See Lecture 14 for general information on the Adjective.
Historically the Adjective is a younger class of words as compared to the Noun. So it has borrowed many of its categories and inflections from the Noun and the Pronoun.
The Adjective had the following categories:
Gender
It still existed in OE but was the first category to disappear in the 11th c.
Case
At the end of OE Period Instrumental Case fell together with Dative Case due to the homonymy of inflections (see the table below);
All other cases disappeared by the end of the 13th c. also due to the homonymy of inflections (see the table below).
System of Declensions
The system of declension was inherited from PG. Adjectives had two declensions that had to do also with the category of determination strong (definite) and weak (indefinite) and unlike nouns practically all adjectives could be declined both ways (by strong and weak declension). So an adjective did not belong to a particular declension, its declension depended on several factors that will be mentioned below:
| Type of Declension | Strong(definite) | Weak(indefinite) | |||
| Borrowed inflections | from a-stemando-stem | from n-stem | |||
| Factors for distinguishing type of declension | Adj used attributively without any determiners (demonstrative pronouns); Adj used predicatively. | Adj preceded by a demonstrative pronoun or Genitive Case of a noun; | |||
| Gender | Neuter | Neuter | |||
| Number | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| OE Cases | Nominative | blind | blind | blinde | blindan |
| Genitive | blindes | blindra | blindan | blindra | |
| Dative | blindum | blindum | blindan | blindum | |
| Accusative | blind | blind | blinde | blindan | |
| Instrumental | blinde | blindum | blindan | blindum | |
| ME | Cases disappeared | blind | blinde | blinde | blinde |
There were exceptions from the rule: some adjectives were declined always strong (eall (all), maniζ (many), ōþer (other)), others always weak (ilca (same)).
The endings of the adjectives showed the agreement between a noun and an adjective. There were a lot of homonymous forms (e.g. -um (OE) N, Sg, Dat, strong; N, Pl, Dat, strong; N, Pl, Dat, weak; N, Pl, Instr, strong; N, Pl, Instr, weak; -e (ME) N, Pl, strong; N, Sg, weak; N, Pl, weak) à the distinction between the declensions faded in ME and the declensions disappeared as far as there was no necessity any more to keep them.
Number
There were some homonymous forms in Singular and Plural in both declensions (see the table above: e.g. -um (OE) N, Sg, Dat, strong; N, Pl, Dat, strong; -e (ME) N, Sg, weak; N, Pl, weak), so the category of Number disappeared together with the system of declensions.
The Adjective lost many of its categories in ME as far as all the inflections were lost. Thus it became an unchangeable part of speech.
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Degrees of Comparison
In OE there were three ways of formation of the degrees of comparison:
| Way of formation | Positive Degree | Comparative Degree | Superlative Degree |
| inflections | soft | softra | softost |
| root-sound interchange + inflections | lonζ | lenζra | lenζest |
| suppletion | ζōd | bettra | betest |
In ME the following changes happened:
In most cases inflections -er, -est were used to form the comparative and the superlative degrees;
Root-sound interchange fell into disuse (l o ng l o nger l o ngest), though in some cases it was preserved as an exception from the rule (e.g. old elder eldest; far further furthest);
A new way of formation of the degrees of comparison appeared:
more + Adj (comparative) || most + Adj (superlative)
It was applicable to all adjectives and was interchangeable with -er, -est way of formation till 17th 18th c. In NE, during the Normalisation Period, the modern rule appeared and this way was applicable only to a certain group of adjectives.
Lecture 17
The Development of the Pronoun. The Rise of Articles
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns belong to an ancient class of words that goes back to two Indo-European roots se and to. In OE the sound [Ө] started to dominate over the sound [s] due to the pressure of the system (the forms with the sound [Ө] were more numerous (see the table below)).
Demonstrative pronouns in OE changed in Gender, Number, Case:
| Pronoun in ModE | Demonstrative Pronouns in OE | ||||
| Case | Masculine, Sg | Feminine, Sg | Neuter, Sg | Plural | |
| that | Nom | se* | sēo* | þ æ t* | þa |
| Gen | þes | þ ǽ re | þ æ s | þara | |
| Dat | þ æ m | þ ǽ re | þ æ m | þam | |
| Acc | þone | þā | þ æ t | þa | |
| Instr | þý* | þ ǽ re | þý | þam | |
| this | Nom | þes | þeos | þis* | þās |
| Gen | þisses | þisse | þisses | þissa | |
| Dat | þissum | þisse | þissum | þissum | |
| Acc | þisne | þās | þis | þās | |
| Instr | þissum | þisse | þys | þissum |
In ME the Case system disappeared due to the fact that there were some homonymous forms (see the table above: e.g. þ ǽ re F, Sg, Gen; F, Sg, Dat; F, Sg, Instr; þa Pl, Nom; Pl, Acc; þisse F, Sg, Gen; F, Sg, Dat) and due to phonetic reduction.
In NE the Gender was lost due to the fact that there were some homonymous forms (see the table above: e.g. þes/þ æ s M, Sg, Gen; N, Sg, Gen; þ æ m M, Sg, Dat; N, Sg, Dat; þissum M, Sg, Dat; N, Sg, Dat) and the following changes happened to the pronouns marked with * in the table above:
se (M, Sg, Nom) turned into the definite article the (discussed more particularly in the point Rise of Articles below);
sēo (F, Sg, Nom) turned into the personal pronoun she (discussed more particularly in the point Personal Pronouns (changes in the 3rd person) below);
þ æ t (N, Sg, Nom) remained as the unchangeable demonstrative pronoun that;
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þis (N, Sg, Nom) remained as the unchangeable demonstrative pronoun this;
þý (M, Sg, Instr) in OE was used in the comparative constructions like the soonerthe better but in NE was not distinguished any more phonetically and merged with the unchangeable form of the definite article the.
The only category that was left in the demonstrative pronouns was the Number (e.g. ModE this these, that those).
Rise of Articles
The articles have to do with the category of Determination (definiteness/indefiniteness).
Causes for Rise of Articles:
1. In OE the there were two declensions of adjectives strong (definite) and weak (indefinite) and the inflections of these declensions indicated whether the noun that followed the adjective was definite or indefinite. At the end of the ME Period the declensions of the Adjective disappeared and there was a necessity to find another way to indicate the definiteness/indefiniteness of a noun. Thus the articles appeared.
2. In OE the word-order was free because inflections were employed to show the relations of the words in a sentence. In ME and NE the majority of the inflections disappeared and the word-order became fixed. This meant that the first place in a sentence was usually occupied by the theme (information already known à marked with the definite article) and the second place by the rheme (new information à marked with the indefinite article).
Definite Article
As it was mentioned above, the definite article appeared from the OE demonstrative pronoun se (M, Sg, Nom) from the paradigm of the OE demonstrative pronoun that because it was often used to indicate a definite object or notion.
Indefinite Article
The indefinite article appeared from the OE numeral ān (one) and had the meaning of oneness (it still indicates only nouns in Sg, i.e. nouns indicating one object or notion).
In OE ān had 5-case paradigm that was lost in ME and only one form was left oon/one. Later it was employed in the building of the indefinite article a/an.
Personal Pronouns
See Lecture 14 for the categories of the personal pronouns.
Personal Pronouns possessed (and still do) a very vivid Indo-European feature suppletivity (i.e. they build their forms with the help of different roots (see also Lecture 4)).
Personal pronouns in OE changed in Gender, Number, Case, Person:
| Pers. | Case | Number | ||
| Singular | Plural | Dual | ||
| 1st | Nom | ic | wē | wit |
| Gen | min | ūre | uncer | |
| Dat | mē | ūs | unc | |
| Acc | mec/mē | ūsic | uncit | |
| 2nd | Nom | þu* | ζē* | ζit |
| Gen | þin | ēower | incer | |
| Dat | þe | ēow* | inc | |
| Acc | þec/þe | ēowic | incit |
| Pers. | Case | Gender, Number | |||
| M, Sg | F, Sg | N, Sg | Plural | ||
| 3rd | Nom | hē* | hēo/hīo* | hit* | hēo/hīe* |
| Gen | his | hire | his | hira | |
| Dat | him | hire | him | him | |
| Acc | hine | hīe | hit | hēo/hīe |
Later the following changes happened to the personal pronouns (some of them are marked with * in the table above so that one can trace the connection easily):
Gender
Genderisstill preserved(he, she, it) in ModE but is often denied by scholars because it is expressed lexically and practically has nothing to do with grammar.
2. Cases:
In ME the Genitive Case turned into a new class of pronouns Possessive Pronouns (e.g. ModE I (pers.) mine (possess.); you yours, he his, she her, etc.);
The Dative and the Accusative Cases fell together and formed the Objective Case. Thus in ME there were only two cases left in the personal pronouns Nominative and Objective (e.g. ModE I (Nom) me (Obj); he him, she her, etc.).
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Number
Dual formsdisappeared in ME. In NE the category of Number disappeared in the 2nd person of the personal pronouns (see the explanation below).
4. 3rd person
As far as in the Early ME many forms in the 3rd person coincided phonetically and often caused confusion and difficulties in communication, the following changes occurred:
| Pers. | Gender | OE | Early ME | Late ME | Comments |
| 3rd | M, Sg | hē à | he à | he | preserved original form |
| F, Sg | hēo/hīo à | he à | she | As far as it coincided with M, Sg and Plural forms, a new word was found derived from the demonstrative pronoun sēo (F, Sg, Nom) to distinguish the forms. | |
| N, Sg | hit à | hit à | it | preserved original form, lost initial [h] | |
| Plural | hēo/hīe à | he/hi à | they | As far as it coincided with M, Sg and F, Sg forms, a new word was found a Scandinavian borrowing to distinguish the forms. |
5. 2nd person
| Pers. | Number | OE | ME | Comments | NE |
| 2nd | Sg | þu à | thou à | Fell out of use due to the French etiquette (it forbade impolite thou form, so it was replaced with the polite ēow form). | ēow (Pl, Dat)(you) |
| Pl | ζē à | ye à | Coincided phonetically with wē à was dropped |
Thus in NE the category of Number disappeared in the 2nd person of the personal pronouns.
Lecture 18
