Abstract

The paper deals with the process of I-mutation in Old English and is based on the analysis of a corpus consisting of original Old English texts. The words from the corpus that underwent the process of I-mutation were analyzed and grouped according to the morphological criteria, taking into consideration the phonological properties of the bases and suffixes, as well as some roots from other Germanic languages. There are several morphological categories that can be distinguished in the analysis: the derivation of weak verbs, the inflection of weak and anomalous verbs, the derivation of abstract nouns, the nominal paradigm, the derivation and comparison of adjectives, compounding and nasal narrowing, as a borderline case of IM. All the categories are exemplified by the words from the corpus and compared to the state of affairs in Modern English. The paper concludes with some general remarks on the conditions under which I-mutation occurred and on the consequences it has in Modern English