The above remarks apply chiefly to the Southern dialect. In the other dialects of this period (East and West Midland) we find even a greater simplification of the grammar. Thus to take the Ormulum (East Midland) we find the following important changes :—

(a) The definite article is used as at present, and that is employed as a demonstrative irrespective of gender.

(b) Gender of substantives is almost the same as in modern English.

(c) -es is used as the ordinary sign of the plural.

(d) -es, singular and plural, has become the ordinary suffix of the genitive case.

(e) Adjectives, as in Chaucer's time, have a finale for the olde inflections, but e is chiefly used, (1) as a sign of the plural, (2) to distinguish the definite form of the adjective.

The forms they, theirs, come into use.

(g) Passive participles drop the prefix i (ge), as cumen for icumen. (2) The plural of the present indicative ends in -en instead of -eth.

In an English work written before 1250, containing many forms belonging to the West Midland dialect, we find—

(a) Articles and nouns and adjectives as in the Ormulum.
(b) The pronoun thai instead of hi or heo

Ich.

=

they; I for Ic or

(c) Passive participles frequently omit the prefix i.
(d) Active participles end in -ande instead of -inde.

(e) Verbs are conjugated in the indicative present as follows:

(f) Strong and weak verbs are conjugated after the following

manner in the past tense :

Here we see two important changes: (1) -es for -est in second person of weak verbs; and (2) the dropping of e in strong verbs. From 1150 to 1250 the influence of Norman-French begins to exhibit itself in the vocabulary of the English language.

III. The English of the Third Period.
(A.D. 1250—1350.)

42. (1) The article still preserves some of the older inflections, as: (1) the genitive singular feminine; (2) the accusative masculine; (3) the plural po (the nominative being used with all cases of nouns).

(2) Nouns exhibit much confusion in gender-words that were
once masculine or feminine becoming neuter.

(3) Plurals in -en and -es often used indiscriminately.
(4) The genitive -es becomes more general, and begins to take
the place (1) of the older -en and -e (in old masculine
and neuter nouns); and (2) of -e in feminine nouns.

(5) The dative singular of pronouns shows a tendency to drop
off: mi-self and thi-self often used instead of me-self
and the-self.1

(6) Dual forms of the personal pronouns dropped out of use shortly before 1300.

(7) A final e used, (1) for the sign of plural of adjectives; and (2) for distinguishing between the definite and indefinite

declensions.

(8) The gerundial infinitive terminates in -en and -e.

(9) The ordinary infinitive takes to before it.

(10) Some few strong verbs become weak. in -inge begin to appear about 1300.

Present participle

French words become now more common, especially towards the end of this period.

In ten pages of Robert of Gloucester, Marsh has calculated that four per cent. of the vocabulary is Norman-French.

IV. The English of the Fourth Period.

(A.D. 1350-1460.)

43. In this period the Midland dialect has become the prevailing Northern and Southern words still retain their own pecu.

one.

liarities.

We sometimes find miself as well as meself in Labamon

The following are the chief points to be noted:

1. The plural article, tho = the, those, is still often used.
2. The -es in plural and genitive case of substantives is mostly
a separate syllable.

3. The pronouns are :

I for the older Ic (Ich sometimes occurs).

sche for the older heo.

him, them, whom, used as datives and accusatives. oures, youres, heres, in common use for oure, youre, here.

thei (they) in general use instead of hi (heo).

here = their.

hem them.

4. The plurals of verbs in the present and past indicative end -en or -e.

The imperative plural ends in -eth.

-est often used as the inflection of the second person singular preterite of strong and weak verbs.

The infinitive mood ends in -en or -e; but the inflection is
often lost towards the end of the fourteenth century.

The present participle ends usually in -ing (inge).
The passive participle of strong verbs ends in -en or -e.

The termination -e is an important one.

I. It represents an older vowel ending, as nam-e = nam-a, sun-e= sun-u; or the termination -an, -en, as withute = with-utan.

2. It represents various inflections, and is used—

(a) As a mark of the plural or definite' adjective
(adjectival e), as smale fowles; the gretë see.
(6) As a mark of adverbs, as softë softly. (Ad-

=

verbial e.)
(c) As a mark of the infinitive mood,
weak verbs and imperative mood.

Him thoughtë that his hertë wolde brekë.

past tense of (Verbal e.) (Chaucer.)

Towards the end of this period the use of the final e becomes irregular and uncertain, and the Northern forms of the pronouns, their, theirs, them, come into use in the other dialects.

V. The English of the Fifth Period.

(A.D. 1460 to present time.)

44. There are really two subdivisions of this period -

(1) 1460 to 1520.

(2) 1520 to present time.

From 1460 to 1520 there is a general dearth of great literary works, but there were two events in this period that greatly affected the language, especially its vocabulary—

(1) The introduction of printing into England by Caxton. (2) The diffusion of classical literature.

For some peculiarities of Elizabethan English see Abbott's "Shakespearian Grammar."

CHAPTER VI.

PHONOLOGY.

Letters.

45. LETTERS are conventional signs employed to represent sounds. The collection of letters is called the Alphabet; from Alpha and Beta, the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet.

The alphabet has grown out of the old pictorial mode of writing. The earliest written signs denoted concrete objects; they were pictorial representations of objects, like the old Egyptian hieroglyphics. Then single sounds were afterwards indicated by parts of these pictures.

The alphabet which has given rise to that now in use among nearly all the Indo-European nations, was originally syllabic,1 in which the consonants were regarded as the substantial part of the syllable, the vowels being looked upon as altogether subordinate and of inferior value. Consequently the consonants only were written, or written in full-the accompanying vowel being either omitted, or represented by some less conspicuous symbol.

Such is the construction of the ancient Semitic alphabet-the Phoenician, from which have sprung the Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin alphabets.

The oldest English alphabet consisted of twenty-four letters. All except three are Roman characters. b (thorn) and p (wên) are Runic letters; is merely a crossed d, used instead of the thorn; i and j, as well as u and v, were expressed by the same character.

A pure syllabic alphabet is one whose letters represent syllables instead of articulations; which makes an imperfect phonetic analysis of words, not into the simple sounds that compose them, but into their syllabic elements; which does not separate the vowel from its attendant consonant or consonants, but denotes both together by an indivisible sign. One of the most noted alphabets of this kind is the Japanese. (See Whitney, p. 465.)