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The Verb Phrase in Old English
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Description of the Verb Pharse in Old English and it s evolution in the language.
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7. THE VERB PHRASE 17.- The Verb Phrase
7.1. Introduction: Verb-types
7.1.1. Classification of verbs in PDE (Quirk et al. 1985: §3.1)
FULL VERBS
regular: work-worked-worked
irregular: swim-swam-swum
drive-drove-driven
burn-burnt-burnt
bring-brought-brought
meet-met-met
cost-cost-cost
show-showed-shown
PRIMARY VERBS
BE, HAVE, DO
MODAL AUXILIARIES
will, shall, can, may...etc.
7.1.2. Classification of verbs on historical grounds
STRONG VERBS
• Indo-European origin
• tense marked by vowel internal change (Ablaut), e.g. OE drīfan-drāf-drifon-drifen ‘drive-
drove-driven’, either quantitative (drīfan vs. drifon) or qualitative (drīfan vs. drāf)
WEAK VERBS
• Germanic origin
• derivative origin (derived from nouns, adjectives, forms of strong verbs, adverbs) See 2.5.3.
e.g. OE lufian ‘to love’ ⇐ OE lufu ‘love’
OE dēman ‘to judge’ ⇐ OE dōm ‘judgement’
OE fyllan ‘to fill’ ⇐ OE ful ‘full’
OE settan ‘to set’ ⇐ OE sæt pret. of sittan ‘to sit’
OE fremman ‘to advance’ ⇐ OE fram ‘from’
• preterite and past participle show a dental suffix (cf. PDE -ed). The origin of this dental
suffix is a matter of debate. Most widely accepted view is that the weak preterite was a
compound of a noun + a verb ‘do’, so I worked < I work did. The past participle was derived
from a noun or adjective + suffix -to- (cf. Latin da-tu-s).
• the only productive type from OE onwards, it became the target conjugation for
borrowings from other languages
e.g. pray < OF preier
c1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 112/200 And preide is fader wel erne.
, 7. THE VERB PHRASE 2
and for strong verbs.
e.g. help (OE preterite healp)
c1305 Judas 108 in E.E.P. (1862) 110 He halp menie man.
a1300 Cursor M. 20184 Freindes..me helped.
regular / irregular vs. strong / weak
ANOMALOUS VERBS
• BE, GO, DO and WILL. Idiosyncratic formation.
PRETERITE-PRESENT VERBS
• Their present forms derive from morphologically strong preterites which acquired a present
meaning. This accounts for the lack of 3rd person singular inflection (he can, shall, may, etc.
vs. he works).
• Their preterite forms are analogical creations on the weak model, with a dental suffix (could,
should, might, etc.)
7.2. Strong verbs
7.2.1. Ablaut: tense, person and number marking
PDE ⇒ up to 3 Ablaut vowels (PRES - PRET - PART)
OE ⇒ up to 4 Ablaut vowels (PRES (inf., pres.)- PRET1 (1st, 3rd sg.) - PRET2 (pl.) -
PART)
OE basic Ablaut series
PRES PRET1 PRET2 PART
I.- ī ā i i ridan rād ridon riden ‘ride’
II.- ēo/ū ēa u o crēopan crēap crupon cropen ‘creep’
III.- e æ u o berstan bærst burston borsten ‘burn’
IV.- e æ æ o beran bær bæron boren ‘bear’
V.- e æ æ e cweþan cwæþ cwædon cweden ‘say’
VI.- a ō ō a faran fōr forōn faran ‘travel’
VII.- various ē/ēo ē/ēo various (=PRES) hātan hēt hēton haten ‘call’
In OE Ablaut was a means to indicate
(i) tense pres vs. pret. ic rīde vs. ic rād
(ii) person 1st / 3rd sg. vs. 2nd sg. ic / he rād vs. þu ride
(iii) number sg. vs. pl. ic / he rād vs. we ridon
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