Dependent and Independent Verb Forms - Old Irish

Old Irish

The distinction between dependent and independent forms originates with two distinct but related phenomena in Old Irish: the contrast between absolute and conjunct verb endings, and the contrast between prototonic and deuterotonic forms.

Old Irish verbs that have no prefixes, called "simple verbs", have two sets of endings, absolute and conjunct. The conjunct endings are used after a variety of grammatical particles, including among others the negative particle ní ("not"), the interrogative particle in, and prepositions combined with the relative pronoun (e.g. lasa "with which"). Where no such "conjunct particle" is present, the absolute endings are used. For example, "he calls" is gairid (absolute), while "he does not call" is ní·gair and "with which he calls" is lasa·ngair (both conjunct). (An interpunct "·", hyphen "-", or colon ":" is usually used to indicate conjunct forms in pedagogical and analytical works on Old Irish. Actual manuscripts do not use such punctuation marks.) When a particle is present, stress falls on the first syllable of the verb itself, i.e. the syllable after the "·" mark.

In most verbs, distinct absolute and conjunct endings are found in the present indicative, present subjunctive, future, and preterite, and in most persons. For example, a partial paradigm of gaibid ("take") is as follows:

Verbs that have one or more prefixes, called "compound verbs", always take conjunct endings. In this case, stress generally falls on the syllable after the first prefix. Where only one prefix is present, that means stress falls on the verb root, but where two or more prefixes are present, stress then falls on the second prefix.

Because these verb forms are stressed on the second syllable, they are called deuterotonic (from Greek δεύτερος deuteros "second" + τόνος tonos "tone, stress"). As can be seen in the above examples, the phonological effects of stress placement can be significant; for example, when the prefix com follows the stressed syllable, it is reduced to just n. These phonological changes become even more apparent when a conjunct particle like ní ("not") is added. In this case, stress shifts to the first prefix, which has phonological consequences for the rest of the verbal complex.

Because these forms are stressed on the first syllable of the verb proper (i.e. the syllable after the particle), they are called prototonic (Greek πρῶτος prōtos "first"). The relationship between prototonic and deuterotonic compound verb forms is thus analogous to that between simple verb forms with conjunct and absolute endings: the one group is used after a conjunct particle like ní, the other group without such a particle.

The distinction between absolute and conjunct endings is believed to have originated with the placement of a particle *(e)s in Proto-Insular Celtic; see Insular Celtic languages#Absolute and dependent verb for discussion.

In addition to the above-mentioned forms, Old Irish also has one dependent verb form that is neither a regular conjunct form nor a prototonic form: the word fil functions in many cases as the dependent equivalent of at·tá "is", e.g. nicon·fil nach rainn "there is no part", where fil follows the conjunct particle nicon "not". This form survives in Modern Irish as fuil, in Gaelic as (bh)eil, and in Manx as nel/vel, all of which are used as the dependent equivalent of the verb for "is".