Topic 5

Historical morphology. The word-class noun and adjective

1. Changes in the 3-morpheme structure

2. The development of the category of case

3. The development of the category of number

4. The development of the category of gender

5. The rise of article

6. Strong and weak forms of adjective

 

Key-words: 3-morpheme structure, stem, stem-suffix, grammatical ending, dual number, 3-article system, 2-article system, case, gender, declension (vocalic, weak, minor) of nouns, a-(o-,u-,i-, etc.)-stem, category of definiteness/indefiniteness, strong/weak declension (adj.)

 

Questions and tasks:

1. Explain the mechanisms of nouns division into different types of stems in Old Germanic languages?

2. Which of the grammatical categories of noun survived in Modern English?

3. What kind of opposition was characteristic of category of number in Proto-Germanic?

4. Dwell on the category of definiteness/indefiniteness in Old Germanic languages.

 

MODULE 2

 

Topic 6