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РЕГИСТРАЦИЯ ЭКСКУРСИЯ

ME Adjective.

In OE the adjective was declined to show the gender, case and number of the noun it modified; it had a five-case paradigm and two types of declension, weak and strong. The first category to disappear was Gen­der. Their number was reduced: Instr case had fused with Dat case, distinction of other cases was unsteady. In the 11 c. case could be shown only by some variable endings in the strong. The strong and weak forms of adjectives were often confused in Early ME. texts. The use of a strong form after a demonstrative pronoun was not uncommon, though according to the existing rules, this position belonged to the weak form. In the 14th c. the difference between the strong and weak  form is sometimes shown in the sg with the help of the ending -e). The general tendency towards an uninflected form affected also the distinction of Number. In the 14th c. pl forms were some­times contrasted to the sg forms with the help of the ending -e in the strong declension. Paradigm consisted of 4 forms distinguished by an ending –e. Strong blind-blinde, weak blinde-blinde.it can be postulated for monosyllabic adj ending in a consonant. Adj ending in vowels and polysyllabic adj took no ending and could not show the difference sg-pl.

Degrees of Comparison

In NE the suffixes had been weakened to -er, -est and the interchange of root-vowel was less common than before. Since most adjectives with the sound alternation had parallel forms without it, the forms with an interchange soon fell into disuse. long, ienger, lengest and long, longer, longest. The alternation of root-vowels in Early NE survived in the adjective old, elder, eldest, where the difference in meaning from older, oldest, made the formal distinction essential. Other traces of the old alternation are found in the pairs farther and further and also in the modern words nigh, near and next, which go back to the old degrees of comparison of the OE adjective neah `near', but have split into separate words.

The most important innovation in the adjective system in the ME period was the growth of analytical forms of the degrees of com­parison. This new system of comparisons emerged in ME, but the ground for it had already been prepared by the use of the OE adverbs ma, bet, betst, swiðor -- `more', `better', to a greater degree' with adjectives and participles. Another curious peculiarity observed in Early NE texts is the use of the so-called "double comparatives" and "double superla­tives": more, worser,  most unkindest.

 


25.06.2018; 21:19
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