more on noun paradigms in eME

Neuter (and masculine) wa-stems and feminine wo-stems

There are several options for adapting OE wa- and wo-stems to eME:

1. similar alternation to OE: ~e (or no final vowel) in nom/acc sg, ~we dat and ~wes gen/pl in all eME reflexes of these words;
2. ~e in all cases, in all eME reflexes of these words;
3. ~we in all cases, in all eME reflexes of these words;
4. ~we in all cases, in any eME reflex where an example with ~we can be found in nom case in either an East Midland text or ModE, otherwise ~e in all cases;
5. either ~e or ~we in any case, in any eME reflex of these words (depending on preference of user);
6. ~we in all cases, in all eME reflexes of these words, where a related (derived) adjective or verb has ~w; examples: y`arwen sarwen
7. all eME forms have nom/acc sg form baluw, scaduw, sinuw etc, with gen/pl baluwes, scaduwes, sinuwes and dat sg baluwe, scaduwe, sinuwe.
8. all eME forms have nom/acc sg form balu, scadu, sinu etc, with gen/pl balwes, scadwes, sinwes and dat sg balwe, scadwe, sinwe; in fact - new universal rule: -u is the only unaccented ending which does not become -e.

A further approach, one which combines a few of the approaches above, is as follows: choose the form derived from the OE nominative - the one without w, as the default form, where that form exists in either Orm or PC2 and at least one other eME source. If that isn't the case and ModE has a reflex, the ModE form determines the eME form. If ModE has both forms, the eME form has both forms. Otherwise (i.e. failing all the preceding conditions), the default eME form is without w.

Adopting this approach, bale, mele, smere, sare, bade, sinwe, scade/scadwe, mae_d/mae_dwe and lae_swe would be preferred.

options based on ModE

1. the reflexes of OE masculine and neuter wa-stems drop <w> (in all cases);
2. the reflexes of OE feminine wo-stems retain <w> (in all cases);
3. most reflexes of OE masculine and neuter wa-stems with alternation in vowel length, drop <w> and lengthen the stem vowel (in all cases);
4. in the reflexes of OE wa-stems, gen, dat and pl assimilate to nom/acc sg;
   in the reflexes of OE wo-stems, nom/acc sg assimilate to gen, dat and pl;
5. in the reflexes of OE wa- and wo-stems, <-w-> falls from the ending, unless ModE has a reflex with final <-w>;

A consistent approach - one which takes the majority form and applies it universally, would give us cne_, tre_ and strae_ - reflexes of the OE nom/acc sg (without w). In striving for simplicity, on the other hand, we look for forms which any user could produce with only the aid of an OE dictionary, and their own ModE. Where a word has a dual stem in OE, the ModE reflex determines the stem on which the eME form is based. Again, this is the ModE test in action. In this particular case, simplicity is favoured over consistency, giving us cne_, tre_ and straw as the default forms in eME. Note - the genitive and plural for cne_ and tre_ are obtained by simply adding s. The dative form is unchanged from the nominative. strawe nom/acc sg of course, becomes strawe dat and strawes gen/pl.

Nevertheless, cne_ tre_ nom/acc sg with cnewe trewe dat and cnewes trewes gen/pl are acceptable alternatives, since a dual-stem pattern exists for those two words in Orm and at least one other eME source. Equally admissible are strae_ nom/acc/dat and strae_s gen/pl. Ch has both stree and straw nom/acc sg and stres pl.

The following applies to the first group of OE wo-stems only: implement the pattern observed in ModE - the reflexes of masculine and neuter wa-stems and feminine wo-stems, have final -we(s) where ModE has -ow(s), otherwise they have final -e(s)..

Thus bale, mele, smere, sare, bade, sinwe, scadwe, mae_dwe and lae_swe might be preferred.

There is an slight issue with the forms bade, bare. The latter two clash to an extent with preterite forms bad, bar. On the other hand sare doesn't appear to have any homonyms.

Users are of course welcome to not only vary the stem in the reflexes of the OE feminine wo-stems, but to introduce <-w-> into some or all of the forms of the reflexes of the OE neuter wa-stems, e.g. bale nom balwes pl, sine nom sinwes pl;

wa- and wo-stem form based on Chaucer

This was the preferred approach for wa- and wo-stems until 1 July 2023.

1. we start with a noun paradigm that exhibits stem alternation, e.g. bale balwes or scade scadwes;
2. in a pre-1250 text we find a form which removes the stem alternation for either the nom sg or gen sg or pl; e.g. balwes pl > bales pl and scade nom sg > scadwe nom sg;
3. via principle 3 the stem levelling of one form (e.g. pl) is extended to the remaining form (e.g. gen sg) within the paradigm; so bales pl is extended to bales gen sg;
4. courtesy of principle 4, the paradigm levelling of the majority of wa- and wo- stems can be extended to the remaining few words in that group; e.g. the bale bales pattern is extended to mele meles and scadwe scadwes to sinwe sinwes;

Thus we have:

pre-1250 removal of stem alternation:

bales, smeres, tere, barwe, tre__s, cne__s, le__, t`ew, scadwe, maedwe, [laeswe?]

via principle 3 - extend removal of stem alternation throughout paradigm:

bale bales, smere smeres, tere teres, barwe barwes, tre__ tre__s, cne__ cne__s, le__ le__s, t`ew t`ewes, scadwe scadwes, maedwe maedwes, [laeswe laeswes?]

via principle 4 - extend pattern of simplified paradigm to entire group:

mele meles, sinwe sinwes, straw strawes, laeswe laeswes

special cases - via principle 4 but without ModE reflex:

sarwe sarwes, badwe badwes

notes:

1. for the principle 4 group (above), the surviving ModE form decides whether the nom sg stem (without <w>) or the inflected stem (with <w>) is applied throughout the paradigm; see the ModE test for more detail;
2. in the absence of an additional eME form and a ModE reflex, the OE inflected stem (with <w>) is applied throughout the paradigm; that is the case for the two "Special cases" above;
3. in the case of laeswe, there is doubt about the only example of pre-1250 levelling, which happens to be a name; for that reason the noun is enclosed in square brackets above and shifted to the principle 4 group;
4. however, the reflexes of most strong feminine nouns with a long stem vowel have a final <e> in eME nom sg, following the pattern of oblique OE forms, whereas the corresponding OE nom sg ended in a consonant; e.g. glo_f glo_fe > glo__fe glo__fes; on that basis, laeswe as nom sg (along with maedwe) might be justified without explicit pre-1250 support;
5. in the reflexes of feminine wo- stems, principle 3 is skipped, since there is only one form which exhibits stem alternation - nom sg; e.g. once scade becomes scadwe via principle 2, the entire paradigm is levelled;
6. for cne__, le__ and tre__, the genitive and plural forms are obtained by simply adding s, (while the dative form in optional grammar is unchanged from the nominative);
7. straw nom sg becomes strawes gen & pl; since the inflected form is applied across the paradigm, the strae(w) form(s) are ignored in the core grammar; see normalisation 5: issues for further discussion;
8. eME optional grammar contains forms derived from the standard OE forms, which display stem alternation, e.g. - cne__ tre__ nom sg with cnewe trewe dat and cnewes trewes gen/pl, strae nom sg with strawe dat and strawes gen/pl, bale nom with balwe dat and balwes gen/pl, sine nom with sinwe dat and sinwes gen/pl etc;
9. the MED records only entries with <w> (or <u>) for t`ew (servant);
10. with one exception, all of the pre-1250 forms that are deployed under principle 3 above, also happen to be additional eME forms which emerge courtesy of principle 2 of the normalisation of eME; that exception is barwe (grove) which has no modE reflex.

Masculine (and neuter) a-stem nouns ending in h

There are several options for adapting OE a-stem nouns ending in h to eME:

1. no change from OE; i.e. final h is retained in the singular nom/acc and the vowel lengthened (if short), in the plural and oblique cases only; note this would give vowel alternation in eME; e.g. OE mearh me_ares > marh *mae_res;
2. final h is dropped and the singular vowel is lengthened (if short) in all cases, singular and plural; e.g. *ma_r *ma_res;
3. final h and short vowel are retained in all cases, singular and plural, but <h> /x/ becomes <g> /G``/ in the plural and oblique cases; e.g. ferh *ferges;
4. final h is dropped in the plural and oblique cases but the short vowel is retained in all cases, singular and plural; e.g. marh mares;
5. no. 4 applies (immediately above); however additional eME forms arise where⁹:
   1. an h-less form is found in both OE (a variant) and either Ch or the OED; e.g. sco_ and sho(o);
   2. a variant form with final -g is found in OE and a form with final -(o)w(e) is found in either Ch or the OED; e.g. fearg and farrow;

Here's option no. 5 above, expanded somewhat: final -h drops, in the plural and oblique cases only, but the short vowel preceding a dropped h does not change. For example: eME walh, marh have the plural forms wales, mares. However, where OE had a variant ending in -g and a corresponding form in -(o)w(e) survives in Ch or is recorded in the OED⁹, then an alternate eME variant emerges with an -h ending in the singular nom/acc, and -ge(s) in the plural and oblique cases, for example: farh - farges. Note - in eME, <h> /x/ regularly becomes <g> /G``/, between vowels. Finally an h-less (variant) form in both OE and either Ch or the OED produces an h-less form in eME. The plural is formed by simply adding -s, for example: scho_ - scho_s. Where final -h remains in the singular in eME - e.g. walh, the -h drops and -s is added in the plural and possessive forms. Thus we would have scho_ - scho_s and farh - farges alongside selh - seles, ferh - feres, walh - wales and marh - mares.

summary of options based on ModE

1. the stem vowel is not lengthened when <h> is dropped.
2. six reflexes of OE masculine a-stem nouns ending in <h>, also drop the <h> in nom/acc sg, and add <e> where a consonant preceded the <h>;
3. the three remaining reflexes of OE nouns ending in <h>, maintain the <h> in nom/acc sg, and extend it as <g>, to gen, dat and plural;
   or
4. in most reflexes of OE a-stems, nom/acc sg assimilate to gen, dat and pl;
5. in the reflexes of OE a-stems, final <h> becomes <e> after a consonant; otherwise, if ModE has a reflex which ends in a vowel, it falls.
   or
6. final <h> becomes <e> after a consonant;
7. final <h> remains after a vowel, unless ModE has a reflex which ends in a vowel, in which case, it is dropped;

an approach based on the pattern observed in ME and ModE:

There are two main routes to take then. We could simply work case-by-case, and apply to each word the basic principle for determining the lexicon of eME - that is to adopt the standard OE form, subject to eME sound and spelling changes, and to permit any additional form(s) supported by either Orm or PC2 and at least one other eME source. Or we could take a different perspective, and look for a pattern which could be applied to the whole group, especially a pattern which might reduce the number of irregularities.

A normalised form of any language ought to be about reducing irregularities where appropriate. It ought to strive for maximum consistency. So I think it would be a mistake not to seize the pattern that emerges in the MED's entries for these words, because that pattern, which is outlined in more detail below, brings this group of nouns back into the fold. They emerge, behaving like the vast majority of nouns, so that the user can confidently apply the same basic set of tranformations he or she has already learned, to get their plural, possessive (and dative) forms. This is the ModE test in action, once again.

To form the plural of a noun in eME, we add -es, unless the word ends in -e, in which case, -s is added. There is also the eME rule that final -h /x/ regularly becomes -g- /G``/, before a vowel (i.e. when -e or -es are added, e.g. burh burges). A practical approach then to deriving eME forms from OE nouns ending in -h is this: where OE had variant plural or oblique forms in -g, or a corresponding form in -(o)w(e) survives in Ch or ModE, then an alternate eME variant emerges with an -h ending in the singular nom/acc, and -ge(s) in the plural and oblique cases. Thus we have: farh - farges⁸, wo_h - wo_ges and slo_h - slo_ges. In all other reflexes of OE nouns which normally dropped final -h in oblique cases and the plural, final -h is also dropped in nom/acc sg, in eME. Thus we have scho_ - scho_s, fe_ - fe_s, sele - seles, fere - feres, wale - wales and mare - mares in eME.

In this group of additional eME forms, there are two main changes from the standard OE forms. These changes are dealt with below: