Yolanda Pena

Linguistics
Dr. Walts
24 April 2015

Episode 55:  To Be or Not To Be

Old Eng. grammar has survived into modern Eng., can be found in Shakespeare & King James Bible.  Eg.:  THOU ART & HE DOTH

Old Eng. Verbs (died out) still familiar to modern Eng. Speakers.  TO BE & NOT (negative)

 Shakespeare (verb forms):  lady doth (does)  /  He hath (has) / that doth (does)

King James Bible (verb forms):  charity suffereth (suffers)  / charity envieth (envies) not

Verb forms have changed due to Viking influence.

THOU= Old Eng. pronoun inherited from Anglo-Saxons. The 2^nd person YOU & 3^rd person HE, SHE, IT forms of Old Eng. survived all the way to Modern Eng.

THOU = singular form / YOU = Plural form. Shakespeare used THOU/YOU Both Ways.

3^rd person ending of (TH) was replaced with (S) ending:  he leadeth = he leads / hath = has.

The (S) ending may have come from Vikings around 900.   (TH) ending & THOU ended after Shakespeare.  YOU (replaced THOU) it was socially neutral & easy to use.

Modern verb (TO BE) = Viking influence.  TO BE when conjugated is AM, IS, ARE, WAS, WERE, BEEN, & BEING.

Singular = WAS / Plural = WERE same as Old Eng., but (YOU WAS) was common usage for (one person) until 1800’s then it became nonstandard speech.

I BE / HE BE / SHE BE / WE BE /THEY BE was used by Anglo-Saxons & is still used in African-American Vernacular Eng. in U.S.

I BE = (I AM), YOU BE = (YOU ARE), etc.  (AM/IS) have Endo European Roots.

(AM/IS/ARE) are now used same as in Old & Middle Eng.

ARE = Viking  /  ART = Anglo-Saxon.  THOU ART = disappeared / YOU ARE took over.

THEY ARE = Viking influence which has survived in our modern Eng.

Very Irregular Verb:  TO BE & TO GO since they change forms too much.

NOT turns verbs Negative.  Old Eng. (NAY).  NAY EVER = NEVER / NAY ONE = NONE / NOT ONE THING = NOTHING.

AIN’T = AM NOT was common in 1700’s & in 1800’s AIN’T was gone & not coming back.

Double Negatives = Improper Sentences (2 Negatives cancel each other out)

Eg.:  I did not get nothing.  Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare used double/triple/quadruple negatives in a sentence BUT in the Renaissance w/rise of logic & mathematical equations, double negatives were to be avoided.

Double Negatives are still used for (emphasis) since language is not always logical but a form of emotion & emotional speakers keep bringing it back.    

http://historyofenglishpodcast.com/2014/12/30/episode-55-to-be-or-not-to-be/