Declension of the demonstrative pronoun sē
|
Number Case |
Masculine Singular |
Feminine Singular |
Neuter Singular |
Plural |
|
Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative Instrumental |
sē (that) Þæs þǽm þone þý, þon |
sēo (that) þǽre þǽre þā |
Þæt Þæs þǽm þæt |
Þa Þāra þǽm þā þý |
There were two demonstrative pronouns in OE: the prototype of NE that and the prototype of this. Both of them distinguished three genders in the singular and had one form for all the genders in the plural. Modern English ‘that’ descends from the neuter nominative/accusative form of ‘sē’, ‘this’ - from the neuter nominative/accusative form of ‘pes’ and ‘the’ - from the masculine nominative form, with [s] replaced analogously by the [ð] of the other forms. The feminine nominative form ‘sēo’ was probably the source of Modern English ‘she’.
The paradigm of the demonstrative pronoun ‘sē’ contains many homonymous forms. In the Nom. masc. and fem. sg. and in the Nom. pl. this pronoun has suppletive forms containing no interdental sound. Some case endings resembled those of personal pronouns, e.g. –m Dat. Masc. and Neut. sg. and in Gen. pl.; the element –r- in the Dat. and Gen. sg. and in the Dat. pl. [Rastorgueva, 2001].
During the OE period the demonstrative pronouns sē, sēo, þæt, gradually came to be used more and more in the function of the definite article. In this way ‘sē stān’ meant both ‘that stone’ and ‘the stone’. Being frequently used as noun determiners, they indicated its number, gender and case.
Note: The vowel in ‘sē’ when it was used as a demonstrative remained long, but when it was used as the article was shortened.
| Singular | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Plural |
| Nom. | sē, se | sēo | þæt | þā |
| Gen. | þæs | þǣre | þæs | þāra, þǣra |
| Dat. | þǣm, þām | þǣre | þǣm, þām | þām, þǣm |
| Ace. | þone | þā | þæt | þā |
| Instr. | þӯ, þon | (þære) | þӯ, þon | (þǣm, þām) |
| Nom. | sē/ sĕ stān | þā stānas |
| Gen. | þæs stānes | þāra stāna |
| Dat. | þǣm stāne | þǣm stānum |
| Ace. | þone stān | þā stānas |
| Instr. | þӯ stāne | þǣm stānum |
The demonstrative pronouns pes, pēos, pis.
| Singular | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Plural |
| Nom. | þes | þēos | þis | þās |
| Gen. | þisses (þeossum) | þisse | þisses | þissa |
| Dat. | þǣm, þām | þisse | þissum | þissum (þeossum) |
| Acc. | þone | þās | þis | þās |
| Instr. | þӯ, þon | (þisse) | þӯs (þis) | (þissum, þeossum) |
here were two demonstrative pronouns in OE: the prototype of NE that, which distinguished three genders in the sg. And had one form for all the genders in the pl. and the prototype of this. They were declined like adjectives according to a five-case system: Nom., Gen., Dat., Acc., and Instr.
Demonstrative pronouns were frequently used as noun determiners and through agreement with the noun indicated its number, gender and case 2 types:the 1st with the demonstrative meaning considerably weakened. And have 5-th case –Instrumental (творительный). 2nd – with a clear demonstr. meaning..
The articles have to do with the category of Determination (definiteness/indefiniteness). Causes for Rise of Articles:
1.In OE the there were two declensions of adjectives – strong (definite) and weak (indefinite) – and the inflections of these declensions indicated whether the noun that followed the adjective was definite or indefinite. At the end of the ME Period the declensions of the Adjective disappeared and there was a necessity to find another way to indicate the definiteness/indefiniteness of a noun. Thus the articles appeared.
2.In OE the word-order was free because inflections were employed to show the relations of the words in a sentence. In ME and NE the majority of the inflections disappeared and the word-order became fixed. This meant that the first place in a sentence was usually occupied by the theme (information already known à marked with the definite article) and the second place – by the rheme (new information à marked with the indefinite article).
Definite Article. As it was mentioned above, the definite article appeared from the OE demonstrative pronoun se (M, Sg, Nom) from the paradigm of the OE demonstrative pronoun “that” because it was often used to indicate a definite object or notion.
Indefinite Article. The indefinite article appeared from the OE numeral ān (one) and had the meaning of “oneness” (it still indicates only nouns in Sg, i.e. nouns indicating one object or notion).
In OE ān had 5-case paradigm that was lost in ME and only one form was left – oon/one. Later it was employed in the building of the indefinite article a/an.
Demonstrative pronouns
There were two demonstrative pronouns in OE, that could also act as determiners (similar to the modern definite article): se, which could function as both 'the' or 'that', andþesfor 'this'.
Declension of the demonstrative pronoun Þēs
|
|
Singular |
Plural |
||
|
|
Masculine |
Feminine |
Neuter |
|
|
Nominative |
Þes |
Þēos, Þīos |
Þis |
Þās |
|
Genitive |
Þisses |
Þisse |
Þisses |
Þissa |
|
Dative |
Þissum, Þeossum |
Þisse |
Þissum, Þeossum |
Þissum, Þeossum |
|
Accusative |
Þisne, Þysne |
Þās |
Þis |
Þās |
|
Instrumental |
Þys, Þis |
— |
Þys, Þis |
— |
Declension of the demonstrative pronoun sē
|
|
Singular |
Plural |
||
|
|
Masculine |
Feminine |
Neuter |
|
|
Nominative |
sē |
sēo |
Þæt |
Þā |
|
Genitive |
Þæs |
Þǣre |
Þæs |
Þāra, Þǣra |
|
Dative |
Þǣm |
Þǣre |
Þǣm |
Þǣm, Þām |
|
Accusative |
Þone |
Þā |
Þæt |
Þā |
|
Instrumental |
Þ, Þon |
— |
Þ, Þon |
— |
