Strong and Weak Verbs in Comparison

The Development of the Verb

See Lecture 14 for the categories of the Verb in OE.

Basis for Comparison	Strong Verbs	Weak Verbs
Number
Type/Origin	Indo-European (reveals suppletivity)	Germanic (reveals dental suffix)
Formation of Past Tense forms	by changing the root-vowel (ablaut): s i ttan (Infinitive) – s æ t (Past Indefinite) (verb “to sit”)	with the help of the dental suffix -t/-d: līcian (Infinitive) – līco d e (Past Indefinite) (verb “to like”)
Formation of Participle2 forms	with the help of the suffix –en(+ sometimes root-vowel interchange): f i ndan (Infinitive) – f u nd en (Participle 2) (verb “to find”)	with the help of the dental suffix -t/-d: cēpan (Infinitive) – cēpe d (Participle 2) (verb “to keep”)
Derivation	Strong verbs were root-words /non-derivatives (i.e. they were not derived from some other words/roots but were the words/roots from which other words were derived)	Weak verbs were derivatives from nouns, adjectives, strong verbs: tellan (to tell) ← talu (a tale) fyllan (to fill) ← fyll (full) fandian (to find out) ← findan (to find)
Productivity	unproductive type (no new words employed this type of form-building)	productive type (new words that appeared employed this type of form-building)
Principle Forms	Infinitive Past Sg Past Pl Participle 2 wrītan – wrāt – writon – writen	Infinitive Past Participle 2 cēpan – cēpte – cēped
Classes	subdivided into 7 classes	subdivided into 3 classes

Дата добавления: 2014-01-03