Loss of Consonants in Initial Clusters 


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Loss of Consonants in Initial Clusters



SSO.'Un certain cases the initial consonant of a cluster is lost. Thus, [k] and [g] are lost before [n] in knave, knight, knee, know, knit, knell, gnat, gnarled, gnaw; also in words of Greek origin: gnosis, gnomic, 'j

When [kn] or [gn] was preceded by a vowel, it was preserved, as in acknowledge, diagnosis.

Initial [w] is lost before [r]: write, wrong, wring, wretch.

The cluster [hw] or the voiceless [w], which was denoted by the spelling wh, changed into [w]. In present-day English pronunciation there is usually no difference between which and witch and between whether and weather. However, the pronunciation [hw] or [w] for written wh- can also be heard.

i^The consonant [h] was dropped in many unstressed syllables, as in forehead ['fond], shepherd ['/epad]; compare also perhaps [praeps] (alongside [pa'hasps]); in geographical names: Chatham ['tfaetam], Nottingham ['notirjam], Brougham [bru:m].j

SPELLING PRONUNCIATIONS

Г4

551. Some loan words, mostly bookish ones, whose spelling was more familiar than their sounding, had their pronunciation influenced by the spelling. For example, the words fault and vault were borrowed from French as faut, vaut; then the letter 1 was introduced to mark their ultimate Latin origin (falta, volta), and finally an [1] appeared in pronunciation as well. The word nephew (from Fr. ne-veu) was spelt neuew in ME. But as the French word comes from Lat. nepotem (ace. sing, of nepos), an etymological spelling with ph was introduced in English. Eventually a new pronunciation ['nefju:] induced by the spelling appeared alongside ['nevju:]. j

Grammatical Changes

552.UDevelopment of English grammatical structure since the 16th century has attracted but little attention. Some scholars even thought that no development took place at all^Thus, F. Kluge brought his History of the English Language ' only to the late 16th century. Rene Huchon in his History of the English Language2 says that since the 16th century its history merges with history of style.

However, some valuable studies were made of separate aspects of post-Shakespearean English. The Czech scholar Bohumil Trnka

1 F. Kluge. Geschichte der englischen Sprache (Grundrifi der germanischen Philologie, herausgegeben von H. Paul. Band I. StraSburg, 1891).

* R, Huchon. Histoire de la langue anglaise, vol. I, Paris, 1923, p. X.


devoted a special work to syntax of the English verb in the 16th and 17th centuries. ' Several theses were devoted to the language of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, and other writers. But much remains to be done in this field."^

MORPHOLOGY The Substantive

DEVELOPMENT OF PLURAL FORMS

1 553.1 The process of eliminating survival plural forms went on in the 15th and 16th centuries. Forms like eyen, fon, which were still,used by Chaucer, were now superseded by the regular forms eyes, foes.

In several substantives with final [f] or [9] alternation of the voiceless fricative with its voiced counterpart was. eliminated. This is the case with roof (plural roofs) and other words in -oof; also with belief (beliefs), death (deaths), hearth (hearths), Г'

However, with other substantives the alternation has been preserved, as in wife (wives), life (lives), half (halves), calf (calves), wolf (wolves); bath (baths), path (paths), youth (youths). With a few words two variants are possible: scarf (scarves, scarfs), truth (truths -6z, -6s). The substantive staff (OE staef, pi. stafas, ME staf, pi. staves) split into two separate words: staff, pi. staffs,' and stave, pi. staves.

The alternation [f — v] begins to extend to the word handkerchief, whose second part is of French origin; alongside the plural form handkerchiefs a new form handkerchieves is occasionally used.

554. A few substantives have preserved their plural forms due to the weak declension or to mutation: ox (oxen), child (children), man (men), woman (women), foot (feet), goose (geese), tooth (teeth), mouse (mice), louse (lice), dormouse (dormice)-, here also belong the forms brethren (alongside brothers) and kine (alongside cows). Another type of plural has been preserved in the forms of the words sheep (sheep), deer (deer), swine (swine); compare fruit (fruit), also fish (fish), and names of several kinds of fish: trout, salmon, cod, etc., which usually take no -s in the plural.

(This peculiarity appears to be due to the meaning of these words. Mos! of them are names of animals (ox, goose, mouse, louse, dormouse, sheep, deer, trout, salmon). The plural of these nouns is used to denote a mass (a flock of sheep, a herd of swine, a shoal of fish, etc.), rather than a multitude of individuals. This semantic peculiarity appears to have influenced the plural forms of these words.

1 B. Trnka. On the Syntax of the English Verb from Caxton to Dryden (Tra-vaux du cercle linguistique de Prague, 3). Prague, 1930,


As to the other words belonging here (man, woman, tooth, etc.) there must have been some other causes which determined their peculiar fate.

Isolated plural forms have also been preserved in a few phrases which coalesced into compound words: twelvemonth (OE twelf mo-nap), fortnight (OE feowertyne niht), sennight (obsolete) (OE seo-fon niht).

THE CASE SYSTEM

555.pThe two-case system which was typical of Chaucer's language nas been preserved in MnElfThe sphere of the genitive case has been restricted to substantives denoting living beings and also some time notions, e. g. year, month, week, day'. With words denoting inanimate objects or abstract ideas the genitive has been generally replaced by the phrase "of + substantive"7 Thus, for example, Chaucer's phrase every shires ende would noV be replaced by the phrase the end of every shire. But in contemporary English there seems to be a tendency to extend the use of the genitive, for example, in such phrases as the book's fate. This is a problem to be dealt with in a theoretical grammar of the English language.

Г 556./As far as written English is concerned, we must note the

use of uie apostrophe to denote the genitive сазёЭ In the genitive singular the apostrophe Fwas first used about 1680.J Originally, it was meant [to denote omtssion of the letter e.)Eventually it became a^conventional sign of the genitive case.

L Use of the apostrophe in the genitive plural dates from about 1780. Л1п the plural the apostrophe was, of course, a conventional sign of the genitive case from the outset, since there was no vowel letter whose omission the apostrophe might have denoted.

The Pronoun

PERSONAL AND POSSESSIVE

557. The ME forms of personal pronouns underwent little change in the MnE period.

The tendency to use the pronoun ye in addressing one person arose in Middle English already. In Shakespeare's works both thou and ye are found, with stylistic differentiation between them. Eventually thou completely vanished from ordinary literary language and was only preserved in elevated poetic and religious style, and also among Quakers.

In the 16th century distinction between nominative ye and objective you began to disappear. In works by Roger Ascham (1515— 1568) and by John Lyly (1554 (?—1606) you was found for the nominative, In the 17th century ye finally became archaic.


The Adjective

LOSS OF -E

563. Adjectives dropped in MnE the ending -e, which had signalled the plural and the weak declension in ME. Thus MnE adjectives no longer agree with their substantives in number. This was essential for the syntactic structure of the language (see § 612).

DEGREES OF COMPARISON

Г т

564.tin MEj as we saw in § 364,'Jhere appeared alongside synthetic degrees of comparison, phrases consisting of the words more and most and the adjective. In MnE the two types were differentiated: suffixes of degrees are used for monosyllabic and some dissyllabic adjectives, while thejphrases are limited to the other dissyllabic and to polysyllabic ones.j

Lin the 15th and 16th centuries mutation, which had survived in ME in the comparative and superlative of some adjectives is eliminated. Thus, for example^ the series long, lenger, lengest is replaced by long, longer, longest^

The only remnant of mutation in degrees of comparison is seen in elder, eldest from the adjective old (alongside older and oldest). However, the forms elder and eldest have been specialized in meaning and use to such an extent that their connection with the adjective old may be doubtful.

The few adjectives which had suppletive degrees of comparison (see § 363) have preserved these forms to the present time.

565. In Shakespeare's works we often find phrases of the patterns "more -f comparative in -er", "most -f- superlative in -est", e. g., / am more better than Prospero; the Duke of Milan and his more braver daughter could control thee; a walled town is more worthier than a village; your wisdom should show itself more richer to signify this to the doctor; these kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness harbour more craft and more corrupter ends than twenty silly-looking observants; it hath been the longest night that e'er I watch'd and the most heaviest; in the calmest and most stillest night; the most boldest and best hearts of Rome; this was the most unkindest cut of all; that I love thee best, о most best, believe it; to take the basest and most poorest shape; you his mistress, only for the most worthiest fit; your lordship is the most patient man in loss, the most coldest that ever turned up ace.

Such phrases are an argument against the view that combinations of the types "more-f adjective" and "most + adjective" were analytical degrees of comparison.


that forms in -(s)t can only be used when there is some degree of intimacy between the speaker and the person addressed.

Thus, the category of number in the 2nd person of verbs is on the point of vanishing, but has not vanished completely.

STRONG VERBS

L-570. In formation of strong verb forms an important change also took place in this period.

In OE and ME every strong verb was characterized by four basic forms: (1) infinitive, (2) 1st and 3rd person singular, past indicative, (3) plural past indicative with 2nd person singular and past subjunctive, (4) second participle.

In MnE these four forms were reduced to three: (1) infinitive, (2) past tense, (3) second participle. Development of basic strong verb forms is shown on table (see page 303)Tj

571. In several verbs the past singular form superseded that of
the second participle: class Г — abide, shine, strike, class V — sit,
class VI — wake, stand, class VII — hold.

In the past tense of the verb strike (ME strpk) the long [§:] developed into [u: > u > л] (struck}, in the same way as in the words brother, blood, etc. (§ 527).

572. The ME verb bidden, beden (see § 376) developed in MriE
the forms bid, bade, bidden; the second participle vowel gradually
penetrated into the past tense, which can also be bid. The verb for
bid
has the forms forbid, forbade, forbidden. The verb spit, spat ap
pears to be a mixture of two weak verbs: OE spittan and OE spsetan.

ME sten acquired in MnE the infinitive form slay, influenced by the second participle form slain.

573. The starting point of the whole process appears to have
been class VI and class VII verbs, whose past singular and past
plural vowels had coincided since the oldest times. In these verbs,
when the plural ending was dropped, all difference between numbers
in the past tense disappeared, e. g., shdk, tok, knew, fell.

Their influence was corroborated by that of weak verbs, which had also lost any differentiation between numbers in the past tense.

Whether the past singular or the past plural form took the upper hand would, apparently, depend on the frequency characteristic of each of them. Besides, with class II verbs and class III verbs of the bind type the fact that the second participle had the same vowel as the past plural would probably help the past plural to supersede the past singular.

Verbs in which the past form was superseded by the second participle must have been influenced by those which had the same vowel in the past plural and the second participle. Thus, the type bind,


TENSES AND ASPECT

The Perfect

P*

590. Uhe system of perfect forms, which had arisen in OE and

developed in ME, goes on unfolding in the modern period. In Shake^ speare's text there is a fully developed system of perfect forrnsj' e. g.: if I have too austerely punished you, your compensation makes amends; nay 'twill be this hour ere I have done weeping; ears have not yet drunk a hundred words of that tongue's utterance; ere I could make a prologue to my brains they had begun to play; in my schooldays, when I had lost one shaft, I shot his fellow of the self-same flight the self-same way.

Occasionally we find in Shakespeare perfect forms of intransitive verbs of motion derived by means of the verb be, e. g. the deep of night is crept upon our talk; whither are they vanished'? this gentleman is happily arrived. Eventually such forms came out of use.

Aspect

591. The category of aspect seems to have arisen only in the
MnE period. In OE, as we saw (§ 198), differences in the way an
action proceeds in time were expressed by the prefix ge- in an

1 The verb wend, from which went had been originally derived, survives only in the phrase wend one's way.


unsystematic way, and in any case they did not amount to a gram-ma.tical category of aspect. In ME even this distinction was lost. £Дп MnE a continuous aspect was gradually formed, expressed by a very obvious morphological pattern (be -f- first participle^. Verbal forms lacking this pattern became a system of common aspect. It is hard to state a definite point at which the category of aspect came into being, as the process developed slowly, and even as late as the 19th century it was still possible- to use forms of the common aspect to denote an action unfolding at a definite moment.

592b Continuous forms are found in Shakespeare somewhat more frequently than in Chaucer, but on the whole they are not numerous. The present continuous is used, for example in this sentence in The Merchant of Venice: your mind is tossing on the ocean. Here Sala-rino, trying to explain why his friend Antonio is sad, supposes that Antonio is worried by the fate of his ships, which are on the open seas. The past continuous is used in a sentence in Hamlet: my lord, as I was sewing in my closet, lord Hamlet... he comes before me. A continuous infinitive is found in Much Ado about Nothing: I wonder that you*will still be talking. Beatrice is teasing Benedict: he is always talking, though nobody cares to listen to him. The phrase. "will + infinitive" does not make a future tense, as is clear from

the context.

However, in most cases where an action occurring at a given moment in the present or in the past is meant, the non-continuous form is used. E. g.:

OLIVER: Now, sir, what make you here? ORLANDO: Nothing; I am not taught to make anything. OLIVER: What mar you then, sir?

ORLANDO: Marry, sir, I am helping you to mar that which God made, a poor unworthy brother of yours, with idleness.

In present-day English Oliver's first question would have been: What are you doing herel It is curious that Orlando uses the- present continuous in his second reply.

Use of continuous forms is still rather limited in the 17th and 18th centuries. In a comedy by Congreve we find such examples of the use of continuous as the following:

BLUFFE: This sword, I think, I was telling you of, Mr Sharper, — this sword I'ld maintain to be the best divine, anatomist, lawyer, or casuist in Europe.

Sometimes a continuous form is used with the adverb always to denote a repeated action, with an emotional colouring. BRISK: Careless, this is your trick; you're always spoiling company

by leaving it. CARELESS: And thou art always spoiling company by coming into't.


593. Sometimes the present and the past perfect continuous are
used:

BELLMOUR: How now, George, where hast thou been snarling odious truths, and entertaining company like a physician, with discourse of their diseases and infirmities? What fine lady hast thou been putting out of conceit with herself, and persuading that the face she had been making all the morning was none of her own? for I know thou art as unmannerly and as unwelcome to a woman as a looking-glass after the small-pox.

HEARTWELL: I confess I have not been sneering fulsome lies and nauseous flattery, fawning upon a little tawdry whore that will fawn upon me again, and entertain any puppy that comes, like a tumbler, with the same tricks Over and over.

594. In the 19th century continuous forms are used more widely.
But in the early 19th century they were considered a feature of collo
quial style and were not admitted in to poetry. William Wordsworth
(1770—1850) was the first to use continuous forms in poetry in his
poem Written in March^\802), which contains a concrete descrip
tion, expressed by a series of sentences with a continuous verb form
as predicate.

The cock is crowing, The stream is flowing

The cattle are grazing, Their heads never raising

Small clouds are sailing,

Blue sky prevailing;

The rain is over and gone!

' At the time this use of continuous forms in poetry seemed very bold and almost vulgar. Eventually, however, continuous forms penetrated far deeper into all styles of the language.

595. \ In the 19th century passive continuous forms appear. They express'an action taking place at a given time in the present or past more clearly, distinguishing it from the result of an action".' But the system of passive continuous forms has been limited to the present and the past; neither a future continuous passive nor any perfect continuous passive forms have been developed so far,,""'

Henry Sweet' gives a full system of verb forms, including such forms as he has been being seen and he will have been being seen. He adds the remark: "Some of the longer forms are seldom or never used." From the point of view of modern linguistics this means that

1 Henry Sweet. A New English Grammar, Logical and Historical, vol. I.

10 Б. А, Ильиш ggn


I SYNTAX

Phrases

61li-MnE is characterized by further growth of the pattern "substantive -f- substantive", the first item acting as attribute and indicating some feature of the thing denoted by the second item. Among the first components of such phrases we find substantives of very different meanings, for example, your ryestraw hats, midnight mushrooms, midnight hags.

Alongside of this type the pattern "substantive genitive + substantive" remains in use, and it can be illustrated by such examples from Shakespeare: this man's life, his nurse's tears, the people's mouths, the dead man's knell, the tyrant's head, my country's love (= love for my country)?/



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