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ME Grammar

ME Grammar. Noun, pronoun, adjective. Noun. Case Gender Declension. Case system. fiscas (OE Nom/Acc. Plural of a-stem) fishes (ME Nom/Acc. Plural but also Genitive and Dative). OE –es ending (a-stem Sing., Gen., M/N) Possessive case: Arthur his men – Arthur’s men

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ME Grammar

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  1. ME Grammar Noun, pronoun, adjective

  2. Noun • Case • Gender • Declension

  3. Case system • fiscas (OE Nom/Acc. Plural of a-stem) • fishes (ME Nom/Acc. Plural but also Genitive and Dative)

  4. OE –es ending (a-stem Sing., Gen., M/N) • Possessive case: Arthur his men – Arthur’s men • His→ is → - s

  5. Question on ME phonetics • Variant 1 • 1) How did the pronunciation of the following stressed OE vowels change in ME: [ā], [æ:], [æ], [ü]? • Variant 2 • 1) Which new diphthongs appeared as the result of vocalization of [w, , ’]?

  6. Question on ME phonetics Variant 1 2) What was the general tendency in the development of the OE diphthongs? Variant 2 2) How did the spelling of the OE words cēpan, cīld, cumenchange?

  7. Variant 1 3) In which position did the stressed OE vowels become long in ME? Variant 2 3) In which position did the stressed OE vowels become short in ME?

  8. The Adjective • It lost all its grammatical categories with the exception of the degrees of comparison. • The agreement of the adjective with the noun was practically lost during ME. • The 1st category to disappear was gender, which ceased to be distinguished in the 11th century.

  9. The category of number was expressed with the ending –e • The distinctions of strong and weak declension is only obvious in the singular • Strong – good, Weak – goode • By the XV the ending –e disappeared • The adjective turned into an uninflected part of speech.

  10. Degrees of comparison • OE –raME –re → –er • OE –est/ -ostME –est • The only adjective with the root vowel interchange in ME is ‘old’ • A new means for the formation of the degrees of comparison – analytical: with the help of ‘more’ and ‘most’.

  11. Pronoun Personal pronouns • the loss of dual number • The genitive case > possessive pronouns • Accusative + Dative = Objective

  12. hēo (3rd, Sing, Fem.) she they with its oblique forms them, their my (+cons.), myn(+vowel).

  13. Demonstrative pronouns • In Early ME the OE demonstrative pronouns lost most of their inflected forms. • This/that • This – thise (thes(e)) • That – tho (thos(e))

  14. Interrogative • The paradigm of hwā • Who (Nom.) • Whom (Objective) • The genitive case of hwā – hwæs, developed into a separate interrogative pronoun whose • OE hwi (instrumental case) – ME hwy

  15. Indefinite pronouns • Most indefinite pronouns of the OE period simplified their morphological structure and some of them fell out of use • OE ǣƷhwelc – ME eech • OE þyslic – ME such • OE nān-þinƷ – ME nothing • OE demonstrative and interrogative pronouns became a source of a new type of pronouns - relative

  16. Development of articles • The definite article developed on the basis of demonstrative pronouns sē, sēo, þæt. • In OE they were used as noun determiners

  17. During ME there was an important formal difference between the demonstrative pronoun and the definite article • The demonstrative pronoun had the number distinction, while the definite article acquired the weakened form the, and became uninflected.

  18. Indefinite article • It developed from the OE numeral and indefinite pronoun ān • In the 13th c. - oone/one and their reduced form an/a are used in all regions

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