CHANGES IN THE VERBAL SYSTEM IN middle English

List of principal questions
1. Non-finite forms (verbals)
2. Morphological classification of verbs in Middle English and New English
2.1. Strong verbs
2.1.1. Classes of the strong verbs
2.1.2. Principal forms of the strong verbs
2.2. Weak verbs
2.2.1. Classes of the weak verbs
2.2.2. Principal forms of the weak verbs
2.3. Origin of modern irregular verbs
2.4. Minor groups of verbs
3. Grammatical categories of the English verb
3.1. The category of perfectivity (time-correlation, order)
3.2. The category of voice
3.3. The category of tense
3.4. The category of mood
3.5. Interrogative and negative forms with do
Summary

The morphology of the verb: 2 distinct tendencies of development:
considerable simplifying changes > affected the synthetic forms
far more complicated > the growth of new, analytical forms and new grammatical categories

1. Non-finite forms (verbals)
The main trends of the evolution of verbals in ME and NE:
gradual loss of most nominal features (except syntactical functions) < The simplifying changes in the verb paradigm, and the decay of the OE inflectional system > loss of case distinctions in the infinitive and of forms of agreement in the Participles
growth of verbal features

Verbals are gradually shifting from the system of declension into the system of conjugation: OE infinitive and the could be declined → Infinitive (at the end of the OE period) and the Participle (in ME) lost their declension.
At the end of the ME-NE > acquired elements of conjugation ‑ the grammatical categories of perfectivity (time-correlation, order), voice and aspect (the infinitive) and the grammatical categories of perfectivity (time-correlation, order) and voice (the participle and the gerund).
The OE preposition to (Dative case of the infinitive) → a grammatical particle showing that the Verbal is an Infinitive.

ModE: contexts where the form of the verbal is active, though the meaning is passive:
The book is worth reading. The coat needs ironing.
non-perfect form expresses time-correlatin, i.e. is used to express events that took place prior to the action of the finite form of the verbs:
I remember doing...
I thanked him for bringing the happy tidings.
Such phenomena < reflect the previous stage - verbals were indifferent to voice and order

OE: less verbals: Participle and Infinitive
At the end of ME + a new verbal developed ‑ the Gerund
The Gerund < a result of a blend between the OE Present Participle ending in -ende and the Old English Verbal noun ending in -inge.
- Verbal noun > the Gerund the form (the ending -ing(e))
- Influence of the Participle > more “verbal” in meaning.

The nominal features of the gerund < verbal noun:
its syntactic functions
ability to be modified by a possessive pronoun or a noun in the Gen. case.
the sphere of the usage of the Gerund grew:
it replaced the Infinitive and the Participle in many adverbial functions;
its great advantage: could be used with various prepositions

2. Morphological classification of verbs in ME and NE.
2.1. Strong verbs
2.1.1. Classes of the strong verbs
OE original regularity in the group of strong verbs and partly in ME > longer felt
1. Splitting of original classes into subclasses, for example:

2. Some strong verbs of one class entering another class.
OE verb of the 5th class:
sprecan ‑ spræc ‑ sprǣcon ‑ sprecen passed into the 5th class in Middle English with the forms speken ‑ spak ‑ speken ‑ spoken
on analogy with such verbs as stelen ‑ stal ‑ stelen ‑ stolen

3. Passing of some strong verbs into the group of weak verbs and (rarely) vice versa

Charles C. Fries: there remain only 66 of those originally strong verbs in ModE (others – 195 OE strong verbs → 67 NE, 128 verbs acquired weak forms).
The contrary process - quite rare:
Old English New English
hӯdan to hide hide – hid ‑ hidden
wærian to wear wear – wore – worn
(dig – dug – dug; stick – stuck – stuck)

4. Some weak verbs > some features of the strong verbs > weak forms along with strong forms
OE weak verb scēawian ‑ ModE show, showed, but shown.
wake – waked – waked, wake – woke – woken; shave – shaved – shaved (shaven)

2.1.2. Principal forms of the strong verbs
OE: 4 forms
writan ‑ wrāt ‑ writon ‑ writen (to write)
bindan ‑ band ‑ bundon ‑ bunden (to shake)
ME → NE 3 forms
write — wrote — written
ModE preterite comes either the second or from the third basic form

The vowel in the Past tense < the vowel of OE past tense singular

sometimes it is the vowel of the original past tense plural

Sometimes the vowel of the past tense form was borrowed from the form of the past participle

2.2. Weak verbs
Weak verbs > more and more numerous: preserved in ME and NE almost all the verbs in Old English+ the majority of borrowed verbs + about seventy verbs originally strong + such verbs as:
to call
to want Scandinavian borrowings
to guess
to pierce
to punish French borrowings
to finish
to contribute
to create Latin borrowings
to distribute

Alike strong verbs many weak verbs > irregular, especially weak verbs of the 1st class < qualitative and quantitative changes in ME and NE:
OE cēpan ‑ cēpte ‑ cēpt
ME kēpen ‑ kepte ‑ kept
NE keep ‑ kept ‑ kept
OE weak verb of the first class > irregular < quantitative change ‑ shortening of the vowel in the second and third forms in ME (before two consonants ‑ pt) = quantitative vowel interchange → qualitative in NE after the Great vowel shift: only the long vowel of the first form underwent, the short vowel of the second and third forms retaining their quality

2.2.1. Classes of the weak verbs
OE: two principal classes of the weak verbs.
ME: one class, mainly weak verbs of the 2nd class:
Old English II class
lufian – lufode ‑ lufod (to love)
Middle English
loven ‑ lov(e)de ‑ luv(e)d

In NE < different phonetic processes and changes on analogy → two principal groups of verbs OE strong and weak > two principal groups of ModE verbs: regular and irregular ≠ ≈ OE strong and weak verbs.

2.3. Origin of modern irregular verbs
OE: most verbs regular + a number of irregular ones
ME: the few OE irregular verbs preserved + new irregular verbs < disappearance of the division of verbs into strong and weak, most strong verbs losing their regular pattern of conjugation and thus becoming irregular

Origin of modern irregular verbs
Another source of irregular verbs < the 1st class of weak verbs
Three groups of verbs originally belonging to the 1st class of weak verbs, which later became irregular:

Origin of modern irregular verbs
a) verbs with a long root vowel, the root ending in -t or -d:
OE mētan ‑ mētte ‑ mētt
ME meten — mette — mett
NE meet ‑ met ‑ met
ME:the root vowel of the second and third forms is shortened < the shortening of all vowels if followed by two consonants. The vowel interchange in ME is quantitative only.
NE: the long root vowel in the first form < the Great Vowel Shift = qualitative > now quantitative + qualitative vowel interchange in the verb.

Origin of modern irregular verbs
b) verbs with a long root vowel, the root ending in a consonant other than -t or -d:
OE cēpan ‑ cēpte ‑ cēpt (to keep)
ME kepen — kepte — kept
NE keep ‑ kept ‑ kept
ME: the dental suffixation of the 2nd and 3d forms + a quantitative vowel interchange
NE: vowel interchange (quantitative and qualitative) + suffixation as form-building means

Origin of modern irregular verbs
c) verbs with a short root vowel, the root ending in -t or -d:
OE settan ‑ sette ‑ sett ME setten ‑ sette ‑ sett NE set ‑ set ‑ set
No changes in the root vowel + the ending disappeared < final reduction of unstressed vowels > verb forms without any material manifestation
Phonetic development > a number of unchangeable verbs that originally had the final root consonant –t or –d:
from ME weak verbs > cut, hurt, put;
from ME strong verbs > burst, let;
from Scandinavian > cast, hit;
from French > cost.
Even in the 2nd class of weak verbs: examples of irregularity to make
OE macian ‑ macode ‑ macod ME maken ‑ makede ‑ maked
NE make ‑ made ‑ made
The middle syllable of the 2nd and 3rd forms was lost > the verb irregular.

Origin of modern irregular verbs
Still another source of irregular verbs: some loan words borrowed in ME and NE (most borrowed verbs formed their forms in accordance with the weak verbs of the 2nd class)
Scandinavian strong verb borrowings: preserve their original vowel interchange > irregular:
give ‑ gave ‑ given
take ‑ took ‑ taken
get ‑ got ‑ gotten
French borrowing to catch (caught, caught): irregular > analogy with the verb to teach (taught, taught)

Origin of modern irregular verbs
The number of non-standard (irregular) verbs in ModE is not large ≈ 200 items
They constitute an important feature of the language.
Most of them belong to the basic layer of the vocabulary, have a high frequency of occurrence and are widely used in word-formation and phraseological units.
The significance for the grammatical system: preserved 3 principal forms > modern grammarians recognize 3 items in all English verbs despite the formal identity of the Past and Participle II

2.4. Minor Groups of Verbs
Several minor groups of verbs: neither to strong nor to weak verbs.
The most important group: preterite-present verbs. In OE: 12 preterite-present verbs > 6 survived in ModE: āӡ (owe, ought), cunnan, cann (can), dear (dare), scullan, sceal (shall), maӡan, mæӡ (may), mōt (must).
The surving verbs lost some of their old forms and grammatical distinctions but retained many specific peculiarities.
In NE their paradigms have been reduced to two forms or even one.

2.4. Minor Groups of Verbs
Several anomalous verbs with irregular forms (willan, dōn)
2 suppletive verbs ӡān (go) and bēon (be)
will and shall weakened their lexical meanings and changed into auxiliaries
go remained a suppletive verb
ME ben (NE be) inherited its suppletive forms from the OE and more remote periods of history

3. Grammatical categories of the English verb
OE: verb had 4 categories: person, number, tense and mood.
ME and NE + 3 more grammatical categories – perfectivity (order, time-correlation), voice and aspect.

Grammatical categories of the English verb
These grammatical categories= a new grammatical means for the formation: analytical forms.
These analytical forms < free word combinations of the OE verbs habban, beon/wesan + an infinitive (or participle).
The way of the formation of those analytical forms was the following:
In the free word combination habban, beon/wesan + an infinitive (or participle): the first element was gradually losing its lexical meaning, and the second ‑ its grammatical one > notionally and grammatically inseparable, idiomatic.

3.1. The category of perfectivity (time-correlation, order)
the oldest, formed already in ME < OE free combination habban + past participle

The category of perfectivity (time-correlation, order)
The same idea of perfectivity (time-correlation, order): still expressed to be + participle 2 < OE beon + past participle:
This gentleman is happily arrived.
Now he is gone.

3.2. The category of voice
appeared out of the free combination of weorpan (beon) + past participle:
OE he wēarþ ofslæӡen
(he was slain)
ME engendered is the flour
(the flower is generated [born])

The category of aspect
formed in ME < free combination ben (beon) + present participle:
Singinge hē was ... al the dai
(he was singing all the day).

The sources of the Perfect and Passive Forms in NE

New categorial forms of the categories of tense
OE: present and past tense forms + ME: future tense < free combination OE modal verbs sculan and willan + infinitive.
This free combination of words → into two groups: 1st free (modal meaning is preserved):
You shall do it ‑ necessity
I will do it ‑ volition
2nd - independent meaning is lost and the fixed word combination > future tense form:
I shall go there.
You will go there.

New categorial forms of the category of mood
OE: 3 mood forms (indicative, subjunctive and imperative).
The subjunctive in OE: did not show whether the events were probable or contrary to fact, but it had two tense forms ‑ past and present, which in the course of history developed into two subjunctive moods:
- I/he be present < OE present tense form of the subjunctive mood
- I/he were present < OE past tense form of the subjunctive mood.
The difference:
1 - shade of probability, and not in the tense
2 - denoting events which are contrary to fact

New categorial forms of the category of mood
end of ME and the beginning of NE + 2 more subjunctive mood forms (analytical form building means):
I/he should be present ‑ to show events which are probable, though problematic
I should be present
he would be present ‑ to show imaginary events, contrary to fact
Here should and would are the subjunctive mood forms of OE sculan and willan

The Sources of the NE forms of the Subjunctive Mood

3.5. Interrogative and negative forms with do
Early NE:development of a new set of analytical forms (Pres. and Past Tense, Ind. Mood (and ‑ to a lesser extent ‑ of the Subj. Mood):
interrogative and negative forms with the auxiliary verb do

Summary