4. Basic Grammatical Features of Germanic Languages. Principal Features of Germanic Vocabulary.

Like other old IE languages both PG and OG languages had a synthetic grammatical structure, which means that the relationships between the parts of the sentence were shown by the forms of the words rather than by their position or auxiliary words. In later history all the Germanic languages developed analytical forms and ways of word connection. In the early periods of history the grammatical forms were built in the synthetic way: by means of inflections, sound interchanges and suppletion. The suppletive way of form-building was inherited from ancient IE. The principal means of form-building were inflections. The inflextions found in OG written records correspond to the inflections used in non-Germanic languages, having descended from the same original IE prototypes. Most of them, however, were simplier and shorter, as they had been shortened and weakened in PG. The wide use of sound interchanges has always been a c characteristic feature of the Germanic group. This form-building (and world-building) device was inherited from IE and became very productive in Germanic, e.g.: Goth. bairan, O Icel bera, OE beran, NE bear. In various forms of the word and in words derived from one and the same root, the roo-morpheme appeared as a set of variants. The consonants were relatively stable, the vowels were variable.

In early PG words consisted of 3 main components: the root, the stem-suffix and the grammatical endin. The stem-suffix was a means of word derivation, the ending – a marker of the grammatical form. In late PG the old stem-suffixes lost their derivational force and merged with other components of the word, usually with the endings. The word was simplified: the three-morpheme structure was transformed into a two-morpheme structure, for example: PG fisk-a-s, Goth. fisk-s (English fish). The simplification of the word structure and the loss of stem-suffixes as distinct compomemts was facilitated or caused by the heavy Germanic word stress fixed on the root.

Most nouns and adjectives in PG and also many verbs had stem-forming suffixes. According to them they fell into groups or classes: a-stem, i-tem, ō-stem. This grouping accounts for the formation of different declensions in nouns and adjectives, and some differences in conjugation of verbs.

Groups of nouns with different stem-suffixes made distinct types of declension. So there were the following types of substantive stems in Old Germanic languages:

1. vocalic stems (-a, -ō, -i, u);

2. -n/-r/-nt-stems;

3. stems in other consonants (-s and –r stems);

4. root stems.

Declension of substantives with vocalic stems has been called strong declension. Declension of substantives with n-stems was called weak declension. Consonantal declension was presented by substantives with -n/-r/-nt-stems. Substantives with root declension never had a stem-building suffix, so their stems always coincided with their roots.

The division of nouns into declensions basing on the stem-suffixes is not peculiar to Germanic alone. It is also found in other IE languages. The Germanic languages preserved the old classification of nouns with great accuray, added other distinctive features to the noun paradigm and, as a result, had a complicated system of noun declensions in the early periods of history.

Declension of adjectives differed from that of substantives. Every adjective was declined both according to the strong declension (with vocalic stem) and to the weak declension (with n-stem). Weak declension forms were used when the adjective was preceded by a demonstrative pronoun or the definite article. In all other cases forms of the strong declension were used. Strong declension of adjectives didn’t completely coincide with strong declension of substantives. Forms of several cases corresponded to declension of pronouns. So the strong declension of adjectives as a whole was a combination of substantival and pronominal forms.

The system of verbs in old Germanic languages consists of strong and weak verbs. The terms strong and weak verbs were proposed by J. Grimm. He called the verbs strong because they had preserved the richness of form since the age of the parent-language and in this sense could be contrasted to weak verbs lacking such variety of form. The main difference between these groups lies in the means of building of principal forms: the Present tense and Participle II. The strong verbs built there principal forms with the help of root vowel interchanges plus certain grammatical endings; they made use of IE abaut with certain modifications due to phonetic changes and environment. Weak verbs derived these forms by means of dental suffixes –d, -t, ƀ. These suffixes were inserted between the root and the ending. The weak verbs are a specifically Germanic innovation.

The Old Germanic languages have a system of two tenses, present and past. Originally the distinction was not between tenses, but between aspects, that is between forms characterizing the way the action is developing. Every strong verb is characterized by four basic forms: the infinitive, the past singular, the past plural, the second participle. All strong verbs fall into seven classes according to the type of gradation: reisan-rais-risum-risans; kuisan-kaus-kusum-kusans; bindan-band-bundum-bundans; stilan-stal-stelum- stuland; giban-gaf-gebum-gibans; faran-fōr-fōrum-farans; haitan-haihait-haihaotum-haitans / letan-lailōt-lailōtum-letans.

The weak verbs are a specifically Germanic innovation, for the device used in building their principal forms is not found outside the Germanic group. They built the Past tense and Participle II by inserting a special suffix between the root and the ending. So suffixes d, -t, ƀ were the markers of the Past and Participle II. Weak verbs in Germanic languages except Gothic had 3 classes. They derived their past tense and second participle by means of a dental suffix. So suffixes d, -t, ƀ were the markers of the Past and Participle II, gor example: O Icel kalla – kallaƀa - kallaƀr (call-called), OE macian – macode –macod (make–made).

The most ancient etymological layer in the Germaniс vocabulary is made up of words and roots shared by most IE languages. They refer to a number of semantic spheres: natural phenomena, plants and animals, terms of kinship, verbs denoting basic activities of man, some pronouns and numerals. In addition to roots the common IE elements include other component of words: word-building affixes and grammtical inflexions. Words which occur in Germanic alone and have no parallels outside the group constitute the specific features of the Germanic languages. They appeared in PG or in later history of separate languages form purely Germanic roots. Semantically they also belong to basic spheres of life: nature, sea, home life. The specifically Germanic layer includes not only roots but also affixes and word-building patterns: Gt. hus, drigkan, land O Icel hûs, Drekka, land, OE hŭs, drincan, land, Germ. Haus, trinken, Land.

Both etymological layers of the vocabulary – the IE and the specifically Germanic layer – are native words. In addition to native words the OG languages share some borrowings. Probably they were made at the time when the Germanic tribes lived closed together as a single community, that is in late PG, for example: Celt. isarno, Goth. eisarn, O Icel isarn, OE iren (iron). It is known that the Teutons may have learnt the processing of iron from the Celts. A large number of words must have been borrowed from Latin prior to the migration of West Germanic tribes to Briatin. These words reflec the contacts of the Germanic tribes with Rome and the influence of the Roman civilization on their life; they mostly refer to trade and warfare, for example: L pondō, prunus O Icel pund, ploma, OE pund, plume NE pound, plum.