OE ME OE ME

III. Verb in Middle and Early New English.

Past Participle I

Singular Plural Infinitive

Present

1^st pers. – eom (beo) wesan (beon)

2^nd pers. – eart (bist) sind (beoþ, sint) Participle II

3^rd pers. – is (biþ) ––––––

Singular Plural (2^nd pers.) wesende (beonde)

1^st pers. – wæs

2^nd pers – wære wæron

3^rd pers - wæs

In ME the inflectional system of the verb was very complicated because of phonetic changes, the tendency towards the leveling of different forms, and because of a high degree of diversity in the evolution of the same phenomenon in different dialects. In the course of ME the verb-inflection underwent further modifications due to the operation of some phonetic changes, such as the dropping of [ə] and [n] when final, and also due to analogy. In the 15^th century Tense was marked by:

- [ed] (hop-ed-e)

- [d] (her-d-e)

- [t] (kis-t-e)

- [þ] (cū-þ-e).

sprec an wrīt eth (South)

spræc on sp(r)ēk en (>e, ModE speak) wrīt eþ (Pres., sing., 3^rd p.)

sprec en wrīt es (North) - dominant

wrīt eth (South)

wrīt aþ (Pres., pl.) wrīt en (Midlands) -dominant

wrīt es (North)

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11