Some grammatical features viewed diachronically

The changes in English grammar may be described as general reduction of inflections. Thus in early Middle English only two methods of indicating the plural remained fairly distinctive the -s or

-es from the strong declension and the -en (as in ox- en) from the weak. In the adjective the reducing of forms had even greater consequences. Partly as а result of the sound-changes, partly through the extensive working of analogy, except for а few archaic forms, the adjective had become an uninflected word by the close of the Middle English period. The decay of inflections which brought about such а simplication of the noun and the adjective made it necessary to depend less upon formal indications of gender, case, and (in adjectives) number, and to rely more upon word order and the use of prepositions to make clear the relation of words in а sentence. Apart from some leveling of inflections and weakening of endings with the general tendency (for example), the -an of the OЕ infinitive became

-en and later -е: OE drifan - МЕ driven - drive), the principal changes in the verb during the Middle English period were serious losses suffered by the strong conjugation. This conjugation, although including some of the most important verbs in the language, was relatively small as compared with the large and steadily growing body of weak verbs. Today more than half of the OE strong verbs have disappeared completely from the standard language. When we subtract the verbs that have been lost completely and the eighty-one that have become weak, there remain just 68 the OE strong verbs in the language today. To this number may be added 13 verbs, which are conjugated in both ways or have kept one strong form. These figures indicate how extensive has been the loss of strong verbs in the language.

One of the consequences of the decay of inflections was the elimination of grammatical gender. With the disappearance of grammatical gender the idea of sexbecame the only factor in determining the gender of English nouns.

It should be pointed out that by making English the language mainly of uneducated people the Norman Conquest made it easier for grammatical changes to go forward unchecked. Beyond this it is not to be considered а factor in them, towards the close of the Middle English period the language had undergone much simplification of its inflections, but its grammar was still English.

English grammar in the 16^th and early 17^th centuries is marked more by the surv1val of certain forms and usages that have since disappeared than by any fundamental developments. The great changes that reduced the inflections of Old English to their modern proportions had already taken place. The only inflections in the noun were those marking the plural and the possessive singular. Since the adjective had already lost all its endings, so that it no loner expressed distinctions of gender, number, and case, the chief interest of this part of speech is the modern period is in the forms of the comparative and superlative degrees. In the 16 th century. these were not always precisely those now in use. For instance, а double comparative or superlative is fairly frequent in the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries: more larger, 'most boldest, or Mark Antony’s. “This was the most unkindest cut of all”. The chief development affecting the adjective in modern times has been the gradual settling down of usage so that monosyllables take -er and -estwhile most adjectives of two and more syllables take 'more and 'most'. The 16^th сentury. saw the establishment of the personal pronoun in the form which it has had. ever since In attaining the result three changes were involved: the disuse of 'thou, thy, thee'; the substitution of 'уоu' for 'уе' as а nominative case; and the introduction of 'its' as the possessive of 'it'. Another noteworthy development of the pronoun in the 16^th c. is the use of 'who' as а relative.

English grammar in the 18^th century. is marked by the development of Continuous Tense Forms. It is а commonplace that English is distinctly more varied and flexible in some of its verbal expressions than other modern languages. Thus where German says "ich singe", English may say ""I sing, I do sing," or "I am singing"„ The do-forms are often called emphatic forms, and this they sometimes are; but their most important uses are in negative and interrogative sentences

(I don’t sing, do you sing?). The forms with 'to be common use is to indicate an action as in progress at the time implied by the auxiliary. The wide extension of the use of continuous forms one of the most important developments of the English verb in the modern period. The chief factor in their growth is the use of the participle as а noun governed by the preposition 'on' (he burst out on laughing) This weakened to 'he burst out а-laughing' and finally to 'he burst out laughing' In the same way 'he was on laughing' became 'he was а-laughing' and 'he was laughing'. Today such forms are freely used in all tenses (is laughing, was laughing, will be laughing, etc.).

The extension of such forms to the passive (the house is being built) was an even later development. It belongs to the very end of the 18^th с. The construction 'the man is on laughing' was capable also of a passive significance under certain circumstances. Thus 'the house is on building' can only suggest that the house is in process of construction This use is found from the 14^th с. on, and its weakened form can be met today' In the last years of the 18^th с. we find the first traces of the modern expression 'the house is being built'. The combination of 'being' with participle II to form а participial phrase had been in use for some time. The history of the new continuous passive shows that its grammar is not fixed, that it will change in the future as it has changed in the past.

The gerund, which came into being in Middle English, developed further in Modern English; it was gradually more and more clearly separated. From the verbal noun in -ing. In Modern English analytical gerund forms appear: the perfect and, the passive gerund.

The mood. System developed in Modern English mainly towards creating more precise means of expressing modal meanings, and, in this connection, towards growth of analytical verb forms, Thus, in the sphere of the subjunctive, use of the pattern 'should/would plus infinitive' gradually grew in main clauses of а conditional sentence.

The category of aspect seems to have arisen only in the Modern English period. In Modern English a continuous aspect was gradually formed, ехрrеssed by a very obvious morphological pattern (be plus participle I). Verbal forms lacking this pattern became а 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 19^th c. it was still possible to use forms of the common aspect to denote an action as in progress at а definite moment.

The system of perfect forms, which had arisen in Old English and developed in Middle English, goes on spreading in the modern period.Thus in Shakespeare’s text there is а fully developed system of perfect forms.The perfect forms of the continuous aspect (has been writing, had been writing, will have bee writing) appeared only after the formation of the continuous aspect.

The number of French words, which was borrowed by English, was great. There is nothing comparable to it in the previous or subsequent history of the language. Two stages can be observed, an earlier and, а later, with the year 1250 as the borderline. The borrowings of the first stage differ from. Those of the second in being much less numerous, being more likely to show peculiarities of Anglo-Norman phonology, and, especially, in the circumstances that brought about their introduction (Roughly 900 in number). The largest single group of words was associated with the church; another single group was associated with а French-speaking society.

(1) The Normans became masters of England, and they remained masters for а sufficiently long time to 1еаvе а deep impress on the language. It is true that they left the old words 'king' and 'queen' intact, but apart from these пеаг1у all words relating to government and. to the highest administration are French: government, govern, administer, crown, state, empire, realm, reign, authority, sovereign, majesty, tyrant; oppress , court, parliament, assembly, treaty, alliance, tax, revenue, tally, exchequer; subject, treason, traitor, rebel, exile, liberty; office, chancellor, treasurer, marshal, governor, councilor, minister, warden, mayor, coroner; noble, nobility, peer, prince, princess, duke, duchess, count, countess, marquis, baron, page, squire, courtier, sir, madam, mistress, vassal, peasant, slave.

(2) as ecclesiastical matters were also chiefly under the control of the upper classes; there are many French words connected with the church, such as religion, service, trinity, savior, virgin, saint, relic, abbey, cloister, friar, clergy, parish, sacrifice, homily, altar, miracle, preach, pray, prayer, sermon, feast; rule, lesson, save, 'blame, order, nature; virtue, vice, duty, grace, charity, cruel, chase, desire, jealousy, pity, mercy, discipline, piety, mystery, immortality, vicar, hermitage; crucifix, image, sanctuary, creator, savior, Ха1th, heresy, temptation, damnation; solemn, devout, preach, chant, confess, adore.

(3) The upper classes, as a matter of course, took into their hands the management of military matters; there is а host of French military terms, many of them of very early introduction. Such are war, peace, battle, arms, armour, mail, lance, dart, cutlass, banner, ensign, assault, siege, defence, ambush, retreat, guard, soldier, officer, sergeant, lieutenant, chieftain (captain' and colonel' аrе later), troops, navy, enemy, company, force, march. Some words which are nowused very extensively outside the military sphere were without any doubt: at first purely military, such as challenge, danger, escape, aid, prison, gallant, etc.

(4) Another natural consequence of the power of the Norman upper classes is that most of the terms pertaining to the law are of French origin, such as justice, just, judge; suit, sue, plaintiffand defendant, plea, plead, summon, cause, assize, session, attorney, fee, accuse, crime, felony, damage, dower, heritage, property, real estate, tenure, penalty, injury, privilege.Some of these are now hardly to be called technicaljuridical words, and there are others which belong still more to the ordinary vocabulary of everyday life, but which were undoubtedly at first introduced by lawyers at the time when procedure was conducted, entirely in French; for instance, case, marry, marriage, prove, fault, heir, male and. female, while 'defend' and 'prison' are common to the juridical and the military worlds. There are many French verbs associated with legal processes: sue, implead, accuse, indict, depose, blame, arrest, seize, pledge, arrant, assail, condemn, convict, award, distrain, imprison, banish, acquit, pardon, the names of many crimes and misdemeanors are French: felony, trespass, arson, fraud, libel, slander perjury, adultery, and many others. Suits involving property brought into use such words as property,estate, tenement, chattels, bounds, tenant, dower,legacy, patrimony, heritage, heir, executor, etc.

(5) The upper classes set the standard in fashion, meals, dress and social life. The words 'fashion' and 'dress' are themselves French, as are apparel, gown, robe, саре, cloak, frock, veil, petticoat, lace, pleat, embroidery, button, kerchief, garter; satin, taffeta, fur, beaver, ermine; jewel, ornament, brooch, ivory, enamel, topaz, garnet, ruby,emerald, sapphire, pearl, diamond, etc. The superiority of the French cuisine can be shown by such words as dinner and supper, feast, repast, mackerel, sole, perch, bream, sturgeon, salmon, sardine, oyster; venison, beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, sausage, etc. One could have pottage, toast, biscuit, cream, sugar, olives, salad, lettuce, and for dessert almonds and manyfruits, including raisin, fig, date, grape, orange, lemon, cherry, peach, or а confection, pastry, tart, jelly. The verbs roast, boil, stew, fry, grate, and mince describe various culinary processes, and goblet, saucer, cruet, plate, platter suggests French refinements in the serving of meals. It was а popular remark by Sir Walter Scott in 'Ivanhoe' that has been often repeated that while the names of several animals in their lifetime are English (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, boar, deer), they appear on the table with French names (beef, veal, mutton, port, bacon, brawn, venison). The use of the French words here is due to the superiority of the French cuisine.

(6) А variety of new words suggests the innovations made by the French in domestic economy and social life. Improvements in domestic arrangements were implied in such words as recreation, jollity, leisure, рlеаsure, dance, revel, lute, music, melody, chess, checkers, conversation, parlor, wardrobe, closet, pantry, scullery; chase, tournament, pavilion, sport, cards, dice, асе, deuce, trey, size, etc.

(7) The French were the teachers of the English in most things relating to art; not only such words as art, beauty, colour, image, design, figure, ornament, to paint, but also the greater number of the more special wordsof technical significance are French: arch, tower, pillar, porch, column, aisle, choir, chapel, cloister, palace, castle, manor, mansion, etc. One cannot fail to be struckwith the difference between the more elementary occupations (such as English baker, miller, smith, weaver, shoemaker, fisherman, shepherd. and others) and the morefashionable ones (French tailor, mason, painter, carpenter, butcher, and joiner).

(8) Literature is represented by the word itself and by poet, rime, prose, romance, lау, story, chronicle, tragedy, соmedy, prologue, preface, title, volume, chapter, paper, pen, parchment; and learning is represented by study, grammar, logic, geometry, compilation, noun, gender, clause, and many more. Among the sciences medicine has brought in the largest number of early French words still in common use, among them being the word medicine itself, ch1rurgy, physician, surgeon, apothecary, malady, pain, ague, palsy, gout, leper, paralytic, plague, pestilence, anatomy, anatomy, remedy, ointment, balm, alkali, poison.

(9) One has only to glance over а misсе11аneous list of words - nouns, adjectives, and verbs - to realize how universal was the French contribution. For instance, nouns which were already in English by 1300: action, adventure, affection, age, air, bucket, bushel, business, calendar, cheer, city, coast, country, courage, coward,cruelty, damage, deceit, debt, envy, error, face,fame, fault, flower, folly, force, grief, glutton, harlot, hour, jest joy, malice, manner, marriage, metal, mischief, mountain, noise, number, ocean, opinion, order, pair, people, реr11, person, рiесе, point, poverty, powder, quality, quart, rage, reason, river, scandal, seal, season, sign, sound, spirit, square, strife, substance, sum, task, tavern, tempest, unity, use, vision, waste. The same universality is shown in the adjectives: able, active, actual, am1sble, amorous, barren, blank, brief, calm, certain, chief, clear, common, contrary, courageous, courteous, соу, cruel, curious, debonair, double, eager, easy, faint, feeble, fierce, final, firm, foreign, frail, frank, gay, gentle, gracious, hardy, hasty, honest, horrible, innocent, jо11у, large, liberal, luxurious, malicious, mean, moist, natural, nice, obedient, original, perfect, pertinent, plain, poor, precious, principal, probable, proper, рurе, quaint, real, rude, safe, savage, scarce, second, secret, simple, single, sober, solid, special, stout, strange, subtle, sudden, sure, tender, treacherous, universal, usual. А list of the verbs borrowed at the same time shows equal diversity. Examples are: advance, advice, aim, allow, approach, arrange, arrive, betray, carry, change, chase, close, commence, complain, conceal, consider, continue, count, cover, cry, deceive, declare, defeat, defer, defy, delay, desire, destroy, embrace, enclose, endure, enjoy, enter, err, excuse, flatter, flourish, force, forge, form, furnish, grant, increase, inform, join, lmgu1sh, marry, mount, move, murmur, muse, nourish, obey, oblige, observe, pass, рау, pinch, please, practice, praise, prefer, proceed, propose, prove, purify, pursue, quash, quit, receive, refuse, rejo1cе, relieve, remember, reply, rob, satisfy, save, serve, spoil, strive, succeeded, suppose, surprise, tempt, trace, travel, tremble, wait, waste, wince, Finally, the influence of French may be seen in numerous phrases and turns of expression, such as to take leave, to draw near, to hold one’s peace, to do justice, on the point of, according to, subject to, at large, in vain, without fail. In these and other phrases, even when the words are English the pattern is French.

The calculations of French words show that the total number of borrowings adopted during the Мiddle English period was slightly over ten thousand, of these about 75 per cent are still in current use.

It must not be thought that the extensive modification of the English language caused by the Norman Conquest had made of it something else than English. It had absorbed several thousand French words as а natural consequence of а situation in which larger numbers of people were for а time bilingual and then gradually turned from the habitual use of French to the habitual use of English. It had lost а great many native words but basic elements of the vocabulary were still English.