Possible Solutions for Long-Standing Problems Involving Old English Verbs

• Authors: White David L.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Solutions based on “equivalence interference” are proposed for various problems involving OE verbs. WG verbs with 1SG /-ͻͻmi/ were modeled on Celtic verbs with /-aami/. Pre-OE eode is from /eiͻͻde/, analogical to 1SG /eiͻͻmi/ from /eimi/. OE dyd- is from reinterpretation of peasant /dïd-/, from low-stressed /ded-/ used as a non-emphatic periphrastic, as noble /düd-/. WG /bii-/ ‘be’ was modeled on Celtic /bii-/ ‘(habitual-future) be’. Habitual-future /bi-/ (lost on the continent) re-developed in OE on the model of habitual-future /bi-/ in Brittonic. The English rule that non-indicative forms of BE are /b/-forms is from Brittonic. 3PL bi(o)đon was modeled on Brittonic /biđont/. Pre-OE /ist/ and /im/ were influenced by Brittonic /is/ and /æm/. Loss of distinct endings before 1PL and 2PL subject pronouns and loss of distinct preterit subjunctive endings were both modeled on their analogues in Brittonic.

Keywords

EN

Brittonic, Celtic,; analogy,; equivalence interference,; Germanic,; verbs

• Publisher: Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw
• Journal: Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies
• Year: 2019
• Issue: 28/2
• Pages: 25-45

Contributors

author

White David L.

• Independent scholar, Ph.D., UT Austin

References

• Ahlqvist, Anders. 2010. “Early English and Celtic.” Australian Celtic Journal 9: 34–73.
• Bammesberger, Alfred. 1986. Die Aufbau des germanischen Verbalsystems. Heidelberg: C. Winter.
• Benskin, Michael. 2011. “Present Indicative Concord in Brittonic and Early English.” Transactions of the Philological Society 109: 103–122.
• Bremmer, Rolf. 2009. An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Company.
• Campbell, Alistair. 1959. Old English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Chadwick, Nora. 1970. The Celts. London: Penguin Books.
• Cowan, Hendrik Karel Jan. 1961. “Esquisse d’une grammaire fonctionnelle du vieux-néerlandais (vieux bas francique): d’après le psautier carolingien de Wachtendonck.” Leuvense Bijdragen 50: 2–54.
• Hill, Eugen. 2004. “Das germanischen Verb für “tun” und die Ausgänge des germanischen schwachen Präteritums.” Sprachwissenschaft 29: 257–303.
• Hogg, Richard M., and R. D. Fulk. 2011. A Grammar of Old English. Vol. 2: Morphology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
• Jackson, Kenneth. 1953. Language and History in Early Britain. Dublin: Four Courts Press.
• Laker, Stephen. 2009. “An Explanation for the Early Phonemicisation of Voice Contrast in Fricatives.” English Language and Linguistics 13: 213–226.
• Lambert, Pierre. 1994. La langue gauloise. Paris: Editions Errance.
• Lewis, Henry, and Holger Pedersen. [1961] 1989. A Concise Comparative Celtic Grammar. 3rd edition, with a supplement by Henry Lewis. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht.
• Mallory, James Patrick. 1991. In Search of the Indo-Europeans. New York: Thames and Hudson.
• McWhorter, John. 2009. “What Else Happened to English? A Brief for the Celtic Hypothesis.” English Language and Linguistics 13.2: 163–191.
• Mossé, Fernand. 1952. A Handbook of Middle English. Translated by James Walker. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
• Prokosch, Eduard. 1939. A Comparative Germanic Grammar. Philadelphia: Linguistic Society of America.
• Ringe, Don. 2006. From Proto-Indo-European to Germanic: A Linguistic History of English. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Ringe, Don, and Ann Taylor. 2014. The Development of Old English: A Linguistic History of English. Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Robinson, Orrin. 1992. Old English and Its Closest Relatives. Stanford: Stanford UP. Sandfeld, Kristian. 1930. Linguistique balkanique: problèmes et résultats. Paris: Libraire C. Klinksieck.
• Schrijver, Peter. 1995. Studies in British Celtic Historical Phonology (Leiden Studies in Indo-European 5). Amsterdam: Rodopi.
• Schrijver, Peter. 2014. Language Contact and the Origins of the Germanic Languages. London: Routledge.
• Schumacher, Stefan. 2009. “Lexical and Structural Language-Contact Phenomena along the Germano-Celtic Transition Zone.” Kelten am Rhein II: Philologie, Sprachen und Literaturen. Ed. Stefan Zimmer. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern. 247–266.
• Sihler, Andrew. 1995. New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Stenton, Frank. [1971] 1989. Anglo-Saxon England. 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Tolkien, J. R. R. 1963. “English and Welsh.” Angles and Britons, O’Donnell Lectures. Ed. Henry Lewis. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. 1–41.
• William, Urien. 1960. A Short Welsh Grammar. Llandybie: Christopher Davies, Ltd.
• White, David L. 2004. “Why We Should not Believe in Short Diphthongs.” Studies in the History of the English Language II: Unfolding Conversations. Ed. Anne Curzan, and Kimberly Emmons. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 57–84.
• White, David L. 2015. “Old English without Short Diphthongs: The Outlines of a New Interpretation.” Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies 24.2: 5–26.
• White, David L. 2018. “Reasons to Think That Anglo-Frisian Developed in Britain.” Anglica. An International Journal of English Studies 27.2: 5–32.
• Wright, Joseph. 1914. Old English Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Wright, Joseph, and Elizabeth Mary Wright. 1928. An Elementary Middle English Grammar. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.