Middle English Grammar
Middle English Grammar
The structure of Middle English is radically
different from the structure of Old English.
Old English is a highly inflectional language.
Middle English has very little morphology.
Morphosyntactic changes
1. Simplification of inflection/morphology
2. Emergence of new grammatical devices:
a. analytical verb forms
b. rigid word order
Noun declension
Old English
SG
SG
NOM stan
stan-as
GEN
stan-es stan-a
DAT
stan-e
stan-um
ACC
stan
stan-as
Noun declension
SG
Old English
Middle English
SG
SG
PL
stan
stan-es
NOM stan
stan-as
GEN
stan-es stan-a
stan-es stan-es
DAT
stan-e
stan-um
stan
stan-es
ACC
stan
stan-as
stan
stan-es
Noun declension
South Old English
SG
SG
PL
Middle English
SG
PL
NOM eag-a
eag-an
eye
eye-n
GEN
eag-an
eag-ena
eye-s
eye-n
DAT
eag-an
eag-um
eye
eye-n
ACC
eag-an
eag-an
eye
eye-n
Relics of the -en plural in ME
oxen
children
brethren
Demonstratives
that/the
Masc
Neut
NOM
GEN
DAT
ACC
INST
se
þæs
þæm
þone
þy:
þæt
þæs
þæ:m
þæt
þy:
proximal
distal
SG
this
that
PL
these
those
First and second person pronouns
1. person
SG
Subj ich, I
Obj me
Poss mine, mi
2. person
PL
SG
we
þu, thou
us
þe, thee
ure, our þin(e), i
PL
ye, ye
you, eu,
yur(e),
your
Third person pronouns
Subj
Obj
Poss
3S M
he
him
his
3S F
heo, sche
hire, her
hir(e),
her(e)
3SN
hit, it
(h)it, him
his
3 PL
he,hi,thei
hem,them
here, thair
Verbal inflection in Middle English
Person:
-s (3rd person)
Number
lost
Tense
-ed / Ablaut
Mood
lost
Grammatical innovations
Morphological cases were replaced by new
word order patterns.
Tense and mood affixes were replaced by
new analytical verb forms.
Analytic verb forms
Future
Perfect
Passive
Progressive
Modal verbs
will catch
have caught
is caught
is catching
can / may / must catch
Future
and swiche wolle have the kyngdom of helle,
and not of hevene.
‘and such will have the kingdom of hell, and not
of heaven’
Perfect
(1) Ic hæbbe þo-ne fisc gefange-ne
I have the-ACC fish caught-ACC
‘I have the fish caught’
(=I have the fish in a state of being caught)
Progressive
Participle
(1)
For now is gode Gawayn goande ryght
here. For now is good Gawain going right here.
Gerund
(2)
I am yn beldyng of a pore
hous.
‘I am in (the process of) building a poor house.’
Why did English grammar change so
much?
• The stress pattern
• The contact with Old Norse
• The loss of an English standard