Nominal derivation

Derivation is mostly suffixal. This chapter focuses on word formation, in particular the productive abstract formatives -iþa, -þs, etc., and the vowel stems extended by -n- (-ei etc.), actor nominals in -(j)an- and -areis. The main adjective formations include material and relational -eins, characterizing -a/i/ug-, -isks for ethnicity and appurtenance, and -n- extended diminutive nouns in-(i)la. Gothic has many suffixes not shared with the rest of Germanic. Some that are shared have different properties. For instance, -iþa is very productive in Gothic and specialized on heavy monosyllabic bases. One of the most productive suffixes in North and West Germanic is *‑i/unga-, barely represented in Gothic, and the feminine alternant *‑i/ungō is completely absent from Gothic.

The verbal system

Verbs in Gothic are thematic, athematic, or preterite present. Several classes, including modals, are discussed. Strong verbs have seven classes, weak verbs four. Inflectional categories are first, second, and third person, singular, dual (except in the third person), and plural number. Tenses are nonpast and past/preterite. There are two inflected moods, indicative and optative, and two voices (active, passive). The passive is synthetic in the nonpast indicative and optative. The past system features two periphrastic passives, one stative-eventive with wisan (be), the other inchoative and change of state with wairþan (become). Middle functions are mostly represented by simple reflexive structures and -nan verbs. Nonfinite categories include one voice-underspecified infinitive, a nonpast and past participle, and a present active imperative. The third person imperative is normally expressed by an optative.

The nominal system

Nouns are inflected for gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), number (singular and plural), and case: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative. Except in -u- stems, the vocative has the form of the accusative and/or is syncretized with the nominative. Demonstratives and pronominals have a residual instrumental, e.g. þe (by this), and ablative, e.g. jáinþro (from there). Adjectives are similarly inflected but also have strong and weak forms. Comparatives and nonpast participles are weak. The precise syntactic status of D-words (demonstratives, determiners, and articles) is impossible to test. Personal pronouns of the first and second person are inflected for singular, plural, and dual, and have no gender distinction. The third person pronoun has all three genders but only singular and plural number. Interrogative and indefinite pronouns are morphologically identical. Gothic has a rich negative polarity system. Numerals are partly inflected and partly indeclinable. Deictic adverbs belong to an old local case system.

Linearization and typology

This chapter focuses on the linear order of phrasal constituents. Subject pronouns preferentially precede the verb directly. Object pronouns generally follow the verb. Reflexives with few exceptions follow the verb and precede non-reflexives. D-words generally precede nouns and adjectives. Only prepositional phrases occur, from which non-deictic Ds are excluded. Attributive and possessive adjectives tend to follow the noun, quantifiers to precede. The default position for genitives is postnominal. Partitive genitives are nearly always postposed. Discourse particles belong to the left periphery. Some force their host to sentence-initial, especially V1, position. In native Gothic, verbs follow predicate adjectives and auxiliaries follow verbs, as is typical of verb-final languages. Imperatives raise to the left periphery. The negator ni forms a tight constituent with the verb. The chapter closes with a brief overview of Gothic in the context of Germanic word order typology.

Gothic texts

A brief discussion with notes and relevant vocabulary is provided for twelve text selections. The four passages from Matthew include the Lord’s Prayer, which is artistically arranged in recitation groups by manuscript punctuation. Parts of the Parable of the Sower and the Seed are presented from Mark for the discussion of constituent structure in Ch. 11. Important for their non-Biblical content are the landsale deed from Arezzo and the debt-settlement deed from Naples. A short segment from Skeireins illustrates yet another kind of text. Finally, the excerpts from the Bologna fragment are important for their free composition (non-translated) portions.

Case functions

Nominative is the case of most subjects but not all subjects are nominative. So-called quirky subjects (as in dative absolutes) serve as binders for anaphors. There is no special case for topics, which are generally indicated by movement of some constituent to the left periphery. Although the vocative was largely lost as a morphological category, it remained syntactically distinct. The accusative is used for direct objects, cognate objects, secondary predicates, perlatives, and allatives. The genitive is plurifunctional. Adverbal and partitive genitives pattern together, as do adnominal and relational. The polyfunctional dative syncretizes the Indo-European dative, locative, ablative, and instrumental. Verbs with oblique case complements generally passivize with nominative subjects, but with double object verbs, the oblique case remains in passive structures.

Compounding

Gothic is rich in endocentric N+N compounds. Except for V+N, other kinds of nominal endocentrics are also plentiful. Less frequent are adjectival endocentrics. Most productive of the exocentric compounds is the adjectival type (bahuvrihis). Predominant among the synthetic type are those with -(j)an- and participial heads. Gothic has identificational compounds but possibly no dvandvas. These are difficult to identify due to uncertainties in the meaning of the constituents. Several compounding heads were grammaticalized as suffixes, most notably -laus (free from, deprived of) and -leiks ((a)like, -ly). A composition vowel is normal in endocentrics. Bahuvrihis with a non-n-stem adjectival first component have no juncture -a-, nor do compounds beginning with a P-word or indeclinable numeral. No compound types are shared exclusively by Gothic and North Germanic.

Verbal and sentential syntax

Gothic is a null subject language. The binder of an anaphor can be a null subject. Binding requires asymmetrical c-command. Possessive sein- can be a syntactic or discourse anaphor. Gothic may attest the beginning of the Germanic two-reflexive system. The simple reflexive, without silba (self), is productive in anticausative structures. Verbal prefixes alter meaning, lexical, or grammatical aspect. Ga- has numerous other functions, including definiteness and temporal completion. The nonpast participle functions as a relative clause substitute and in absolute constructions. In the absence of switch reference, infinitives are the norm with modal and control verbs and purposives after verbs of motion (otherwise + du). The accusative with a participle or infinitive can be a matrix object or embedded subject. Accusative and infinitive depends on case from the matrix verb. The infinitive is usually wisan (to be) as an expansion of a small clause. Relative clauses require the complementizer ei (that). Verbs whose complements are factual or realizable are typically in the indicative. Those that do not allow a full range of independent tenses in the complement clause, or whose complements are not realized, are only potentially realized, or deal with possible worlds or alternate states of reality, trigger a shift to the optative, which has a number of independent uses as well.

P-Words

P-words encompass prepositions, particles, and prefixes. The cases associated with each preposition (P) are determined partly lexically and partly syntactically. Because of the dative-instrumental-ablative-locative syncretism, most Ps in Gothic are accompanied by the dative. Prefixation is the primary means of altering the meaning or (lexical) aspect of Gothic verbs and deriving new verbs. Most verbs can take prefixes of some sort. Strings of preverbs in the unmarked case are ordered source > goal > place. In main clauses, verbs allow particle stranding of the outermost of two particles, but in subordinate clauses and infinitives, all verbal particles must undergo adjunction. Preposition incorporation is frequent but productive only with miþ (with). Potential instances of preverb gapping are not unequivocal.

Alphabet and phonology

It is generally accepted that Wulfila invented the Gothic alphabet, but there is no agreement on the details. The most explanatory derivation is from Greek with input from Latin and runic. The consonant system has 20 phonemes (one marginal) and five or six allophones. Apart from final obstruent-resonant strings, clusters canonically obey the Sonority Hierarchy. The vowel system has twelve phonemes (seven long, five short), less the diphthongs; some speakers may have had /y/. The main changes that left reflexes in Gothic are discussed. These include Verner’s Law, Thurneysen’s Law, breaking, Sievers’ Law, duple timing and (Verschärfung). Evidence from spelling variation suggests a vowel shift in progress. All but one of the original diphthongs may have been monophthongized. New diphthongs were created.