Old English Syntax

          

                                    МІНІСТРЕРСТВО ОСВІТИ І НАУКИ

    НАЦІОНАЛЬНИЙ  ТЕХНІЧНИЙ УНІВЕРСИТЕТ УКРАЇНИ

    «КИЇВСЬКИЙ  ПОЛІТЕХНІЧНИЙ ІНСТИТУТ» 

          Факультет лінгвістики

    Кафедра англійської мови 
 
 
 
 
 

    Реферат 

    з курсу «Історія англійської мови»

    на тему

    «Old English Syntax» 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Виконала

ст. гр. ЛА-61, ФЛ

Негода  О.Е. 
 
 

    Київ 2008 

 Table of content 

 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………..3

1. The phrase………………………………………………………………………………………...3

 1.1. Ways of expressing syntactical relations………………………………………………………..4

 1.1.1. Agreement…………………………………………………………………………………….4

 1.1.2. Government…………………………………………………………………………………...4

 1.1.3. Joining………………………………………………………………………………………   4

1.2. Three component phrases……………………………………………………………………….5

 1.2.1. Verb + Substantive Dat. + Substantive (Pronoun) Acc……………………………………….5

 1.2.2. Verb + Preposition + Substantive (Pronoun)………………………………………………    5

  2. The sentence…………………………………………………………………………………5

  2.1. The simple sentence…………………………………………………………………… 5

  2.1.1. Main parts…………………………………………………………………………………5

  2.1.2. Secondary parts………………………………………………………………………… 6

  2.1.3. One member and elliptical sentences………………………………………………… 7

  2.1.4. Sentences introduced by hit and pær…………………………………………………………8

  2.1.5. Uses of infinitive and participle……………………………………………………………   8

  2.1.6.. Infinitive phrases…………………………………………………………………………….8

  2.1.7. Substantive + Participle or Adjective………………………………………………………  9

  2.1.8   Negation…………………………………………………………………………………… 9

  2.2. The composite sentence……………………………………………………………………….9

  2.2.1. The compound sentence……………………………………………………………………9

  2.2.2. The copmlex sentence…………………………………………………………………… 10

  2.2.3. Mixed sentences…………………………………………………………………………   14

  3. Word order…………………………………………………………………………………… 15

  3.1. Subject-Verb………………………………………………………………………………   15

  3.2. Verb – Subject………………………………………………………………………………16

  3.3. Subject…Verb……………………………………………………………………………… 17

  Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………   18

  Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………18 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  

Introduction

Old English was a synthetic language (the lexical and grammatical notions of the word were contained in one unit). It was highly inflected with many various affixes.The principal grammatical means were suffixation, vowel interchange and supplition.Historical syntax has been studied to a much smaller extent than either phonetics, lexicology or morphology. Though the main trends in the development of syntactic structure appear to be clear, many more detailed investigations have yet to be made to complete the picture.

In treating syntax we shall distinguish between two levels – that of phrase and that of the sentence.

1. THE PHRASE

In OE texts we find a variety of word phrases (word groups or patterns). OE noun patterns, adjective patterns and verb patterns had certain specific features which are important to note in view of their later changes.

A noun pattern consisted of a noun as the head word and pronouns, adjectives (including verbal adjectives, or participles), numerals and other nouns as determiners and attributes. Most noun modifiers agreed with the noun in gender, number and case, e.g.:

   On pæm ōprum prim daʒum... 'in those other three days' — Dat. pl. Masc.

   Ohthere sæde his hlāforde, AElfrēde cyniʒne 'Ohthere said to his lord, king Alfred' — the noun in apposition is in the Dat. sg. like the head noun.

Nouns which served as attributes to other nouns usually had the form of  the Gen.  case: 'hwā                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          les b ā n, dēora fell  'whale's bone, deer's fell'. Some 'numerals governed the nouns they modified so that formally the relations were reversed: tamra dēora ... syx hund 'six hundred tame deer'; twyentiʒ scēapa 'twenty sheep' (dēora, scēapa — Gen. pl).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   An adjective pattern could include adverbs, nouns or pronouns in one of the oblique cases with or without prepositions, and infinitives, e. g.:

hiora h ȳ d bi ð swiðe ʒod tō scip-rāpum 'their hide is very good for ship ropes'.

Verb patterns included a great variety of dependant components : nouns and pronouns in oblique

cases with or without prepositions, adverbs, infinitives and participles, e.g.:

bring p ā pinʒ 'bring those things' (Acc.)

Hē ... sealde hit hys māder 'he ... gave it to his mother' (Acc., Dat.)

he ðær b ā d westanwindes 'there he waited for the western wind’ (Gen.)

Isaac cwæð tō his suna 'Isaac said to his son' (preposition plus Dat.);

bi pære ēa siʒlan 'sail past that river' (preposition plus Dat. in an adverbial meaning).

Hu mihtest pu hit swā hrædlice findan?  'how could you find it so lickly'   (adverb)

Infinitives and participles were often used in verb phrases with verbs of incomplete predication (some of these phrases were later transformed into analytical forms): mihtest findan 'might find' in the last example, hē wolde fandian 'he wanted to find out', hie onʒunnon m ā repian 'they began to rage more'.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

1.1. Ways of expressing syntactical relations

These may be classed under three headings: agreement, government, joining.

Agreement

This is mainly used in attributive groups, to denote the syntactical relation between an adjective (or pronoun) and the substantive (its head word). E.g.: micle meras fersce 'large fresh-water lakes', mislicum ond maniʒfealdum bisʒum 'different and manifold occupations' (dative plural), sealtne sæ 'salt sea' (accusative); also between pronoun and substantive: ōðre hwalas 'other whales', ðære bec 'that book' (dative).

Government

This is a type of syntactical connection on phrase level characterized by a substantive or pronoun standing in a certain case (accusative, genitive, or dative) dependent on the head word requiring this particular case. Some verbs require the dependent substantive to be in the accusative case (these are the so-called transitive verbs), as in: leoð wyrcan 'compose songs', andsware onfōn 'receive an answer', ʒesomnian pa men 'assemble the men'.

Other verbs require a dependent substantive to be in the genitive (this is usually the case when the verb denotes an idea of attaining, or reaching, or touching an object), as in: nēosian luses 'approach the house', bidan windes 'wait for the wind', hlyste minra worda 'listen to my words'.

Lastly, a verb may require a substantive to be in the dative, as in: hyre sæde 'said to her'.

Government by adjectives is much more limited in scope. An adjective usually requires a dependent substantive to be in the genitive, as in: morpres scyldiʒ 'guilty of murder'; wrætta full 'full of treasures', syfan elna lanʒ 'seven ells long'.

Only rarely does an adjective require its dependent substantive to be in the dative. This is the case, for example, in the phrase ʒōde hāliʒ 'holy to God'.

  Joining

An adverb referring to a verb or an adjective is connected 
with it without any formal means, by what is usually called joining 
ʒretan frēondlice 'greet in a friendly way', miclelæssa 'much 
smaller'.

1.2. Three-component Phrases

Two-component phrases may be enlarged by addition of a third component. The variety of such patterns is greater than that of elementary two-component phrases. We need not give here a complete list of all possible patterns. We will only cite some of the most widely used ones. Among these are the patterns: "verb + substantive dat. + substantive ace.", and "verb + preposition + substantive".

Verb + Substantive Dat. + Substantive (Pronoun) Acc.

Here we find such phrases as: sealde hit his meder 'gave_it (to) his mother', sinʒ mē hwæthwuʒu 'sing me something', pæm wordum moniʒ word ʒepeodde 'to those words many words added'. 

  Verb + Preposition + Substantive (Pronoun)

Here we find a number of different prepositions involved, e. g. secʒan to him 'say to him', feohtan wip pone here 'fight with the (enemy's) army', cwæp to him 'said to him', secʒan ymb Asia londʒemære 'speak about the land of Asia'.

Of course, still larger (four-component, five-component, etc.) phrases are also used, but we need not go into details about them here.

2. THE SENTENCE

2.1. The Simple Sentence

A sentence, as is well known, is a unit of a different kind from a phrase. It is a unit of communication, that is, it has its own intonation, and is used by speakers or writers to communicate their thoughts. A sentence may consist of one word only, or of a phrase, or of a group of phrases, etc.: it all depends on the thought to be expressed.

In speaking about parts of the sentence, we will use a more or less traditional system in this respect, speaking of two main parts: the subject and the predicate, and several secondary ones: the object, the attribute, the apposition, the adverbial modifier, direct address, and parenthesis.

2.1.1. Main Parts

The Subject

There are various ways of expressing the subject in OE. The most usual of these is naturally a substantive, as in the following sentences: Ohthere sæde  his  hlaforde  'Ohthere said to his lord', se here wæs ham hweorfende 'the army was returning home'.

Often enough, the subject is a pronoun, as in the sentences he pas andsware onfenʒ 'he received this answer'; hu hit ʒewurðan mihte 'how it could happen', ponne todælap hi his feoh 'then they divide his property'.

 The Predicate

The predicate in OE may be either verbal or nominal. Again, the verbal predicate may be either simple or compound.

The simple verbal predicate is one expressed by the form of one verb, either simple, or, in some cases, analytical. As to the latter variety, it should be noted, that we cannot always clearly distinguish between a compound predicate and a simple verbal one, with an analytical verb form. Examples of a simple verbal predicate are of course very numerous, e.g.: pa cwæp he 'then he said', pa Finnas and pa Beormas spræcon neah an ʒepeode 'the Finns and the Berms spoke nearly the same language', he for pider 'he sailed there'. A compound verbal predicate can be seen in the following sentences: Ne con ic noht sinʒan.—Hwæðre pu canst sinʒan.— Hwæt sceat ic sinʒan? (Bede, translated by King Alfred.) "I cannot sing anything. — But thou canst sing. — What shall I sing?'

A nominal predicate seems to be always compound in OE. We can see it, for example, in the following sentences: he wæs swype spediʒ man 'he was a very rich man', eart pu se Beowulf, sepe wip Brecon wunne? 'art thou the Beowulf who competed with Breca?'