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Functional-semantic field of shall/will in the Old English period
Section 10. Philology and linguistics
Alimkulova Saltanat Zhorabayevna, Kazakh Humanities and Law University Master of Arts, senior teacher of the English Department
E-mail: a.s.zh@bk.ru
Functional-semantic field of shall/will in the Old English period
Abstract: This scientific article is devoted to the study of shall/will semantics in Old English time. In order to understand the current state of the language, it is necessary to regard each phenomenon of the modern language as a result of a long historical change, development and transformation. The issue of meaning and function of will/shall in ancient and modern English is of great interest in theoretical grammar.
Keywords: sculan, willan, shall, will, modal verb, diachrony, future tense, Old English period, semantics.
Paradigm of the English verb in Old English period had such structure in which all verbs were divided into several morphological classes and had various ways of forming. It should be noted that all forms of the verb in Old English period were synthetical. The analytical forms began to appear at the end of the Old English period. In course of time the verbal system of the English language continued to grow due to the fact that new categorical forms had appeared. Exactly at this time, the verb system had the following features:
1. the category of number: singular, plural
2. the category of person: first, second, third
3. the category ofmood: indicative, imperative, subjunctive
4. non-finite forms of the verb: infinitive, first participle, second participle
5. the category of time-present, past [1,75].
As follows from the verb structure, we see that there were only two forms in Old English: forms of the present tense and forms of the past tense. As for the future time, future actions were expressed by the forms of the present tense depending on the context. Thus, the present and the future were expressed by one form — the form of the present tense.
Foreign and domestic scientists Fowler H. W. (1908), Ilyish B. A. (1968), Smith J.J. (2009), Wardale E. E. (1922), Smirnitsky A. I. (1965), Quirk R. (1955), Ivanov I. P. (1999) and Hogg R. (2002) were engaged in the history of formation of the future tense.
Contextual qualifiers played an important role in relating actions to the future time. Context usually prompted the idea of the future time. To understand, let us take some examples from the Old English period, where future time was expressed by the forms of the present tense:
(1) ‘Ic me mid Hruntige dom 3ewyrce o&de mec dead nimed’ (OE)
I will win glory by the sword or death will take me (MnE) (Ilyish B. A.)
(2) ‘On morgenne, ga ic to pam dunum’ (OE)
In the morning I will go to the mountain (MnE) (J. Smith)
(3) ‘Ic arise and ic fare to minum fader’ (OE)
I will raise and go to my father (MnE) (Wardale Е. Е.)
The idea of the future time in the above examples suggests marked verbs.
Here is an Old English extract “Joshua and the Battle of Jericho”, where the future time is expressed by the form of the present tense:
(1) ‘Hiericho seo burch was mid weallum ymb — trymed and faste beloun. Drihten cwap M to losua, ‘Ic do Ms burch Hiericho on plnum gewealde and pone cynning samod and pästrengstan weras 5e wuniap in Hiericho’ (OE)
Jericho city was surrounded by walls and firmly fenced. The Lord said to Joshua, “I will give the city to your rule together with the King and the strongest man in the city ofJeri-cho” (MnE) (Hough С.)
Thus, marked verbs suggest the idea of the future time without having a special form in all the examples and special time indicator.
The next stage of future tense development in the Old English period was formation of the new way of expressing future time arising from combination of modal verbs with infinitive. Among such modal verbs were “willan” (modern “will”) and “sculan” (modern “shall”) with infinitive. The Old English modal verbs “willan” and “sculan” are recorded in the earliest written sources and characterized by a high frequency of use in this time.
The peculiar feature is semantic development of these verbs. It is important to note that minds of researchers about the ability of these constructions to express modal “pure” future time are different. According to some researchers, such as Smirnitsky A. I., these constructions which were used for the transmission of the future time could have more or less vivid temporary meaning. According to Smirnitsky A. I., these constructions did not indicate future actions because instead of future actions the present tense was used.
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Section 10. Philology and linguistics
It is necessary to pay attention to the full form of conjuga- bers and persons that are presented in tables 1 and 2:
tions of the Old English verbs “willan” and “sculan” in num-
Table 1. - Form of conjugation of the Old English verb “sculan” in numbers and persons
Sculan — obligation
Person Indicative mood Subjunctive mood
Present Past Present Past
Singular
1 sceal (l) sc (e)olde scu (y)le/sceole sc (e)olde
2 scealt sc (e)oldest scu (y)le/sceole sc (e)olde
3 sceal (l) sc (e)olde scu (y)le/sceole sc (e)olde
Plural
1 sculon sc (e)oldon scu (y)len/sceolen sc (e)olden
2 sculon sc (e)oldon scu (y)len/sceolen sc (e)olden
3 sculon sc (e)oldon scu (y)len/sceolen sc (e)olden
Table 2. - Form of conjugation of the Old English verb “willan” in numbers and persons
Willan — willingness
Person Indicative mood Subjunctive mood Negative form
Present Past Present Past Present Past
Singular
1 wille wolde wille wolde nelle nolde
2 wilt woldest wille wolde nelt nolde
3 wil (l)e wolde wille wolde ne (y)le nolde
Plural
1 willaP woldon willen wolden ne (y)llaP noldon
2 willaP woldon willen wolden ne (y)llaP noldon
3 willaP woldon willen wolden ne (y)llaP noldon
By verbs “willan” and “sculan” conjugation we see that these verbs are conjugated and have specific endings in second-person singular in present and past tense. The table has an additional form — negative form. It should be noted that in the Old English period the particle ‘-ne’ was used for the negative form of the verb “willan”. As a result ‘-ne’ merged with some modal verbs and formed one word, for example, ne + wille = nelle/nylle. As for the modal verb “sculan”, the particle ‘-ne’ was also used for the negative form but not by merging, namely in usual way as the other modal verbs “ne sceal”.
It should be noted that “sculan” and “willan” as modal verbs retain their lexical meaning. The verb “sculan” is used in the sense of obligation, the verb “willan” is used in the sense of willingness and intention to perform an action, since the Old English “willan” and “sculan” were called as ‘preterite-present verbs’, as we noted above, they were among modal verbs. Based on this statement, we will give examples from the Old English period of the modal verb “sculan” with its lexical meaning of obligation:
(1) ‘Ic sceal rsdan tö merigen’ (OE)
I have to read tomorrow (MnE) (J. Smith)
The verb “sceal” in these examples with the ending of first-person singular accentuates an obligation to perform an action.
(2) ‘Swä sceal man dön’ (OE)
In this way people should behave themselves (MnE) (Ily-ish B. A.)
(3) ‘Deos böc sceal to Wio3oraceastre’ (OE)
This book must be directed to Wuster (MnE) (M. Lehnert) The verb “sceal” in the sentence having the ending of third-person singular shows the meaning of obligation.
The following examples are taken from Anglo-Saxon dictionary:
(1) ‘Forbsm ne scyle nan wis man nsnne mannan ha-trian’ (OE)
People should not hate another people (MnE)
The verb “scyle” is used in the negative form to express obligation.
(2) ‘Nu sceal he sylf faran’ (OE)
Right now he has to go (MnE)
(3) ‘Seo gesceadwisnes sceal wealdan pss yrres’ (OE) Anger should serve as reason (MnE)
(4) ‘He sceal gebolian manige gearfodu’ (OE)
He must overcome difficulties (MnE)
The verb “sceal” having the ending third-person singular also shows the meaning of obligation.
Let us turn to the Old English modal verb “willan”, having in its meaning the shade of volition, intention and desire to perform an action:
(1) ‘Ic wille wyrcean min setl’ (OE)
I want to take the throne (MnE) (R.Quirk)
The verb “wille”, having the ending first-person singular shows the meaning of obligation.
(2) ‘He wile eft 3esettan heofona rice mid hluttrum sau-lun’ (OE)
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Functional-semantic field of shall/will in the Old English period
He will want to create the heaven kingdom with the help of pure souls (MnE)
The verb “wik”, having the ending third-person singular shows the meaning of volition and desire.
(3) ‘Nylle ic dss synfullan dead, ac ic wille dst hegecyrre and lybbe’ (OE)
I do not want the death of this singer, I want him to come back and live (MnE)
The form “nylle” comes from the negative form “will not”, and the verb “wille”, having the ending first-person singular, shows the meaning of desire of the speaker. It should be noted that the verb “willan” in this sentence can be used without infinitive.
Smith J. gives examples where lexical meanings of volition and obligation of these verbs are shown:
(1) ‘Ic wille gän’ has the meaning of
‘I want to go’, not ‘I will go’
(2) ‘While heo sceal gän’ has the meaning of
‘She must go’, not ‘She will go’
The following examples are also taken from Anglo-Saxon dictionary:
(l) ‘Sam we willab sam we nyllab’ (OE)
Either we go or not (MnE)
In this sentence the verb “willan” is used in affirmative and negative forms. The verb “willab”, having the ending firstperson plural shows the meaning of intention, the verb “nyl-lab” is used in negative form.
It should be noted that in the late of the Old English period the number of modal constructions ‘sculan/willan + infinitive’ in the sense of future tense increases but with minimal sense of modality, for example:
(1) ‘Ic eow tö söde secjen wille abd bss in life ne wyrded’ (OE)
I will tell you the whole truth, that there is something unworthy in life (MnE)
(2) ‘Ne dearf he hobian no bystrum fordylmed ... of bäm wyrmsele, ac dsr wunian sceal äwa tö alder’ (OE)
He dare not hope to defeat the darkness of hell, but he will live there forever (MnE) (Ivanov I.P.)
According to Ilyish B.A. the meaning of ‘obligation’ can sometimes be less visible that sentence or context relates action to the future time, for example:
(1) ‘Ic b^m 3ödan sceal for his möd-brace mädmas beodan’ (OE)
I would suggest this brave man the treasure for his courage (MnE)
(2) ‘Sceal hrijnaca ofer heafu brinjan läc and luf-täcen’ (OE)
The ship will bring gifts and love through the sea (MnE)
In these sentences the verb in the sense of obligation does not have a clear lexical meaning, i.e. the meaning of “obligation” is slightly weakened, so this verb acquires the meaning of future time. The same weakening can be observed with the verb “willan”, for example:
(1) ‘Hyde se-be wylle’ (OE)
Let someone hide who wants (MnE)
(2) ‘Ic b^s wine Denija, frean Scildinja frinan wille’ (OE)
I will ask about that my friend Mr. Skildingov (MnE) (Ilyish B.A.)
These examples have a similar explanation. The verb with the meaning of volition, intention and desire to perform an action does not have a clear lexical meaning, so the context acquires the meaning of future time.
In summary we note that our own observations and special studies of the verbs “shall” and “will” in the Old English period showed that one of the way of relating actions to the future time was modal constructions “sculan + infinitive” in the sense of obligation and “willan + infinitive” in the sense of volition, intention and desire. But the main way of relating actions to the future time was the form of the present tense, that is the present and the future expressed one form. Contextual and lexical components of a sentence showed the idea of the future time.
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