LL-L: "Morphophonology" 11.JUN.2000 (01) [E/LS]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 11.JUN.2000 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk]
Subject: "Orthography"

> From: John M. Tait [jmtait at altavista.net]
> Subject: LL-L: "Orthography" LOWLANDS-L, 01.JUN.2000 (03) [E/S]
>
> The underlying rule - which, as Sandy points out, is natural inScots
> spoken narrative (almost unconscious, which is probably why Scotswriters
> do not automatically transfer it to writing, being influenced bystandard
> English norms) is that the historic present in the first persondoes not
> have the ordinary first person present form, but the form of thethird
> person present. so:
>
> Present: I loss, he losses
> Historic present: I losses, he losses

This condescends on the first & third pairsons singlar, but A'v been
leukin oot some o the mair kittle passages in ma current novel wi ither
pairsons ti see hou A'v written them. A wonder if John or ony ither Scots
spaekers wad like ti check this oot an see if they think it's richt? Ye hae
ti
mind that A'm deif nou an hae ti gae on memory, it's no sae aesy ti check
oot
what fowk dis say ony mair!

Here a sentence A fund in third pairson plural (as weel as first singlar):

"They turns aboot an leuks at me but A ignores them."

Dis this soond aa richt? A'm gey shuir it is whan A compare it wi the
alternative "They turn aboot an leuk at..." Saicont pairson's rare in
narrative (tho the'r some hale stories written this wey in English), an A
dinna happen ti hae onybody narratin in the plural, but A wonder if we
could
conjugate a reglar Scots verb like this:

Praisent:

A turn
thoo turns
he/she/it turns
we turn
you turn
they turn

Preterite:

A turned (soonded [tVrn?] in ma dialeck)
thoo turned
he/she/it turned
we turned
you turned
they turned

Historic praisent:

A turns
thoo turns
he/she/it turns
we turns
you turns
they turns

This aa soonds perfit whan A try some examples in ma heid (A dinna ken "we"

as a Scots word, sae A hae ti think wi "oo" an howp it transfers aa
richt!):

1. "They turns aboot an leuks at us but oo ignores them."

2. "Ye daes yer best for fowk an see what ye gits for it."

A dout this last ane could be sayed like this an aa:

3. "Ye daes yer best for fowk an see what ye git for it."

ie in example 2 the spaeker's on aboot something that's been duin in
the past an the repercussion's in the past an aa, but in example 3
favours wis duin in the past an the repercussion haes juist kythed
shortsyne.
Asweel, ye could say it in the abstrack, mair like a proverb:

4. "Ye daes yer best for fowk an sees what ye gits for it."

This soonds gey like the comic English phrase "You pays your money
and you takes your choice." Aiblins they _ar_ a praisent historic in some
English dialecks!

> (Bi the wey, Sandy, I'm an 'expert' on the speak o juist twa hooses on
the
> isle o Burra in Shetland, ane o thaim wi naebodie bidin in it nou!)

Weel, that's mair nor A ken!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org

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