Title: Disintegration of the Nominal Inflection in Anglian: The Case of I-Stems
Abstract: ABSTRACT An evident tendency which can be observed in the behaviour of the Old nouns belonging originally to the i-stem type is that they reveal a marked fluctuation between the inherited and the innovative (productive) paradigm, manifested in their adopting the inflectional endings of both. The apparent hesitation between the two types of inflection can be seen, for instance, in forms of the nominative and accusative plural of masculine paradigm, where alongside the expected OE -e ending, forms in -as, extended from the productive a-stems paradigm, are attested (e.g. OE wine ~ winas 'friends'). is believed that through various phonological processes actively operating within the paradigm and leading to a generalisation of a single ending (-e), this declensional type very early lost its communicative function and was ready to appropriate endings from the stronger, more influential paradigms, i.e. a-stems and o-stems. The present analysis is a qualitative and quantitative study of the i-declension in the Anglian dialects, known for displaying considerable confusion in the inflectional system. Aimed at presenting a systematic account of the steady disintegration of the nominal paradigm in this dialect, the investigation seeks to determine the exact pattern of dissemination of the productive inflectional endings in nouns belonging to the historical i-stem type. 1. Introductory remarks The Old i-stem nominal paradigm, though abundantly attested, represents one of the minor declensional types, deemed entirely unproductive in the Old times. The tendency which can be observed in the behaviour of nouns belonging originally to this declension is that they display a marked fluctuation between the inherited, unproductive paradigm and the innovative, productive one, shown in their adopting the inflectional endings of both. (1) This well evinced tendency is one of the prominent features of the early Germanic nominal inflection, revealed in general by nouns considered minor (e.g. u-stems, nd-stems, root consonant stems or nouns of relationship). (2) The present paper is devoted specifically to the investigation of nouns belonging originally to i-declension in the Anglian variety, in which the inflectional system displays considerable confusion. Although the value of the textual material of Anglian provenance need not be articulated or affirmed here, let just the brief but lucid statement by Hogg (1997) serve as a justification of the choice of the material for the present analysis: It is, of course, true that Anglian texts are a minority in the Old period, but in a wider historical framework they are fundamental to the core development of English (Hogg 1997: 98). Accordingly, the material from this particular dialect is hoped to shed some more light on the developments in progress in the early inflectional system of English. Aimed at presenting a systematic account of the steady disintegration of the nominal paradigm in Anglian, the analysis seeks to determine the exact pattern of dissemination of the productive inflectional endings in nouns belonging to the historical i-stem type. attempts to trace the tendencies and peculiarities characteristic of the process of gradual morphological restructuring operating within the i-stem paradigm, which in the end resulted in a large-scale transfer from the minor unproductive to the major productive declensional type and brought about an eventual demise of the i-declension as well as other minor declensional types in Old English. Although it is not the aim of the present paper to question the validity of the traditional classification of nominal paradigms or reject the traditional model as found in standard historical grammars, ideologically it does stay in line with some opinions voiced by Kastovsky (1995), Lass (1997) and Krygier (2002, 2004), who advocate the need for a new non-standard approach to Old nominal morphology, entailing a total reclassification of the system. …
Publication Year: 2008
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 4
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