LL-L: "Grammar" LOWLANDS-L, 16.DEC.1999 (02) [S]

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From: Sandy Fleiman [sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk]
Subject: "Grammar"

> From: John M. Tait <jmtait at altavista.net>
> Subject: Scots Grammar (new subject)
>
> It's weel kent at the rule at in Scots plural verbs follaes
> plural pronouns
> disna aye haud in the past tense. In this airt fowk will say. 'Wis you' -
> but no 'is you' ('is or is you aint my baby'!);, 'ye wis' but no 'ye is'.
> In Shetlandic, on the ither haund, plural pronouns aye taks plural verbs.
> But the uiss o 'wis' wi 'you' is the same as the Shetlandic uiss wi the
> singular fameiliar pronoun 'du', aulder Scots 'thou', tho 'du' taks
> singular verbs regular - e.g. 'is' as weel as 'wis'. I wondered gin the
> modren Scots uiss o _wis_ wi _you_ micht be a survival frae the aulder
> Scots 'thou' forms, an if say, gin thay'r onie tendency ti uise
> it wi _you_
> singular raither nor _you_ plural.

A dinna think sae, masel - it disna aa fit thegither. For ae thing, we say
"we wis" an "they wis" as weel as "ye wis". An it disna explain hou it disna
happen in the praisent tense an aa - or wi ony ither verbs!

A thocht a guid few year syne on the idea o there bein a tendency ti uize it
wi the singular an no the plural, but the war nae evidence ti support the
idea A could finnd. A wad even uize this wi the "plural plural", i.e. A'd
say "Yes wis aa..." as weel as "Ye wis" baith singular an plural (an "You
wis", emphatic).

Bi the wey, A wad pit this verb declension as stanart Scots raither than
juist a dialectical variant. Altho Scots writers tends ti "correct" this kin
o thing, in the ScotsteXt texts it seems ti kythe in a fair nummer o
dialects aa the road back ti at laest Veectorian times - that's ma
impression fae hivin read them, onywey. Aiblins this wad be a guid time ti
cry up the ScotsteXt sairch engine!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org   <-- click here, go'n!  :)
http://www.fleimin.demon.co.uk

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