The traditional names for the earlier version of the verbal classes
in Germanic:
***
built their principal forms with the help of root vowel
interchange (they made use of IE ablaut with certain
modifications due to phonetic changes and environment)
| Strong verbs are: | very old group of words (characterized as core vocabulary) |
| in general more basic to everyday communication | |
| closed class (the irregularity of the strong verbs is due to the fact that verbs of this type are much less numerous than weak verbs. In Old English there only over 300 of them) | |
| restricted, meaning that few new verbs in the language will be taken into this group. |
Apart from some levelling of inflections and the weakening of endings, the principle changes in the strong verb during the Middle English period were as follows:
Ø the reduction of four main parts to three due to the general tendency of levelling of inflections & the weakening of endings. In Old English the Infinitive ending –IAN / -AN & the past plural ending –ON were weakened to –EN / -N,
eg., *talian > tellan > tellen > telle> tell
Ø the serious losses suffered by the strong conjugation. Almost a third of them in Old English seem to have died out early in the Middle English period.
Ø in morphological classes of Middle English verbs one can find changes due to the principle of analogy,which resulted in the transference of verbs from one class to another, i.e. some verbs changed from the strong conjugation to the weak & vice versa.
Modern English irregular verbs which used to be strong in Old English:
begin, blow, break, choose, come, dig, draw, drink, drive, eat, fall, fight, find, fling, fly, forbid, forget, freeze, get, give, grind, grow, hang, hide, hold, know, lead, lie, ride, ring, rise, run, see, shake, shine, shrink, sing, sink, sit, speak, spin, spit, spring, stand, steal, stick, sting, stink, strike, swear, swim, swing, take, tear, throw, thrive, tread, wake, wear, win, wind, write
Strong verbs becoming invariable:
MnE burst from cl. III bresten
let from cl. VII leten
***
built their principal forms by inserting a special dental
suffix between the root and ending.
| Weak verbs are: | an innovation of Germanic |
| the newest development in terms of German verbs | |
| the most open group, with most new or innovated verbs after Germanic falling into this category |
Modern English irregular verbs which used to be weak regular in Old English:
bend, build, deal, dream, dwell, feed, feel, flee, have, hear, hide, keep, kneel, lay, lead, lean, leap, learn, leave, lend, light, lose, make, mean, meet, pay, read, say, sell, send, sew, shoot, sleep, slide, smell, speed, spell, spend, spill, sweep, weep
Formation of unchangeable weak verbs (invariable verbs):
In the Modern English a group of invariable verbs came into existence, such as
bet, cost, cut, put, hit, hurt, set, shed, shut, rid, slit, split, spread
Irregular weak verbs:
|
Some class I weak verbs show I-Umlaut[2] in the present but not in the
past: sellan past sealde < * [sal-jan]:
| Infinitive | Past singular | Past plural | Participle II |
| bringan (to bring) | brōhte | brōhton | brōht |
| bycgan (to buy) | bohte | bohton | boht |
| sēcan (to seek) | sōhte | sōhton | sōht |
| tæcan (to teach) | tāhte | tāhton | tāht |
| tellan (to tell) | tealde | tealdon | teald |
| þencan (to think) | þōhte | þōhton | þōht |
Modern English irregular weak verbs which used to be irregular weak in Old English: bring, buy, seek, catch, teach, tell, think
 |
***
refer to the introduction of phonologically unrelated
forms within an inflectional paradigm, as in go/went.
bēon (to be) – wæs / wære – (Participle I: bēonde (being)
gān (to go) – ēode – gegān (Participles: gānde, gangende)
***
a type of Germanic verb whose present system is
historically (and formally) a strong verb past tense,
In Modern English grammars some of such verbs are
called modals.
| Preterite-present verbs: | are the mixture of the strong and weak groups |
| have a peculiar place within the system of Old English | |
| are the most basic in the language | |
| are the most archaic type of verb that still exists | |
| are completely closed, which means that no new verbs will be added to it, although verbs can be lost from its ranks |
Middle English preterite-present verbs:
| Infinitive | Present | Past | ||
| Sg | Pl | |||
| witen owen dowen – cunnen – durren – – mowen – | wot ough deh, dow an can tharf dar shal man may mot | witen owen dowen unnen cunnen thurven durren shulen munen mowen moten | wiste oughte doughte outhe couthe thurfte dorste sholde – mighte moste | знать иметь быть должным, годиться даровать знать, мочь нуждаться сметь долженствовать помнить мочь долженствовать, мочь |
***
dōn (to do) – dyde – gedōn
willan (will) – wolde (Participle I willende)
Recommended readings:
Ilyish B.A. History of the English Language. – L., 1973. – Р. 87-106, 189-205, 278-293.
Rastorguyeva T.A. A History of English. – M., 1983. – Р. 108-124, Р. 241-259.
Lecture 5