Languages of the Asia Pacific EA

K Ohashi
-------------------------------
Disclaimer: Despite its course title, European languages will
be more often cited than Asian languages throughout the
quarter.
Part I: Historical linguistics
(A History of English)

Part II: General linguistics

 Part 1: A History of English
Topics:
0. Introductory An Overview of the History of English

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. OE 　 chapter 　　 1.1 General features of OE
1.2 Inflection
1.3 Tenses
2. ME chapter 2.1 French genitive
2.2 French comparison 　
2.3 From synthetic to analytic
3. EModE chapter 3.1 Use of expletive do
3.2 Loss of thouing
4. ModE 　　　 Prescriptive grammar
 Part 1: A History of English

0. Introductory
An Overview of the History of English
 An overview of the history of English
Present-day English 現代英語 : 1900-2018

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 (Early ModE)

OE 　　 ME 　 　　 EModE 　 ModE 近代英
語

AD4491) 　　 1066 　 1500 1700

Anglo- Norman
Saxon conquest The age of
Invasion prescriptive
Transitional grammar
period 規範文法の時代
過渡期
Viking raids2)
ヴァイキング来襲
(AD787-1016)
1) Bede, Ecclesiastical History of
the English People, AD731

The Venerable Bede gives the year

AD449 for the first landing of the three
Germanic tribes (i.e. Angles, Saxons, and
Jutes).
2) “Such parts of speech [i.e. function words] are not often
transferred from one language to another.” (Baugh and
Cable, A History of the English Language, p. 98)

Loans from Old Norse Borrowed around…

(pronoun) they 1200
(pronoun) their 1200
(pronoun) them 1200
(pronominal use) both 1200
(pronominal use) same 1200
(conjunction) though AD971
(preposition) fro 1200
(preposition) till AD800
(copula) are of unknown date
Content words Function words
(Contentives) (Functors)

Information words Grammatical words

-nouns -articles
-verbs -pronouns
-adjectives -auxiliaries
-(most) adverbs -prepositions
-conjunctions
Ex. Ex.
exist ‘be’: copula (=connector) ‘be’:
‘I think. Therefore, I am.’ She is a vegetarian.
2) One consequence of Vikings’ Raid (AD 787-1016):
“From about the year 1000, Englaland (land of the
Angles) begins to be adopted as a national name.”
-A. C. Baugh and Th. Cable, A History of the English Language, 2002, p. 47

Engla (genitive plural of Engle) + land >

Englaland (=land of the Angles)
haplology: a process of contraction whereby a succession of
two identical syllables (e.g. いい ) are reduced to a single
syllable (e.g. い ) , esp. in speech.

唯一 ゆいいつ ゆいつ
Engla + land > Englaland England
( Q1 ) + land > Q2 Q3
February [fɛbrəwɛri] [fɛbri]
temporary [tɛmpərəri] [tɛmpri]
library [lʌɪbrəri] [lʌɪbri]
probably [prɑbəbli] [prɑbli]
haplology: a process of contraction whereby a single
letter or syllable (e.g. い ) is produced, esp. in speech, instead
of two identical or similar-sounding ones (e.g. いい )

唯一 ゆいいつ ゆいつ
Engla + land > Englaland England
Pole + land > Poleland Poland
February [fɛbrəwɛri] [fɛbri]
temporary [tɛmpərəri] [tɛmpri]
library [lʌɪbrəri] [lʌɪbri]
probably [prɑbəbli] [prɑbli]
☞ ’Preventive’ (since 1626) does not illustrative haplology.
Cf. ’preventative’ (since 1655)
 Part 1: A History of English
Topics:

1. OE 　　　 1.1 General features of OE

1.2 Inflection
1.3 Tenses

2. ME 2.1 French genitive

2.2 French comparison
2.3 From synthetic to analytic
　　
3. EModE3.1 Use of expletive do
3.2 Loss of thouing

4. ModE 　　 Prescriptive grammar

Chapter 1: OE
1.1 General features of OE

“It [Old English] is highly inflected with variable

word order and an exclusively Germanic
vocabulary.”
-Brinton and Arnovick, The English Language: A Linguistic History, 2006, p. 9
“It [Old English] is highly inflected with
variable word order and an exclusively
Germanic vocabulary.”

#1. Highly inflectional (see 1.2)

#2. Less fixed word order
#3. Exclusively Germanic vocabulary
1.2 Inflection
 Longer definition:
The variation in form of a single lexical item as required by its
various grammatical roles. Ex. (a) book – books
 Shorter definition:

Any change in form of a word, esp. at its ending.

Ex. stay-stayed (suffixal inflection)
drive-drove (internal inflection)
 Inflections retained in ModE
(I) work – (s/he) works
Conjugation talk-talked-talked the verb
活用
Inflection

ride-rode-ridden
staying
(a) book - books
曲用
Declension

(my) sister – (my) sister’s any other

word class
I-my-me-mine-myself than the
this – these, that - those verb
屈折

simple-simpler-simplest
(study) hard-harder-hardest
No longer can our English (ModE) be called
an inflectional language par excellence

(OE) full inflection

(ME) leveled inflection

=flattened, eroded

(ModE) lost inflection

 #1. Inflections of the OE demonstrative se :
指示詞

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural

singular singular singular
Nominative se þæt2) ( > that) seo þa
Accusative þone þæt ( > that) þa þa

Genitive þæs þæs þære2) ( > there) þara

Dative1) þæm þæm þære ( > there) þæm

Instrumental þy, þe3) þy, þe3)

1) The reason you did not learn the last
two terms, i.e. dative and accusative, at
high school.
case OE ME-ModE
Nominative 主格 he Nom. he
[subjective]

Genitive 属格 his Gen. his

[possessive]

Dative 与格 him him (IO)

Obj.
[indirect objective]

Accusative 対格 hine him (DO)

[direct objective]
Ethic/al dative 心性与格：
Grammatically superfluous (=unnecessary) indirect object signifying
benefit, advantage, disappointment, grief. Declined in 19th cent.

 The dogge dede me. -G. Chaucer

=The dog died to my grief.
 Knock me at this gate. -W. Shak. 1593
=Knock at this gate for my sake.
 They drank me two bottles. -H. Fielding 1749
=They drank two bottles to my cost (i.e. on my bill ).
 But me no buts. -W. Scott 1816
=Don’t argue with me (or make excuses). つべこべいうな。
 French and German examples
of Ethical dative

Qu’on me l’égorge tout à l’heure. (Molière)

=How I wish someone would butcher me it [=the pig] immediately!

Die Sonne scheint mir ins Gesicht.

=The sun shines me in the face.
(The sun shines on my face to my pleasure.)
 #1. Inflections of the OE demonstrative se :
指示詞

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural

singular singular singular
Nominative se þæt2) ( > that) seo þa
Accusative þone þæt ( > that) þa þa
Genitive þæs þæs þære2) ( > there) þara
Dative1) þæm þæm þære ( > there) þæm
Instrumental þy, þe3) þy, þe3)
2) that, there : Can be likened to brothers
given birth to by the same mother (se)

 Now you understand the following equations:

therefore = for that
thereupon = on that
thereby = by that
thereafter = after that
thereabout(s) = about that
 By extension, Wherefore (=Why) art
herein = in this thou Romeo?
hereby = by this
hereafter = after this
wherefore interrogative adv. = for what
whereby relative adv. = by ( ? )
2) that, there : Can be metaphorized as brothers
given birth to by the same mother (se)

 Now you can accept the following equations:

therefore = for that
thereupon = on that
thereby = by that
thereafter = after that
thereabout(s) = about that
 By extension, Wherefore (=Why) art
herein = in this thou Romeo?
hereby = by this
hereafter = after this
wherefore interrogative adv. = for what
whereby relative adv. = by ( which )
 3) In OE, the interrogative pronouns, the demonstrative,
and adjectives had the instrumental case. Lost in late OE.

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural

singular singular singular
Nominative se ( > def. article the) þæt2) ( > that) seo þa

Accusative þone þæt ( > that) þa þa

Genitive þæs þæs þære2)( > there) þara

Dative1) þæm þæm þære ( > there) þæm

Instrumental þy, þe3) þy, þe3)

[‘by means of….’]
The ModE adverbial the :
Developed from the OE instrumental case form þe (=the)

THE as ModE adverb:

-The sooner, the better.
By this [much] sooner, by this [much] better.

-Some wines are the better for being

exposed to air.
by (=to) that degree better

-nonetheless, nevertheless, all the same

Start of a digressive topic

Names of letters
Quiz. Tell the letter names.

LETTER NAME
1. ə ( ) yogh [jóuk]
2. æ ( ) eng [έŋ]
3. ŋ ( ) thorn
4. þ ( ) theta [Ɵí:tə]
5. Ɵ ( ) schwa
6. ð ( ) ash
7. ʒ ( ) eth, edh [έð]
[Ɵ, ð ]: represented by þ = ð = th
(since 11th c.)

Ans. names nicknames

1. ə ( schwa ) (inverted e)
2. æ ( ash )
3. ŋ ( eng )
4. þ ( thorn )
5. Ɵ ( theta )
6. ð ( eth ) (crossed d)
7. ʒ ( yogh )
End of a digressive topic

Names of letters
#2. OE Noun inflections:
4 (out of the total 6) classes are tabled
1.1 ‘HUND’ 1.2 ‘DEOR’ 3 ‘OXA’ 4 ‘FOOT’
(hound) (deer) (ox) (foot)
Singular
Nom. hund deor oxa foot
Acc. hund deor oxan foot
Gen. hundes1) deores1) oxan footes
Dat. hunde deore oxan feet
Plural
Nom./Acc. hundas2) deor3) oxan4) feet5)
Gen. hunda deora oxena foota
Dat. hundum deorum oxum footum
1) Class 1 (=1.1 + 1.2) accounted for
more than half of the OE nouns

Class 1 was so predominant that its

genitive singular –es ending was in time
to be extended to practically all nouns.

OE ME ModE
-es > -es > -’s
Ex.
hundes dogges Gulliver’s Travels
The Poets’ Corner
 2) The s-plural
Subclass 1.1 (‘HUND’) was so predominant that …

Its nominative-accusative –as plural ending was in

time to be extended to practically all nouns.
OE ME and after
-as -(e)s
Today -(e)s is the only productive plural suffix.
Ex. zombi(e) (since 1819) – zombis/zombies
kodak (since 1895) – kodaks (since 1898)
Xerox (since 1952) – Xeroxes
Cf. a pronoun
”I want youse two back here soon.”
(dialectal, esp. Irish and Scottish English -OED)
#2. OE Noun inflections:
4 (out of the total 6) classes are tabled
1.1 ‘HUND’ 1.2 ‘DEOR’ 3 ‘OXA’ 4 ‘FOOT’
(hound) (deer) (ox) (foot)
Singular
Nom. hund deor oxa foot
Acc. hund deor oxan foot
Gen. hundes1) deores1) oxan footes
Dat. hunde deore oxan feet
Plural
Nom./Acc. hundas2) deor3) oxan4) feet5)
Gen. hunda deora oxena foota
Dat. hundum deorum oxum footum
3) The endingless/uninflected plural

OE Survivals in ModE
(a, two) deor neuter (a, two) deer
(a, two) sceap n. (a, two) sheep
(a, two) swin n. (a, two) swine
(a, two) niht feminine fortnight
sennight
Q1. What does fortnight (chiefly Brit.)
mean?

Q2. How to read sennight ?

Q3. What does sennight (archaic) mean?
A1. fortnight ( < fourteen + night): 14 days

A2. sennight [sέnàit] ( < seven + night)

A3. 7 days
 =unspoiled

The two good old traditions remain intáct

in fortnight and sennight

#1. Night ( < niht) as endingless plural.

*fortnights (even today)☟
#2. The Old Germanic custom of using
night as a unit in reckoning days.
Cf. Ger., Weihnachten [vájnaxtən] (Lit., ‘Holy night’):
Christmas Day =Dec. 25 (whole 24 hours)
-----------------------------------
☞The asterisk (*) prefixed to a linguistic form indicates ‘unattested,’ ‘non-
existent’ or ‘impossible.’
#2. OE Noun inflections:
4 (out of the total 6) classes are tabled
1.1 ‘HUND’ 1.2 ‘DEOR’ 3 ‘OXA’ 4 ‘FOOT’
(hound) (deer) (ox) (foot)
Singular
Nom. hund deor oxa foot
Acc. hund deor oxan foot
Gen. hundes1) deores1) oxan footes
Dat. hunde deore oxan feet
Plural
Nom./Acc. hundas2) deor3) oxan4) feet5)
Gen. hunda deora oxena foota
Dat. hundum deorum oxum footum
4) The n-plural:
(oxen : the only pure survival in ModE)

This ending (-n) was the second most

widely distributed within OE nouns.
(See next slide for more OE examples)
 The n-plural thrived in OE
singular n-plural
tongue tonguen ( > tongues)
eye eyen ( > eyes )
(Q1) fon (>? )
shoe shoen ( > shoes )
(Q2) kine (>? )
house housen ( > houses )
knee kneen ( > knees )
tree treen ( > trees )
oat oaten ( > oats )
 The n-plural prospered in OE
singular n-plural
tongue tonguen ( > tongues)
eye eyen ( > eyes )
(foe) fon ( > foes )
shoe shoen ( > shoes )
(cow) kine ( > cows )
house housen ( > houses )
knee kneen ( > knees )
tree treen ( > trees )
oat oaten ( > oats )
 Strictly speaking, children and brethren should
be excluded from the range of the n-plural

children, brethren (‘comrades’): double plurals

(sg.) (pl.)
ċild – childre >childer + -n >children
こ　　　　こ＋ども　　 こども ＋ たち　　こどもたち

Childermas: Holy Innocents’ Day (Dec. 28)

For metathesis, see next slide.

 metathesis 音位転換 :
transposition of two sounds
Classic examples Modern examples (Source: Gelderen 2014)

originally currently originally currently

thridda third [spəgɛti] [pəsgɛti] (spaghetti)

hros horse [prɪsajs] [pərsajs] (precise)

wæps wasp [prɪskrɪpʃən] [pərskrɪpʃən] (prescription)

acs/ax☞ ask [ɛkspərti:z] [ɛksprəti:z] (expertise)

あらたし あたらしい [rɛləvənt] [rɛvələnt] (relevant)

あきばはら あきはばら ☞aks : still heard in PDE

5) The mutation plural
1.1 ‘HUND’ 1.2 ‘DEOR’ 3 ‘OXA’ 4 ‘FOOT’
(hound) (deer) (ox) (foot)
Singular
Nom. hund deor oxa foot
Acc. hund deor oxan foot
Gen. hundes1) deores1) oxan footes
Dat. hunde deore oxan feet
Plural
Nom./Acc. hundas2) deor3) oxan4) feet5)
Gen. hunda deora oxena foota
Dat. hundum deorum oxum footum
 　 The mutation plural:
変母音複数
Jacob Grimm called ‘mutation’ Umlaut

 mutation (or Umlaut): Singular Mutation plural s-plural

vowel change (OE) (OE) (in and after
ME)
e.g.
(foot >) feet, teeth, booc beec (1. ? )
geese, men, women, mice, gaat geet (2. ? )
lice, geet, beec, hend,
frind, breec, etc. hand hend [Northern] hands

The highlighted are still friand frind [Southern] (3. ? )

in use today. brooc breec breeches
 i-sound: suffixed to the singular forms
of Class 4 of OE nouns to pluralize them

OE ME
mann > mann-i > menn-i > menn > men
sg. 1st pl. 2nd pl. 3rd pl. 4th pl.
(mutation)
 　 The mutation plural:
Jacob Grimm called ‘mutation’ Umlaut
 mutation (or Umlaut): Singular Mutation plural s-plural
vowel change (OE) (OE) (in and after
e.g. ME)

(foot >) feet, teeth, booc beec ( books )

geese, men, women, mice, gaat geet ( goats )
lice, geet, beec, hend,
frind, breec, etc. hand hend [Northern] hands

The highlighted are still friand frind [Southern] ( friends )

in use today.
brooc breec breeches
 Q1

a mouse two mice

a mouse two ( )
 Both mice and mouses are usable
[-siz] [-ziz]

 “In the computing sense, the ordinary mice is more common than
mouses.” (NOAD)
 “Pl. mice. In sense 4 (i.e. computing), also mouses.” (Shorter OED)
 A1

a mouse two mice

a mouse two (mice/mouses)

 Q2
a mickey mouse: a notoriously easy course

(Sg.) Professor Bean’s course is a mickey mouse.

ﾋﾞｰﾝ教授の科目なんてチョロイもんさ。

(Pl.) Professor Bean’s courses are mickey ( ).

Source: A. M. S. McMahon: Understanding Language Change , 1999

 A2
a mickey mouse: a notoriously easy course

(Sg.) Professor Bean’s course is a mickey mouse.

ﾋﾞｰﾝ教授の科目なんてチョロイもんさ。

(Pl.) Professor Bean’s courses are mickey (mouses).

Source: A. M. S. McMahon: Understanding Language Change , 1999

To conclude 1.2 (Inflection), …

#1. s-plural (Predominant in OE. Mainstreamed in and after ME )

2. Uninflected plural (deer, sheep, swine)

3. n-plural (The second most widely distributed in OE. oxen)
4. mutation plural (feet, teeth, mice lice, geese, men, women)
The influence of Norman French (NF)
In Norman French, -s was the plural-sign in all nouns. The
prevalence which this suffix (i.e. -s) has attained in English
has been conjectured to be in part due to the influence of
Norman French. (modified from William Whitney, 1884)
ノルマン・フレンチ語ではあらゆる名詞の複数が -s で表示された。 -s 語尾が
英語でも普及をみせたのは、ひとつにはノルマン・フレンチ語の影響によるも
のとみられる。
 Pluralization of French nouns
Modern French plurals:
(as eye words, singular and plural forms are distinguishable)
(as ear words, they are indistinguishable)
Ex.
sg. pl.
homme - hommes (men)
fille - filles (daughters)
école - écoles (schools)
hôtel - hôtels (hotels)
bateau - bateaux (ships) ☞Only if the singular form ends in –eau, -eu, -au , –al.
Conjugation
(as the 2nd part of 1.2: Inflection)

Weak and Strong Conjugations

 Weak and Strong Conjugations
弱変化活用と強変化活用

 Strong (or Vocalic 母音の )  Weak (or Consonantal 子音

conjugation2) : の ) conjugation2) :

母音交替 gradation (or Jacob

Grimm ‘Ablaut’)1)
Ex.
Ex. walk-walked-walked /t/
drive-drove-driven stay-stayed-stayed /d/
ride-rode-ridden end-ended-ended /ɪd/
sing-sang-sung
☞ (/ɪ/: shorter than /i/)
 1) semivowel
Umlaut: the process in which [i] or [j] changes the preceding vowel
Ablaut: the systematic alteration (hence ‘gradation’) of a vowel

mutation/Umlaut 変母音 gradation/Ablaut 母音交替

 For pluralization:  For strong conjugation 1):
tooth + [i] >teeth drive – drove – driven
foot + [i] >feet
ride – rode -ridden
 For creating transitives:
sing - sang – sung
sæt (past) + [j] >set swim – swam - swum
dranc (past) + [j] >drench
fall + [j] >fell
food + [j] >feed “That wo
odcutter
felled fi
doom + [j] >deem =cut dow
ve trees
.”
n
full + [j] >fill
 2) Principal parts 屈折主要形 :
The string of forms of a verb required to determine which conjugation (i.e.
strong or weak) it belongs to. The principal parts of a ModE verb are the
infinitive, the past tense and the past participle.

 Strong conjugation  Weak conjugation

Quadripartite in OE, yet
Tripartite all through the
Tripartite in ModE
history of English
Inf. Past sg. Past pl. Pa pple
Inf. Past Pa pple
OE writan (I, s/he, it) (we, you, they) ġewriten
wrat writon OE endian endode ġeendod
ModE write wrote written ModE end ended ended

Q. ModE retains one irregular (=neither weak

nor strong) verb that still conjugates in a
quadripartite way. What is this verb?
 2) Principal parts 屈折主要形 :
The string of forms of a verb required to determine which conjugation (i.e.
strong or weak) it belongs to. The principal parts of a ModE verb are the
infinitive, the past tense and the past participle.

 Strong conjugation  Weak conjugation

Quadripartite in OE, yet
Tripartite all through the
Tripartite in ModE
history of English
Inf. Past sg. Past pl. Pa pple
Inf. Past Pa pple
OE writan (I, s/he, it) (we, you, they) ġewriten
wrat writon OE endian endode ġeendod
ModE write wrote written ModE end ended ended

Q. ModE retains one irregular (=neither weak nor strong) verb that
still conjugates in a quadripartite way. What is this verb?
A. BE. (be–was-were –been).
Question

Why are they called ‘weak’ and ‘strong’?

Answer.
strong weak

=standing alone, =reliant on an

self-sufficient external element
(-ed)

Ques. Where does –ed come

from? (See next slide.)
Ans.: Whitney (1867), Lehmann (1987), Lass (1997), etc.
maintain…

“In the primitive Germanic dialects the preterites (i.e. past

tense verbs) are made by appending to the root of the verb
the past tense of do. I loved is, then, originally I love did.”
(William Whitney, 1867)

c1700
① 　　　 ②　　　　 ③　　　 ④
learn + DID > learnDID > learnED learned
/ɪd/ /d/
 (Pre-English: Angles, Saxons and Jutes live on the Continent )
❶I learn did ❷I learndid ❸I learned
/dɪd/ /-dɪd/ /-ɪd/

(OE) (ME) (EModE) (ModE)

16th-17th cent. 18th cent. to date

❸ I learned ・・・・・ I learned ❹ I learned

/-ɪd/ /-ɪd/ /-d/

(c1700)
 Jonathan Swift (1712) wrote:
“By leaving out a Vowel to save a Syllable, we form
so jarring a Sound, and so difficult to utter, that
I have often wondered how it could ever obtain.”
母音一つを省いて音節を一つ節約することによりわれわれは非常に耳ざわりで、発し
づらい音を作っているのであり、どうしてそのような発音が行われるのか理解に苦し
む。
EModE (c1700) ModE
lovèd lov’d
[lʌvɪd] [lʌvd]

“Jarring (=unpleasant) and

difficult!”
 Joseph Addison (1711)

“Abbreviation in such Words as drown’d,

walk’d, arriv’d for drowned, walked,
arrived has disfigured the Tongue.”
　 (c1700)
drownèd drown’d
walkèd walk’d
arrivèd arriv’d
Fossilization of the pre-ModE pronunciation (/ɪd/ )
化石化

[ɪd] adjectives : a learned society

naked truth (‘nake,’ archaic 古風な verb)
a crooked cop
wretched conditions
[ɪd] is still heard:
an aged man
the Blessed Virgin wicked [wíkɪd] (as in
a cursed place a wicked stepmother):
one’s beloved wife analogical creation1)
 1) Analogical 類推による creation:
a creation made on the model of the pre-existing wretched

 The verb ‘learn’ existed  The verb ‘wick’ never existed

pa pple 　 pa pple
learn – learned – learned *wick – *wicked – *wicked
[ɪd] [ɪd]
The asterisks (*) indicate
Adjectivalization of the above non-existent forms
pa pple :
a learned society
a learned man
[ɪd]
wicked (OE, wicca ‘sorcerer’ + -ed):
created in the 13th century (ME)

on the analogy of wretched (adj.)

=under the influence of...
Ancestry of strong (or old) and weak (or new) conjugations
強変化・弱変化活用の系譜

Proto-Indo-European ｲﾝﾄﾞ･ﾖｰﾛｯﾊﾟ祖語 4000BC

(Strong Conjugation: inheritance
common to members of the Indo-
European family)

Proto-Germanic ｹﾞﾙﾏﾝ祖語 500BC-AD200

(Weak Conjugation: possessed
by the Germanic branch only)

English
OE ME EModE ModE [ PDE (Present-day English)]

AD449 1066 1500 1700 [1900-2017]

Q: Does PDE have more strong verbs or

more weak verbs?
A. Weak verbs

As early as OE days, ¾ of verbs were

weak verbs.
(Based on T. Nakao, 1985, p. 137)
 Statistics on PDE strong verbs

Toshio Nakao (1985, p. 135) – 66 strong verbs

Elly van Gelderen (2014, p. 130) – 68 strong verbs

 Approximately 75% of OE verbs
were weak verbs

[OE] [PDE]
loss
Strong verbs 66-68 strong verbs
(25% of OE verbs) shift
 Shift of strong verbs to weak verbs
強変化動詞弱変化動詞

STRONG > WEAK

ME shape-shope-shapen shape-shaped-shaped
bake-boke-baken baked-baked-baked
fare-fore-faren fare-fared-fared
EModE help-halp-holpen help-helped-helped
strive-strove-striven strived-strived-strived
weave-wove-woven weave-weaved-weaved
strong verbs > weak verbs

There are many examples of the above shift.

 Counterexamples?
(weak > strong)

Q.
How do PDE speakers conjugate dive?
A: In PDE,
dive-dived-dived > dive-dove-dived
(weak conj.) (strong conj.)

“The verb dive started with a weak past

tense dived, which is nowadays turning
into a strong dove.” (Guy Deutscher, 2005)
 “In American English, dove is sometimes used as the past
tense of dive.” (COBUILD)
 The OED says “on the analogy of drive-drove.”
“Sometimes, weak paradigms (=patterns) become strong:
sneak, sneaked, sneaked becomes sneak, snuck, snuck, with
the pattern of a strong verb.” -Elly van Gelderen, 2014, p.
216

“The form snuck is also used in American English for the past tense
and past participle.” -COBUILD

Weak (Consonantal) Strong (Vocalic)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sneak-sneaked-sneaked > sneak-snuck-snuck
Start of an insight
 “There is frequent conflation of the past tense and past
participle forms of verbs in Present-day English.”
(Brinton and Arnovick, 2006, p. 439)

 “Usually the past tense form is  “Sometimes the pa pple is used in

extended to the pa pple.” place of the past tense form.”

 give –gave -gave  see –seen -seen

(e.g. He should have gave us.)
(e.g. I seen him this morning.)
 eat –ate -ate  come –come -come
(e.g. I’d have ate it.)
(e.g. I come to see you yesterday.)
 ring –rang -rang  do –done –done
(e.g. I should have rang.)
(e.g. I done a lot of rodeoin’.)
 dive –dove -dove
whodun(n)it: informal. noun

Q1. What is this?

Q2. Where does it come from?
whodunit (Brit. whodunnit)

A1. An informal word for ‘a mystery, a

detective story’
A2. ORIGIN 1930s; from who done it?,
nonstandard form of who did it?
-NOAD, s. v. ‘whodunit’
End of an insight
 A newly created PDE verb conjugates
weakly
新しくつくり出された動詞は弱変化

e.g.
I googled for a cheap hotel.
I just Facebooked the link to this video.
One of them was cc’d to his boss.
　 They speedily faxed me the new page layout.
These systems have come to be known as formatted file systems.
input-input-input (OK) /input-inputted-inputted (OK)
1.3 Tenses 時制

1. OE as a two-tense language
1.1 Non-technical approach to OE tense system 非専門的
1.2 Technical approach to OE tense system 専門的
2. Adverbial tense
3. Preterite-presents 過去現在詞
1. OE as a two-tense language
1.1 Non-technical approach to OE tense system

Old Germanic languages including OE had

two verbal-tense forms only:
X future tense forms
✓present tense forms
✓past tense forms
 OE had present and past tense
verb forms only

Q. How did OE speakers describe future events

and situations?
HINT. (There are two ways to answer this question.)
 OE had present and past tense
verb forms only

Q. How did OE speakers describe future events

and situations?
A1. They used present tense verb forms.
 Present-day English
(1900-2017)
現代英語

Sometimes, PDE speakers are like OE speakers

-The next train leaves at 11:00 P.M.

- I hope you will get well soon. (=I hope you get well soon.)
- If you come with me, I will1) (=main verb in OE) show you something.
-As soon as I arrive home, I will tell you more.
-When I come home I shall tell you my news. (R. Quirk and C. L.
Wrenn, An Old English Grammar, 1994, p. 3)
1) In OE, will is a main verb (present tense)
 OE (main verbs 本動詞 )
-will (wish, intend)
-shall (owe)
-may (be able to)
-must (be able to)
-ought (owe)
-can (know)
e.g.
I can a noble tale. (=know)
He could the Bible. (=knew)
We will it. (=wish)
 ME (auxiliary verbs 助動詞 )
-will (futurity)
-shall (futurity)
-may (permission)
-must (obligation)
-ought (obligation)
-can (ability, possibility)
Cf. cunning (=shrewd), uncouth (=rude)2)
Cf. (ModE) ‘unwilling,’ ‘as you will’
　　　　　　 　　同族語
2) can, cunning, and uncouth: cognates (i.e. etymological brothers)
　　 know knowing unknown 　　　　　 語源的

More examples
deer (Eng) [means ‘animal’ in OE] Tier3) (Ger) [means ‘animal’]
Q1 (Eng) Wagen3) (Ger)
Q2 (Eng) Laut3) (Ger) [in Umlaut, Ablaut]
knife (Eng) canif (Fr)
hot (Eng) caldo (It) [means ‘hot’! ]
　　　　　　 　　同族語
2) can, cunning, and uncouth: cognates (i.e. etymological brothers)
　　 know knowing unknown 　　　　　 語源的

More examples
deer (Eng) [means ‘beast’ in OE] Tier3) (Ger) [means ‘animal’]
wag(g)on (Eng) Wagen3) (Ger)
loud (Eng) Laut3) (Ger) [in Umlaut, Ablaut]
knife (Eng) canif (Fr)
hot (Eng) caldo (It) [means ‘hot’! ]
 Cognate objects
同族目的語

He died a heroic death.

I dreamed a dreadful dream last night.

She lived a secluded life in a nunnery.

They ran a 200-meter race.

She sang a beautiful love song.

He thought great ( Q ).
 Cognate objects
同族目的語

He died a heroic death.

I dreamed a dreadful dream last night.

She lived a secluded life in a nunnery.

They ran a 200-meter race.

She sang a beautiful love song.

He thought great ( thoughts ).

3) German is the sole European language where
the noun is always spelled with an initial capital.
(e.g. Kind ‘child,’ Tag ‘day,’ Wagen ‘automobile’)
/t/ /k/ /v/

Till 1948, Danish nouns were spelled in

the same way.
In the history of English, 1650-1750
is the period of capitalization.
(See below for example.)

“This Letter is in every Point an admirable Pattern of the

present polite Way of Writing; nor is it of less Authority
for being an Epistle. The first Thing that strikes your Eye
is the Breaks at the End of almost every Sentence; of
which I know not the Use, only that it is a Refinement, and
very frequently practised.”
(The Tatler, 26 September 1710)
 Joseph Addison (1711)

“Abbreviation in such Words as drown’d,

walk’d, arriv’d for drowned, walked,
arrived has disfigured the Tongue.”
Jonathan Swift (1712) wrote:

“By leaving out a Vowel to save a Syllable, we

form so jarring a Sound, and so difficult to
utter, that I4) have often wondered how it could
ever obtain.”
 4) A unique orthographic feature of English:
“English is the only language in which the pronoun of the
first person singular (=I) is written with a capital letter.”
- O. Jespersen, 1905

Capitalization of ‘I’: since c1400

The
1250 “A hwat schal i nu don?” reason?
------------------------[since c1400]--------------------------
1393 Gower. “Thei seie alle trewely, And swere, that it am
noght I.”
1405 Chaucer. “So hadde I spoken with hem euerichoon
That I was of hir felaweshipe anon.”
-Quoted from the OED
The reason:
“I came to be capitalized, not through egotism☟,
but only because lower-case i standing alone was
likely to be overlooked.”
–Thomas Pyles and John Algeo, The Origins and Development of
the English Language, 1982, p. 189
☞egotism: an excessive sense of self-importance; the habit of
talking too much about oneself
 future
non-past
present

1.2 Technical approach to OE tense system

1.1 Non-technical approach 1.2 Technical approach

専門的アプローチ
Present Non-past
(designed for both future and present)
非過去
Past Past
過去
 I go to York
tomorrow.
No wonder…
OE speakers used, for instance, “go”
(=non-past) to describe a future situation
without feeling any compunction.
=without feeling guilty
 2. Adverbial tense
　副詞 ( 句 , 節 ) による時制
OE tense system is a mix of both tenses

Verbal tense
動詞による時制

(ME, EModE and ModE are verbal-tense languages.)

(Q. How did OE speakers describe future events and situations?)
A2. By means of adverbials

-The next train leaves at 11:00 P.M.

- I hope you get well soon.
- If you come with me, I will show you something.
-As soon as I arrive home, I will tell you more.
-When I come home I shall tell you my news.
 Q. The English word verb has
two senses. What are they?
Historically 1st: ?
(Ex. verbal communication, verbatim /vərbéitəm/, verbalization)

Historically 2nd: ??
(Ex. come, eat, sing, know, belong, resemble)
actional verbs stative verbs
A. Verb (< Latin, ‘verbum’) has two senses
　　　　　　　　　　　　ご

#1. word 語 (Ex. verbalization, verbal communication,

verbatim [=word for word].)

　　　 Verb form: verbalize [=describe by words]

#2. a word class that describes an action,
state, experience どうし (Ex. eat, see, know)
　　　 Verb form: verbify [use a noun, adjective, etc. as a verb]
 Verb #2 どうし (e.g. eat, see, know) is expressed as
‘time-word’ in the following languages
Literally 直訳
Latin verbum temporale ‘time-word’
ｳｪﾙﾌﾞﾑ･ﾃﾝﾎﾟﾗｰﾚ
German Zeitword ‘time-word’
ﾂｧｲﾄｳﾞｫｱﾄ
tijd-woord ‘time-word’
Dutch
ﾃｲﾄｳｫｰｱﾄ
English verb #2 ( < verbum temporale) ‘time-word’
Q: Why is verb #2 どうし (e.g. see, eat, die, live)
expressed as ‘time-word’?
A: It is because in the mind of those Europeans,
verb and time (i.e. tense ) are inseparably linked.

Latin
German verbal-tense
Dutch languages
English
 ME, EModE and ModE are
verbal-tense languages

Old English tense system:

verbal tense and adverbial tense exquisitely
rolled into one
 Hē āer cōm. [=He before came.] vs. He had come.
(adverbial tense) (verbal tense)

 In OE
The verbal-tense system was
underdeveloped.
 The adverbial tense made up
for the underdevelopment of
the verbal tense.
He repeated what he said before. = He repeated what he had said.
 In and after ME
I will teach you English.
(Future)
I read the newspaper.
(Present/Non-past)
She went home alone.
(Past)
I have walked a long distance.
(Perfect)
(Pluperfect)
 3. Preterite-presents 過去現在詞
(Sounds like a contradiction in terms 言辞矛盾 ?)

preterite ≒ past tense

 preterite-present

(historically) past - (currently) present

=diachronically =synchronically
Preterit(e)-presents

Alternatively called modals or modal

auxiliaries:
Ex. can/could, may/might, shall/should,
will/would, must, ought, dare/dared
preterite-presents (=highlights):
Historically past-tense forms; later reinterpreted as present-tense forms
STAGE 1: STAGE 2: STAGE 3:
(Created by earlier (Reinterpreted by later (Creation of) new
generations of pre-English generations of pre-English
INFINITIVE past form
speakers as) past form speakers as) present form
cunnan cann can could
mōtan mōste (=must) must x
āgan (=owe) āhte (=ought) ought x
durran durst/dare dare dared
shall should
SHALL, WILL and MAY
have a similar history will would
may might
 Now we know why preterite-presents…
 Have endingless 3rd-  Lack ‘present participle’ and
person singular present ‘to-infinitive’ forms.
forms:

*He cans. (He can.) *I am musting go. (I must go.)

*She mays. (She may.)
Cf.
He eats. /*He ates.
*You have to can speak English.
(You must be able to speak English.)
Cf.
I am speaking. /*I am spoking.
You have to go. /*You have to went.

The asterisk (*) indicates a non-existing sentence.

People have completely forgotten this
history of can, may, must and other
modals.

But their language still remembers.

 Why reinterpreted?
Q: Are the underlined present tense forms or
past tense forms?:
-Could you do me a favor?
-Might I ask a question? PDE
-I would like to learn Sanskrit.
1st ans. Contextualized, they are present tense forms.
2nd ans. Decontexualized, they are past tense forms.
(Cf. Present tense forms = can, may, will)

PDE speakers often interpret could,

might, would, etc. used as polite
expressions as present tense forms.
(See next slide.)

This is the reason for pre-English

speakers’ reinterpretation.
“Modals should, might and could, as used in the main clauses of
complex sentences (e.g. ‘If you’re not careful, you could get into
even worse trouble.’) or simple sentences (e.g. ‘Might I ask a
question?’) are losing their past-tense quality and are getting re-
interpreted as present-tense forms in PDE.” –T. Nakao, 1985

“The roles of may and might have tended to overlap so that

the latter is no longer the past form of the former. This may
be part of a general loss of tense distinction among the
modal auxiliaries (=may/might, can/could, will/would, shall/should ) .”

　 -N. F. Blake, A History of the English Language,

1996
 Andersen’s model
(Henning Andersen 1973)

“We acquire grammars slightly different

from those of our parents.”
 Who(m) did you dine with?
1950-2000 2000-2017
(Your parents acquired (You acquired
Whom did you dine with? ) Who did you dine with? )

This way, language

develops in a
staircase manner!
 Might I ask a question?
1950-2000 2000-2017
(Your parents (You interpret
interpret this might as a
this might as a present-tense
past-tense form) form)
Modals (=may/might, can/could, will/would,
shall/should , etc.)

 Formerly:  Currently:
Markers of tense- Markers of differing
distinction degrees of politeness. (Both
are present-tense forms.)

may might may might

can could can could
will would will would
shall should shall should

(present tense) (past tense) (less polite) (more polite)