LL-L: "Grammar" LOWLANDS-L, 07.OCT.2001 (02) [S]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 07.OCT.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Grammar"

Whan we haed the discussion anent makkin corrections tae Scots texts for
praisentation, it wis generally agreed that correctin spellins wis aa richt,
but no correctin grammar. That wis the end o'd at the time, but lately A'v
could pit the anglifications made bi Scots writers ettlin at fause
literariness intae fower categories (verb concord, past pairticiple vycins,
liaison, an which/wha/that confusion), an aa o them can be automate wi
little mair than simple mark-up, sae it's possible nou for me tae offer twa
vairsions o a text, the tane wi the makar's grammar an the tither wi mair
clessic (an maind that means mair consistent) grammar.

In tryin this system oot on the Tam O'Shanter, three o the fower categories
is smaa trouble, but whan it comes tae verb concord, some kittle pynts comes
up that A'd like tae hear some ither opeenions on.

The Tam O'Shanter begins like this (this an aa the ither texts quoted is ma
orthographically-redd-up vairsions):

When chapman billies leave the street,
An drouthy neibors neibors meet,
As market-days are wearin late,
An folk begin to tak the gate;

In a mair clessic Scots grammar (an tho A say "clessic", Scots is still
spoken like this) the verb concord is different:

When chapman billies leaves the street,
An drouthy neibors neibors meets,
As market-days is wearin late,
An folk begins to tak the gate;

The question here is - should A chainge "street" tae "streets" here, for tae
haud the rhyme siccar?

It gets mair saerious whan the chainge o verb concord affecks the scansion:

As bees bizz(es) out wi angry fyke
When plunderin herds assail(s) their byke,
As open(s) pussie's mortal foes
When pop! she starts before their nose,
As eager rins the market-croud,
When 'Catch the thief!' resounds aloud.
Sae Maggie runs; the witches follow(s),
Wi mony an eldritch skriech an hollow.

The'r naething'll sort the rhyme this time, no that it richt maiters. Mair o
a maiter is the extrae syllable gits pitten on "bizz". This maks a bourach o
the scansion, but at the same time, the surfer haes requested the correckit
vairsion o the text - is it better tae get the scansion richt, or is it
better tae lat the reader see the richt grammar an mak up his ain mind hou
tae read it?

Gin ye like a chaillenge, it's no that sinnle thir twa difficulties comes
thegither at ae locus, likes o in Lucky Nancy (makar unbekent):

While fops in saft Italian verse
Ilk fair anes een an breist rehearse(s)

This verb concord business raxes oot intae extrae dimensions whan it comes
tae the saicont body singular forms o the verb. Here "thee/thou/thy" as it
stauns in the Tam O'Shanter (A'v capitalised the relevant verb-pronoun
pairs, wi the pattern bein important):

O Tam! HADST THOU but been sae wice
As taen thy ain wife Kate's advice!
She tauld thee weel THOU WIS a skellum,
A bletherin, blusterin, drunken blellum;
That frae November till October,
Ae market-day THOU WISNA sober;
That ilka melder wi the miller
THOU SAT as lang as THOU HAD siller;
That every naig wis ca'd a shoe on,
The smith an thee gat roarin fou on;
That at the Lord's house, even on Sunday,
THOU DRANK wi Kirkton Jean till Monday.
She prophesied that, late or suin,
THOU WAD be fund deep droun'd in Doon;
Or catch'd wi warlocks in the mirk
Bi Alloway's auld haunted kirk.

Ye'll notice that oot o seeven uises here, Burns uizes the richt Scots form
in six o them - ie he dis ken what he's daein! The question is what A should
dae wi the ane whare he uizes the English form. On the tae haun, the fack
that he uizes the Scots forms hissel suggests aa the mair that, for
consistency, A should apply the Scots form in the correckit vairsion; on the
tither, the fack that he seems tae ken what he's daein suggest that he's
uizin the English form for dramatic effeck in the openin line o the passage.
On the ither haun, A'm no shuir the "Biblical" diction here is aa that
noticeable - the hale passage is preachy an yet it maistly uizes naitral
Scots diction. For the sake o consistency again, could A be juistified in
sayin that the differ atween "hadst thou" an "had thou" isna aa that muckle,
mak it consistent?

It's interestin tae think hou Burns meant "hadst thou" tae be soondit, tho.
Did he expeck his readers/reciters tae say [hVdst DVu] an yet say [hVd Du:]?
An again, what's mair important, guid Scots or a literary effeck winnin fae
a pawkie mixtur o Scots an English?

Ye micht airgy that "hadst thou" an "had thou" is sax an six, but wi the
verb "tae be" the'r a extrae dimension again. Leuk at this verse fae "My
Love is Like a Red, Red Rose":

Sae fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
      Sae deep in love am I:
An I will lo'e thee still, my dear,
      Till a' the seas gang dry.

Or, wi the grammar correckit the wey A'v been sayin:

Sae fair is thou, my bonnie lass,
      Sae deep in love am I:
An I will lo'e thee still, my dear,
      Till a' the seas gangs dry.

Nou it's a maiter o opeenion (but syne this is hou A want ither opeenions!),
but ye could fairly say that "art thou" dis soond better in this sang. A
masel wad fain juist mak it aa guid Scots, but in this case the ar a
alternative tae "is thou", because some translators o the Bible intae Scots
haes uized the form "thou are" insteed o the English "thou art". In fack,
"thou are" is the normal form in Orkney, an tho Orcadian is different fae
mainland Scots the ar the question o whether Bible translators got this form
fae Orcadian, or whether they kent it fae mainland Scots. A dout it's haurd
tae ken nou, wi the "thou" forms haurly bein uized ony mair on the mainland,
but houever it micht be, it's still a fack that the ar a biblical precedent
for this uizage.

Sae A could suggest a third form o this verse:

Sae fair are thou, my bonnie lass,
      Sae deep in love am I:
An I will lo'e thee still, my dear,
      Till a' the seas gangs dry.

An the question is, what ane o the three div ye's aa like best?

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
                          - C.W.Wade,
                    'The Adventures o McNab'

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