Development of the category of voice in old Germanic languages in the context of "inverted synchrony"

Abstract

The paper describes the category of voice in Old Germanic languages on the basis of historical linguistics. The inventory of voice precategory constructions in Gothic-Scandinavian and West German areas has been outlined. The aim of the paper is to analyze peculiarities of the category of voice in Old Germanic languages in the context of "inverted synchrony". The results of typological studies concerning specifics of origin and development of the category of voice have significantly broadened the idea of its functioning, and determined the asymmetry of voice oppositions within the paradigm. The key findings resulted in grammatical voice distribution on active, reverse, passive, reciproc, mediopassive voices and different levels of grammaticalization. It has been established the grammatical category of voice is dynamic and acquires various transformations. In the historical periods of its formation the categoty of voice exemplified features of mobility within open dynamic systems. It has been found that in Old Germanic the voice grammatical constructions were not formed completely, that is why the periphrastic constructions were the first implementers of the category of voice and were the basis for emergence of grammatical constructions with elements of categorial content. The author of the paper outlines system relations in the paradigm of the category of voice, marked by gradual qualitative changes, which were extremely intense at the end of the Old Germanic period. Prospects for the following studies lie in the formation of grammatical means for realization the voice pre-category constructions in the ancient period of the studied languages.