Old English Inflectional Morphology

Dr. Jacobsen

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1.	Ðæt scip scoc Þa brycge.
		>The ship shook the bridge.
	Ða brycge scoc Þæt scip.

Ðæt scip is the subject phrase of this sentence. It is inflected as a singular neuter nominative. Ða brycge is the object of this sentence. It is inflected as a singular feminine accusative. These inflections allow the nouns and their accompanying demonstrative pronouns to be placed on either side of the verb scoc, a class six third-person singular preterite (which, incidentally, retains a strong declension in Present-day English).

2.	Seo brycg scoc Þæt scip.
		>The bridge shook the ship.
	Ðæt scip scoc seo brycg.

Seo brycg is the subject phrase of this sentence. It is inflected as a singular feminine nominative. Ðæt scip is the object of this sentence. It is inflected as a singular neuter accusative. As in the example above, inflections allow the nouns and their accompanying demonstrative pronouns to be placed on either side of the verb. Note, however, that Þæt scip carries inflections identical to those for the nominative case in example #1. This is an example of the inflections falling together and thus losing their grammatical value.

3.	Ða scipu sconon Þa brycga. >The ships shook the bridges.
	Ða brycga sconon Þa scipu. >The bridges shook the ships.

Ða scipu and Þa brycga are both inflected for number here in addition to the inflections mentioned earlier in this analysis; that is, they are pluralized. Interestingly, both the nouns and their demonstratives are inflected identically for both the nominative and accusative cases when pluralized. Clearly, the noun phrases in this example could not be transposed without a change in meaning. In this case, syntax stands in for inflections.