Middle English Syntax

LECTURE 10

1. The order of words in ME.

2. The usage of analytical verb forms.

3. The use of the Subjunctive Mood.

4. The verbals:

a) the Infinitive

b) the Gerund

c) the Participle.

OE was a synthetic language, that is all the grammatical relations between the words in a sentence were expressed by means of flections.

In ME most of the flections were gradually being discarded and superseded by prepositions and prepositional phrases. Thus, the preposition «of» appeared to render the relations expressed by the Genitive case: the droughte of March». But alongside with the preposition «of» there still existed the Genitive case with the flexion «-es». The preposition «to» appeared to render the relations expressed the dative case: I telle it to child.

The order of words. The order of words in ME became more fixed. It was connected with the development of the analytical features in English. In most cases the order of words was direct. The indirect order was characteristic of interrogative sentences, in affirmative sentences the inverted order of words was rather rare, it could be found in separate sentences especially in those beginning with an adverb. Sometimes the auxiliary verb was placed before the subject: So hadde I spoken with him.

As many inflections were lost, position of a word in the sentence became more important. Here is an illustration from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales:

Whan that Aprille with his schoures sote

The droughte of Marche hath perced to the rote

And bathed every veyne in swieh licour,

Of which vertu engendred is the flour…..

‘When April with its sweet showers has pierced the drought of March to the root, and bathed every vein in such liquid, from whose power the flower is engendred….’

In this passage the subject Aprille and the direct objects the droughte and every veyne are characterized as such, not by any inflections but solely by their position in the sentence. However this position is not so fixed as it is in Modern English: the first direct object, the droughte, comes before the predicate. Since the predicate in this subordinate clause is expressed by a verb in the passive voice, no misunderstanding can arise; however, in Modern English such order would hardly be possible.

In OE there were free combinations of verbs which expressed the tendency of turning into analytical constructions, Thus, the combination of the verb habban + Participle II showed the tendency of developing into Perfect tense forms. In ME Perfect tenses continue their development and had already the Present, Past and Future Perfect tense forms. The verb habban was used with transitive verbs, the verb beon was used with intransitive verbs: Lordings, right thus, as ye have understonde, bar I stifly mine olde housbondes on honde ‘gentlemen, just thus, as you have understood, I staunchly made my old husbands believe’; I hadde unnethe that word y-said ring thus as I have told hit yow, that sodeynly… ‘hardly had I pronounced this word, just as I have told it you, when suddenly…’; but al thing, which that shyneth as the gold, it nis nat hold, as that I have herd it told ‘ but not everything that shines like gold is gold, As I have heard it told’.

We have already said that perfect forms of intransitive verbs were dirived by means of the verb be(n), e.g. the domes alle, that from the tyme of King William were falle ‘all the sentences that had been pronounced since the time of king William’.

The usage of the Present Perfect in ME differed from that in Modern English. Thus, Present Perfect was used in ME to express a completed action even in case the period of time of the action was cut off from the present.

The combination consisting of the auxiliary verb be + Participle II was not only the Present tense form, it could also be a passive construction.

The combinations consisted of the verb be + Participle I historically being the Gerund developed into Continuous tenses. In ME new analytical tense forms continue their development.

The use of the Subjunctive Mood. In ME the Subjunctive mood was used in all kinds of sentences: in simple, complex and subordinate clauses. The characteristic feature of the Subjunctive mood form was the absence of flections for any person. The Subjunctive Mood was used to express not real actions but wished, desired: and stepen wollen till the sonne shyne ‘and will sleep till the sun shines’.

In subordinate clauses the Subjunctive Mood was usually used after the conjunctions till, if, erk (before). In ME alongside with the OE synthetic forms of the Subjunctive mood new analytical constructions were used.

An unreal condition referring to the present was expressed by the past subjunctive, and an unreal condition referring to the present the phrase “wolde + infinitive” was used. If the action refers to the past, the phrase “wolde + perfect infinitive” was used. Here are some examples: So that I wiste I sholde you nat greve, I wolde demen that ye tellen sholde a tale ‘If I knew I should not grieve you would think that you should tell a tale’; nere thou our brother, sholdestou nat thryve ‘if you were not our brother, you would not thrive.

The verbals. In ME there were 3 verbals: the infinitive, the gerund and the participle. The infinitive was historically a noun derived from a verb-stem. It was conjugated and in the dative case was used with the preposition to. It expressed purpose or direction. In ME the infinitive lost its characteristic ending -en and retained the only characteristic feature, that is the preposition to which now turned into a particle: … than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages ‘then people long to go on pilgrimages’; she gan so sore longe to seen her suster ‘she began so strongly to long to see her sister’.

In ME the infinitive was used in the function of an adverbial modifier of purpose. It was accompanied by the preposition «to»: the cradil at hire beddes ƒeet is set to rokken ‘the cradle at the foot of her bed is set to be rocked.

The Gerund developed from the combination beon + on + verbal-noun. In these combinations the verbal-noun developed its verbal features and thus, took the position intermediate between the noun and the verb. In MnE we speak about the double nature of the Gerund: I slough Samson in schakyng the piler ‘I slew Samson by shaking the pilllar’.

The Participle. In ME there were two participles: present participle ending in -ende and past participle. In ME -ende gave -ing: drinkende > drinking.

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