s - Wyższa Szkoła Filologiczna we Wrocławiu

10
Elżbieta Adamczyk
ing of the inherited paradigm on the pattern furnished by the neuter a-stems.
The following sentences illustrate the vacillation to be found in the paradigm of
the s-stems:
[1] Muntas hwy gefægenodon swa rammas & hylla swa lambru sceapa (Montes quare
exultastis ut arietes et colles uelut agni ouium) (PsGlD),
[2] Muntas wynsumedon swa swa rammas & hylla swa swa lamb sceapa (Montes
exultaverunt ut arietes et colles velut agni ovium) (PsGlB).
At the same time, in view of the expansiveness of the masculine a-stem
declension, attested even in the early Old English material, the analogous influence
of this most productive type on the neuter paradigm of the s-stems is only
to be expected. Potentially, members of the s-stem declension could evince also
some inclination towards the relatively widespread weak inflectional pattern,
reflected in their appropriation of the endings of the genitive pl. -ena and the
nominative/accusative pl. -an (-on/-en). Traces of these morphological realignments
are expected to be found in the following grammatical forms:
the genitive sg. -es marker in place of a historical zero ending
the dative sg. -e ending in place of a historical zero ending
the neuter zero ending (without the r-stem extension) in the nominative/accusative pl.
the masculine -as ending in the nominative/accusative pl.
the genitive pl. -a or -ena ending in place of the original marker -ra
the dative pl. -um ending in place of the expected -rum marker
the weak -an ending in all cases in the singular except the nominative, and in the
nominative/accusative pl.
The new analogical endings were essentially attached to the forms without
the r-stem extension. Occasionally, however, they could be joined to those
formations where -r had been preserved, as in dōgores, ehras, sigores. At the
same time, the original stem formative -r- was more consistently retained in the
paradigm of the plural, where, in contrast to the singular, the inflectional
endings were frequently attached to the stem formative. In order to account for
the more systematic preservation of the stem formative in the plural (which was
also the case in Old High German), Dieter Kastovsky (1995: 234) adduces
semantic considerations, namely the functional-semantic status of the plural and
its referential function, emphasizing the predominance of the category of
number (as “semantically more salient, dominant, or marked”) over the
category of case. Accordingly, analogical leveling is more expected to operate
within one number category (spreading across cases) rather than within one case
category (spreading across number).
All these abovementioned potential traces of external analogical pressure in
the s-stem inflection are summarised in Table 1, where the two rival paradigms
are presented.