The Adjective in Old English

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«The Adjective in Old English»



Contest structure

Introduction

Chapter 1. Adjectives in Proto-Indo-European

1.1 Similarities of adjectives in Old English and Proto-Indo-European

Chapter 2. Declension of adjectives

2.1 Strong adjectives

2.2 Weak adjectives

2.3 Degrees of comparison

Chapter 3. The adjectives' forming

3.1 The Old English affixation for adjectives

The Conclusion

The Bibliography

adjectives english linguistics

Introduction

The grammar of Old English is quite different from that of Modern English, predominantly by being much more inflected. As an old Germanic language, themorphological system of Old English is similar to that of the hypothetical Proto-Germanic reconstruction, retaining many of the inflections thought to have been common in Proto-Indo-European and also including characteristically Germanic constructions such as the umlaut.

Among living languages, Old English morphology most closely resembles that of modern Icelandic, which is among the most conservative of the Germanic languages; to a lesser extent, the Old English inflectional system is similar to that of modern High German. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives and determiners were fully inflected with five grammatical cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental), two grammatical numbers (singular and plural) and three grammatical genders(masculine, feminine, and neuter). First- and second-person personal pronouns also had dual forms for referring to groups of two people, in addition to the usual singular and plural forms. The instrumental case was somewhat rare and occurred only in the masculine and neuter singular; it could typically be replaced by the dative. Adjectives, pronouns and (sometimes) participles agreed with their antecedent nouns in case, number and gender. Finite verbs agreed with their subject in person and number. Nouns came in numerous declensions (with deep parallels in Latin, Ancient Greek and Sanskrit). Verbs came in nine mainconjugations (seven strong and two weak), each with numerous subtypes, as well as a few additional smaller conjugations and a handful of irregular verbs. The main difference from other ancient Indo-European languages, such as Latin, is that verbs can be conjugated in only two tenses (vs. the six "tenses" - really tense/aspect combinations - of Latin), and have no synthetic passive voice (although it did still exist in Gothic).

Chapter 1. Adjectives in Proto-Indo-European

1.1 Similarities of adjectives in Old English and Proto-Indo-European

In all historical Indo-European languages adjectives possess practically the same morphological features as the nouns, the sequence of these two parts of speech is an ordinary thing in Indo-European. However, the Nostratic theory (the one which unites Altaic, Uralic, Semitic, Dravidian and Indo-European language families into one Nostratic super-family, once speaking a common Proto-Nostratic language) represented by Illych-Svitych and many other famous linguists, states that adjectives in this Proto-Nostratic tongue were morphologically closer to the verbs than to the nouns.

This theory is quite interesting, because even in Proto-Indo-European, a language which was spoken much later than Proto-Nostratic, there are some proofs of the former predicative function of the adjectives. In other families of the super-family this function is even more clear. In Altaic languages, and also in Korean and Japanese, which are originally Altaic, the adjective plays the part of the predicate, and in Korean, for example, the majority of adjectives are predicative. It means that though they always denote the quality of the noun, they act the same way as verbs which denote action. Adjective "red" is actually translated from Japanese as "to be red", and the sentence Bara-wa utsukusii will mean "the rose is beautiful", while bara is "a rose", -wa is the nominative marker, and utsukusii is "to be beautiful". So no verb here, and the adjective is a predicate. This structure is typical for many Altaic languages, and probably was normal for Proto-Nostratic as well.

The Proto-Indo-European language gives us some stems which are hard to denote whether they used to mean an adjective or a verb. Some later branches reflect such stems as verbs, but other made them adjectives. So it was the Proto-Indo-European epoch where adjectives as the part of speech began to transform from a verbal one to a nominal one. And all Indo-European branches already show the close similarity of the structure of adjectives and nouns in the language. So does the Old English language, where adjective is one of the nominal parts of speech.



Chapter 2. Declension of adjectives

2.1 Strong adjectives

As well as the noun, the adjective could be declined in case, gender and number. Moreover, the instrumental case which was discussed before was preserved in adjectives much stronger than in nouns. Adjectives must follow sequence with nouns which they define - that is why the same adjective can be masculine, neuter and feminine and therefore be declined in two different types: one for masculine and neuter, the other for feminine nouns. The declension is more or less simple, it looks much like the nominal system of declension, though there are several important differences. Interesting to know that one-syllable adjectives ("monosyllabic") have different declension than two-syllable ones ("disyllabic"). Let's look at then in the examples:

Strong Declension

a, у-stems

Monosyllabic

Sg.

Masc. Neut. Fem.

N blжc (black) blжc blacu

G blaces blaces blжcre

D blacum blacum blжcre

A blжcne blжc blace

I blace blace -

Pl.

N blace blacu blaca

G blacra blacra blacra

D blacum blacum blacum

A blace blacu blaca

Here "I" means that very instrumental case, answering the question (by what? with whom? with the help of what?).

Disyllabic

Masc. Neut. Fem.

Sg.

N йadig (happy) йadig йadigu

G йadiges йadiges йadigre

D йadigum йadigum йadigre

A йadigne йadig йadige

I йadige йadige

Pl.

N йadige йadigu йadiga

G йadigra йadigra йadigra

D йadigum йadigum йadigum

A йadige йadigu йadigu

So not many new endings: for accusative singular we have -ne, and for genitive plural -ra, which cannot be met in the declension of nouns. The difference between monosyllabic and disyllabic is the accusative plural feminine ending -a / -u. That's all.

ja, jу-stems

(swйte - sweet)

Sg. Pl.

Masc. Neut. Fem. Masc. Neut. Fem.

N swйte swйte swйtu swйte swйtu swйta

G swйtes swйtes swйtre swйtra swйtra swйtra

D swйtum swйtum swйtre swйtum swйtum swйtum

A swйtne swйte swйte swйte swйtu swйta

I swйte swйte -

wa, wу-stems

Sg.

Masc. Neut. Fem.

N nearu (narrow) nearu nearu

G nearwes nearwes nearore

D nearwum nearwum nearore

A nearone nearu nearwe

I nearwe nearwe

Pl.

N nearwe nearu nearwa

G nearora nearora nearora

D nearwum nearwum nearwum

A nearwe nearu nearwa

Actually, some can just omit all those examples - the adjectival declension is the same as a whole for all stems, as concerns the strong type. In general, the endings look the following way, with very few varieties (note that "-" means the null ending):

	Masc.	Fem.	Neut.
	Sg.	Pl.	Sg.	Pl.	Sg.	Pl.
N	-	-e	-u	-a	-	-u
G	-es	-ra	-re	-ra	-es	-ra
D	-um	-um	-re	-um	-um	-um
A	-ne	-e	-e	-a	-	-u
I	-e				-e

2.2 Weak adjectives

As for weak adjectives, they also exist in the language. The thing is that one need not learn by heart which adjective is which type - strong or weak, as you should do with the nouns. If you have a weak noun as a subject, its attributive adjective will be weak as well. So - a strong adjective for a strong noun, a weak adjective for a weak noun, the rule is as simple as that.

Thus if you say "a black tree" that will be blжc trйow (strong), and "a black eye" will sound blace йage. Here is the weak declension example (blaca - black):

Sg. Pl.

Masc. Neut. Fem.

N blaca blace blace blacan

G blacan blacan blacan blжcra

D blacan blacan blacan blacum

A blacan blace blacan blacan

Weak declension has a single plural for all genders, which is pleasant for those who don't want to remeber too many forms. In general, the weak declension is much easier.

2.3 Degrees of comparison

The last thing to be said about the adjectives is the degrees of comparison. Again, the traditional Indo-European structure is preserved here: three degrees (absolutive, comparative, superlative) - though some languages also had the so-called "equalitative" grade; the special suffices for forming comparatives and absolutives; suppletive stems for several certain adjectives.

The suffices we are used to see in Modern English, those -er and -est in weak, weaker, the weakest, are the direct descendants of the Old English ones. At that time they sounded as -ra and -est. See the examples:

earm (poor) - earmra - earmost

blжc (black) - blжcra - blacost

Many adjectives changed the root vowel - another example of the Germanic ablaut:

eald (old) - ieldra - ieldest

strong - strengra - strengest

long - lengra - lengest

geong (young) - gingra - gingest

The most widespread and widely used adjectives always had their degrees formed from another stem, which is called "suppletive" in linguistics. Many of them are still seen in today's English:

gуd (good) - betera - betst (or sйlra - sйlest)

yfel (bad) - wiersa - wierest

micel (much) - mбra - mбйst

lэtel (little) - lж'ssa - lж'st

fear (far) - fierra - fierrest, fyrrest

nйah (near) - nйarra - nнehst, nэhst

ж'r (early) - ж'rra - ж'rest

fore (before) - furюra - fyrest (first)

Now you see what the word "first" means - just the superlative degree from the adjective "before, forward". The same is with nнehst from nйah (near) which is now "next".



Chapter 3. The adjectives' forming

3.1 The Old English affixation for adjectives

Essential materials about the Old English affixation for adjectives:

1. -ede (group "adjective stem + substantive stem") - micelhйafdede (large-headed)

2. -ihte (from substantives with mutation) - юirnihte (thorny)

3. -ig (from substantives with mutation) - hбlig (holy), mistig (misty)

4. -en, -in (with mutation) - gylden (golden), wyllen (wуllen)

5. -isc (nationality) - Englisc, Welisc, mennisc (human)

6. -sum (from stems of verbs, adjectives, substantives) - sibbsum (peaceful), hнersum (obedient)

7. -feald (from stems of numerals, adjectives) - юrнefeald (threefold)

8. -full (from abstract substantive stems) - sorgfull (sorrowful)

9. -lйбs (from verbal and nominal stems) - slжplйбs (sleepless)

10. -lнc (from substantive and adjective stems) - eorюlнc (earthly)

11. -weard (from adjective, substantive, adverb stems) - inneweard (internal), hбmweard (homeward)



The Conclusion

In the conclusion we can say that adjectives in Old English are declined using the same categories as nouns: five cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental), three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and two numbers (singular, plural). In addition, they can be declined either strong or weak. The weak forms are used in the presence of a definite or possessive determiner, while the strong ones are used in other situations. The weak forms are identical to those for nouns, while the strong forms use a combination of noun and pronoun endings.

The Bibliography

1. Moore, Samuel, and Thomas A. Knott. The Elements of Old English. 1919. Ed. James R. Hulbert. 10th ed. Ann Arbor, Michigan: George Wahr Publishing Co., 1958.

2. The Magic Sheet, one page summarizing Old English declension, from Peter S. Baker, inspired by Moore and Marckwardt's 1951

3. J. Bosworth & T.N. Toller, An Anglo-Saxon dictionary: Germanic Lexicon Project

4. Ильиш Б. А. История английского языка./ - М,: Высшая школа, 1968. - 420с. 350-378

5. Кушнерева А.М., Баяртуева Е.П. История английского языка./ Улан-Удэ: Издательство Бурятского госуниверситета. - 2007 г. - 457 с. 111-127

6. Москалёва Е.В. Краткий курс лекций по лексикологии английского языка для студентов неязыковых вузов./ Мичуринск: Изд-во МичГАУ, 2007. - 74 с. - 46-57

7. Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология ангийского языка:Учеб. пособие для студентов./-3-е изд., стереотип.-М.: Дрофа, 2001. - 240 ст.173-175

8. Шевченко В.Д. Основы теории английского языка./ - Самара: Сам ТАПС, 2004. - 72 ст. 65-68

9. Елисеева В.В. Лексикология английского языка / Елисеева В.В. -- СПб: СПбГУ, 2003. - 44ст. - 33-39

10. Смирницкий А.И. Лексикология английского языка./- М.: 1998 - 211 ст. - 56 ст .78

11. Манерко Л.А «English through the History of the British People». /- Рязань: Рязанский государственный педагогический университет им. С.А. Есенина. 1998. - 506 ст. 450- 489 ст.

12. Т. А.Расторгуева/ История английского языка./- Москва., Издательство “ATC” - 2003, 352 ст. 131-147.

13. В.Д. Аракин./ История английского языка./ учебное посибие, 2-е издание, - Москва., Издательство “ФИЗМАКЛИТ” - 2003, 271 ст. 98-107

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