan (avail), cunnan (can), magan (may).

4. Anomalous (irregular). The forms are derived from different roots. Eg: bēon: ist (1^st pers. sg), wæron (Past pl), wæst (Past sg.). Also: dōn (do), gān (go), willan (will).