19世紀後半には,英語史の新しい時代区分が何度か試みられた.そのうちの一つが,Morris (48--56) の五区分(実質的には六区分)案である.ここでは Grimm 以来の "triadomany" の呪縛から解き放たれている.Morris は各区分に呼称をあてがうのを避け,数字で順番付けた.Morris の提案で注目すべきは,言語的な基準による区分を試みたことである.以下は,Morris の区分を Lass (15) が要約したものである.
Period | Range | Defining Characters |
---|---|---|
1st Period | 450--1100 | "Synthetic" rather than analytic, gender, noun declension, infinitive in -an, past participle prefix ge-, etc. |
2nd Period | 1100--1250 | Final -a, -o, -u levelled in -e, article > þe, -es plurals begin to substitute for weak -en; "confusion" in gender leading to some merger, loss of infinitive -n. |
3rd Period | 1250--1350 | Still some article inflexions, increasing gender confusion, -en/-es often "indiscriminately" in noun plurals, loss of dual, present participle in -inge. |
4th Period | 1350--1460 | Ic(h) > I, dative and accusative pronouns merge in old dative (him/hine > him, etc.), loss of infinitive marker, rise of they, their, them |
5th Period (1) | 1460--1520 | None are given. |
5th Period (2) | 1520--Present | None are given. |
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