• Гідрологія і Гідрометрія
• Господарське право
• Економіка будівництва
• Економіка природокористування
• Економічна теорія
• Земельне право
• Історія України
• Кримінально виконавче право
• Медична радіологія
• Методи аналізу
• Міжнародне приватне право
• Міжнародний маркетинг
• Основи екології
• Предмет Політологія
• Соціальне страхування
• Технічні засоби організації дорожнього руху
• Товарознавство продовольчих товарів

The unification of the ways of building the plural forms of nouns in the history of English

The grammatical distinctions reflected in the Germanic noun are:
Number	Case	Gender

Ø the traditional names for the Germanic noun classes contain the word ‘stem’;

Ø in Germanic grammars nouns with vocalic themes are called ‘strong’;

Ø in Germanic grammars a small class of nouns with stems in –n– are called ‘weak’.

All the Old English nouns fell into nouns with:
Vowel-stems (a-, ō-, i-, u-)	Consonant-stems (n-)	minor noun declensions

***

Modern English plural endings	Old English origin
-S /-ES girls, tables, bridges, ….	-AS nouns of ‘strong’declension (vocalic stems), a-‘stem’,Masculine, marked the nom./acc. plural.
-EN oxen, children, brethren	–AN nouns of ‘weak’declension (consonantal stems), n-‘stem’,all three genders, marked the nom./acc. plural.
I-UMLAUT (MUTATION) of the root vowel feet, geese, men, women, teeth, mice, lice	minor noun declensions the nom/acc. plural of nouns of the root class
ZERO (unchanged /invariable forms) deer, swine, fish … (names of the animals used collectively)	ZERO plural nouns of ‘strong’declension (vocalic stems), a-‘stem’,Neuter, which has either a long root vowel, or two consonants at the end, marked the nom./acc. plural. many of these unchanged (invariable) forms pass into the common –ES plural type in Modern English.
-Æ / -A formulæ, curricula, phenomena ….	BORROWED WORDS from Latin or Greek, usually assumed the inflection of the native words.

Even the most far-reaching changes in the marking of syntactic relations and the collapse of the old grammatical gender system left English with the necessity of retaining at least ONE inflectional form to carry the function of number indication. In effect, the evolution of inflectional affixes signifying “plural” shows from the very beginning a strong trend in the direction of the establishment of a “one function : one form” relationship. Considerable progress in the reduction of earlier “multiformity” and the use of like forms for like functions has already been achieved by the Early Middle English period.

Recommended readings:

Ilyish B.A. History of the English Language. – L., 1973. – Р. 63-74, 174-178, 274-275.

Rastorguyeva T.A. A History of English. – M., 1983. – Р. 93-101, 222-229.

Lecture 4

Читайте також:

1. A Brief History of Clothes
2. A. What countries is English the first language? Match English-speaking countries with their national flags and capitals.
3. An Extract from the Late Middle English works criticizing the Church
4. Ask your friend questions in English about their content. Summarize his/her answers.
5. B) What can you say about the significance of the event described above for the history of Russian and world theatre?
6. B. How well do you know Kazan and its history? Do the quiz and check your knowledge.
7. Basic qualities of the perfect forms
8. Bilden Sie den Imperativ in der 2. Person Plural.
9. C. Instead of repeating the full name for something, we often use pronouns or some other reference words. What do the highlighted words below refer to in the text?
10. Changes of Short Vowels in Early New English
11. Changes of Stressed Vowels in Early Old English
12. Changes of Unstressed Vowels in Early Old English

Переглядів: 716