More Strcutural features of Old English:

Sounds and Spellings:
• New letters: ash, thorn, eth, wynn
• New sounds: [x], [eo], ash, schwa, [y]
• Letters (v) and (x) not used
• Sounds which were not minimal pairs (that cause words to contrast): [f], [v] / [s], [z]

Grammar:
• Noun Declensions
• Grammatical Gender
• Number (singular or plural)
• Case (grammatical function)
  • nominative (subject)
  • genitive (possessive)
  • dative (indirect object)
  • accusitive (direct object)
  ex. The king [subject] killed the kings [direct object].

  Old English can invert this sentence, and still convey the same meaning due to noun agreement. Modern English cannot. Therefore, noun declinsions allow sentence inversion in Old English But Germanic languages tend to follow subject-verb-object sentence structure.

  Old English Pronouns:
  Until 1066, Old English pronouns:
  • were marked for gender both biologically and grammatically
  • had duals for plural pronouns, similar to "y'all"
  • Many Old English pronouns lasted through time in spelling
  Old English Verbs:
  Strong Verbs:
  • Indicate tense change by vowel shift in word
  • Seven Classes
  • Became irregular verbs in modern terms
  Weak Verbs:
  • Indicate tense change by addition of a suffix to the end of the verb
  
  back to G301 Homepage or G301 Schedule.
  last updated: 28 August 1997