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Infinitive: Though sometimes the traces of these meanings are still visible. In ME the Infinitive lost the Dative Case (the inflected form) and only one form was left. Particle to remained in NE as a formal sign of the infinitive with no meaning of direction or purpose. In OE the Infinitive resembled the Noun and had the category of Case (only two Cases – Nominative (Nom) and Dative (Dat))
Participle 1: The formation of the Participle 1 was as follows. In OE Participle 1 was considered Present Participle, had only the form of the Active Voice, possessed the categories of Number, Gender, Case. It was used predicatively and attributively (agreed with the noun in Number, Gender, Case). In ME it lost its nominal and adjectival features together with the categories of Number, Gender, Case and became unchangeable.
Participle 2: As it has been mentioned in the table above, in OE Participle 2 was formed: 1)in strong verbs – with the help of the suffix –en (+ sometimes root-vowel interchange) + often marked by prefix ζe-. In ME prefix ζe- was weakened to prefix i-/y, 2) in weak verbs – with the help of the suffix -t/-d:. Participle 2, unlike Participle 1, had two meanings of the category of Voice. Thus in OE Participle 2 was considered Past Participle, had the forms of the Active and Passive Voice, possessed the categories of Number, Gender, Case. It was used predicatively and attributively (agreed with the noun in Number, Gender, Case). In ME it lost the category of Voice and the categories of Number, Gender, Case and became unchangeable.
Gerund: The Gerund appeared only in the 12th c. Actually it presented a mixture of the OE Verbal Noun (with suffix -unζ/-inζ) and Participle 1 and its characteristics were: 1) It took direct object (verbal feature); 2) It could be preceded by an article or a possessive pronoun (noun feature).
26. the cause of changes in the morphol-l system in ME &NE
The simplification of the nominal paradigms and the replacement of synthetic means by analytical means of word connection — took place mainly in the Early ME period.
The OE division into classes of weak and strong verbs was completely rearranged and broken. Most verbs have adopted the way of form-building employed by the weak verbs: the dental suffix instead of vowel gradation. The strict classification of the strong verbs with their regular system of form-building degenerated. All these changes led to increased regularity and uniformity and to development of a more consistent and simple system of building and principal forms of the verb. Strong verb: In ME the final syllables of the stems were weakened, in early NE most of them were lost. The OE endings –an, -on, -en were reduced to ME –en. The root-vowels underwent the regular changes of stressed vowels. The most imp. Change in the system of strong verbs was the reduction in the number of stems from 4 to 3.
11. Diphthongs in the history of English
The PG diphthongs — ei ai iu eu au underwent regular independent changes in Early OE; they took place in all phonetic conditions irrespective of environment. The diphthongs with the i-glide were monophthongised into [i] and [a], respectively; the diphthongs in u were reflected as long diphthongs |io:|, leo:l and lea: I
All Engl dipthongs were monophonized from OE to NE. In PG there were no diphthongs. There was just a sequence of two separate vowels. Diphthongs appeared in OE: some (usually long diphthongs) – as a result of merging of two vowels: a + u à ea:, e + u à eo:, (i + u)à (io:) (dialectal variant). Others (usually short diphthongs) – as a result of the influence of the succeeding and preceding consonants (breaking of [æ, e]).
Breaking: Under the influence of succeeding and preceding consonants some Early OE monophthongs developed into diphthongs. If a front vowel stood before a velar consonant there developed a short glide between them, as the organs of speech prepared themselves for the transition from one sound to the other. The glide, together with the original monophthong formed a diphthong. The front vowels [i] and [e] and the newly developed [æ], changed into diphthongs with a back glide when they stood before [h], before long (doubled) [ll] or [l] pJus another consonant, and before [r] plus other consonants, e.g.: OE deorc, NE dark. The change is known as breaking or fructure. Breaking is dated in Early OE, for in OE texts we find the process already completed. Breaking produced a new set of vowels in OE — the short diphthongs [ea] and [eo[ they could enter the system as counterparts of'the long [ea:], [eo: ] which had developed from PG prototypes. OE diphthongs turned into monophthongs in ME.
New diphthongs appeared due to vocalisation of [j], [γ] and [w]. These consonants turned into vowels ([i], [u] and [u] respectively) and became the glides of the new diphthongs.
The diphthong oi was of French origin. Lengthening and diphthongization in NE (17c) due to the vocalization of r.
After short vowels
ME: o+r=o: (NE); ME: a+r=a: (NE); ME: I,e,u+r=e: (NE); ME: shwa+r=shwa (NE). After long vowels: i:+r=aie:; e:+r= ie:; a+r=ee:; o:+r=o:;
The Great Vowel Shirt: Early NE witnessed the greatest event in the history of English vowels — the Great Vowel Shift, — which involved the change of all ME long monophthongs, and probably some of the diphthongs. Great Vowel Shift – the change that happened in the 14th – 16th c. and affected all long monophthongs + diphthong [au]. As a result these vowels were: 1)diphthongized; 2) narrowed (became more closed); 3)both diphthongized and narrowed.
The spelling remained unchanged.
lt should be obvious from the chart and the table that the Great Vowel Shift did not add any new sounds to the vowel system; in fact, every vowel which developed under the Shift can be found in Late ME. And nevertheless the Great Vowel Shift was the most profound and comprehensive change in the history of English vowels: every long vowel, as well as some diphthongs, were "shifted", and the •pronunciation of all the words with these sounds was altered
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