LL-L "Grammar" 2001.10.17 (02) [E/S]
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Wed Oct 17 22:53:35 UTC 2001
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L O W L A N D S - L * 17.OCT.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Grammar"
I've mentioned verb concord in Scots a few times lately in
the grammar thread without particularly explaining how it
works. I've been thinking, however, that verb concord in
Scots is an interesting subject in itself and I thought I'd
try to explain it more fully here because of the contrast
between this in Scots, where the inflection on the verb very
much depends on "direct contact" with the subject that the
verb agrees with, as opposed to in English (and all the
other Indo-European languages I know), where verb concord
is independent of how close the verb is to the subject.
It would be interesting to know what other Scots speakers
and students of Scots think of my interpretation of the
subject, especially since writers in modern Scots have
avoided it in favour of English verb concord, afraid of
seeming uneducated, and the usual explanations of verb
concord by modern writers on the language is usually
inadequate.
It would also be very interesting to discover whether
there is anything similar to Scots verb concord in other
Lowlands languages such as Frisian or Low Saxon.
The unusual verb concord of Scots has been observed since
as long as Scots has been written. The opening verses to
Henryson's Fables, for example, contain the following lines:
In lyke maner as throw the bustious eird,
(Swa it be laubourit with grit diligence)
Springis the flouris, and the corne abreird
...
Henryson writes "springs the flouers" rather than "*spring
the flouers", or, removing the poetic syntax, "the flouers
springs". This is typical Scots verb concord, even in modern
speech: the inflected form of the verb is retained with
plural nouns.
In fact, a good general rule for applying strict Scots verb
concord is that the inflected form of the present tense verb
(this excludes infinitive forms) is _always_ used except for
when the verb is in _direct contact_ with a _personal subject
pronoun_.
There's one exception, which is that the verb concord for the
verb "to be" may go either way, eg:
"The flouers are springin"
and
"The flouers is springin"
could both be said to be correct. I think this is because
historically, Scots verb concord originally only applied to
regular verbs (ie nearly all verbs), and then was gradually
transferred to irregular verbs, although for the verb "to be"
the process never seems to have been completed.
Most narrative literature is written in the past tense so it
can be difficult to find examples of present tense verb
concord, but an excellent illustration of all this is Sanders
Montgomerie's song "The Nicht is Neir Gone":
Hey! now the day dauis,
The jolie cok crauis,
Now shroudis the shauis
Throu Nature anone.
The thissell-cok cryis
On lovers wha lyis,
Now skaillis the skyis:
The nicht is neir gone.
The feildis ouerflouis
With gouans that grouis
Where lilies like lou is,
Als rid as the rone.
The turtill that treu is,
With notes that reneuis,
Her partie perseuis:
The nicht is neir gone.
Now hartis with hyndis,
Conform to their kyndis,
Hie tursis their tyndis,
On grund where they grone.
Now hurchonis, with hairis,
Ay passis in pairis;
Whilk deuly declaris
The nicht is neir gone.
The sesone excellis
Thrugh sweetness that smellis:
Now Cupid compellis
Our heartis echone.
On Venus wha waikis,
To muse on our maikis,
Syn sing, for their saikis:
"The nicht is neir gone."
All curageous knichtis
Aganis the day dichtis
The breist plate that bright is,
To feght with their fone.
The stoned steed stampis
Through coinage and crampis,
Syn on the land lampis:
The nicht is neir gone.
The freikis on feildis
That wight wapins weildis
With shining bright shieldis
As Titan in trone;
Stiff speiris in reistis,
Ouer cursoris crestis,
Are brok on their breistis:
The nicht is neir gone.
So hard are their hittis,
Some sweyis, some sittis,
And some perforce flittis
On grund whill they grone.
Syn groomis that gay is,
On blonkis that brayis,
With swordis assayis:
The nicht is neir gone.
Isolating and modernising some of the lines that contrast
with English verb concord and suchlike we see that...
1. Nouns always take the inflected form of the verb:
Nou shrouds the shaws
On lovers that lies,
Nou skaills the skies:
The fields owerflowes
Wi gowans that growes
Wi notes that renews,
Hie turses their tynds,
Some sweys, some sits,
On blancs that brays,
2. As I suggested, the use of the verb "to be" is inconsistent (you
can see that Montgomerie has taken advantage of this to get rhymes,
but seems to prefer "are" if there is no need of a rhyme):
Where lilies like lou is,
Are broke on their breists:
So hard are their hits,
Syne grooms that gay is,
3. But the verb isn't inflected when in direct contact with a personal
pronoun:
On grund where they grone.
However, a point often missed by students of the language
(including, most unfortunately, Lorimer in his translation
of the New Testament), is that the verb has to be in
_direct contact_ with the personal pronoun, or the inflection
will be retained.
Montgomerie's song has no examples of this, but he does show
us this in action in "The Cherrie and the Slae":
"I grip fast if the ground be good
And fleets where it is false;"
Here, "grip" is in direct contact with the personal pronoun
"I", and so loses the inflection, whereas "fleets" is distant
from it and so retains the inflection.
Here are a few more examples from down the centuries:
"Thai saw nocht, nouther scheris, nouther gaderis" ("they saw
nocht, naither shears, naither gethers" - from Nisbet's
translation of the New Testament)
"I lang has thocht..." (from Burns's "Epistle to a Young Friend")
"I never likes tae mak step-bairns o the neebors that's sae
freendly tae us" (from Uncle Tom's "Mrs Goudie's Tea Pairty").
Beyond this, we come into some areas I'm not so sure about,
being heard in speech but rarely written. One phenomenon is
the use of speech tags with verb-subject inversion:
"'A'm no like some folk,' says she.
'Ay, ye wis aye a twa-face bizom,' thinks I tae masel."
This might just be the present historic tense, however, in
which in Scots, the inflection is always retained. Nevertheless,
there are some interesting constructions. It seems to me, for
example, that when the verb/pronoun order is inverted the
inflection is still suppressed, but it may be retained after a
question-word:
"Am A tae gae tae the shops the day?"
but:
"Hou's A tae ken whare ye'r gaun?"
I know this sort of thing is said - I hear it and have noticed
myself using it - but I'm not so sure of how to formulate rules
for it, because writers in Scots seem to avoid it - either they
don't want to sound uneducated or they just haven't noted it well
enough to transfer it to their writing.
One final point to clarify an example above: "Ay, ye wis aye...",
it's fairly normal to use the form "wis" in the past tense plural
rather than "were", as well as in the singular. This is often said
to be "dialectical", but seems to me to be extremely widespread.
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
----------
From: Andy.Eagle at t-online.de (Andy Eagle)
Subject: Grammar [S]
Sandy Fleming wrate:
<sned>
>Ay, A should say that the raeson maist o ma examples wis fae Burns is that
>Burns is a sicht mair kittle than the rest o them tae sort. He seems tae
hae
>a faur braider range o diction than maist, an uizes it aa gey intelligent,
>sae altho maist folk's stuff can be sortit nae bather, A finnd masel haein
>tae gae a bit tentier wi Burns. Ae thing A'v noticed is that tho Fergusson
>an maist the ither anes'll uize a English wird richt in the middle o Scots
>juist for tae git A rhyme, whan Burns daes this he tends tae mak the hale
>line English, no juist the wird at the end, an what's mair he seems tae
>manage it at juist sic a place as this kin o diction wirks fine. Leuk at
>this verse, for example:
>
>I gaed a waefu gate yestreen,
> A gate, I fear, I'll dearly rue;
>I gat my daith frae twa sweet een,
> Twa lovely een o bonnie blue.
>'TWAS NOT HER GOLDEN RINGLETS BRIGHT,
> Her lips like roses wat wi dew,
>Her heaving bosom lily-white;
> It was her een sae bonnie blue.
>
>- fae "The Blue-Ee'd Lassie".
>
>It seems tae me that chaingin the bright here wad kin o waste the diction
as
>weel as the rhyme.
Richt eneuch, Burns is weel kent for the skeelie wey he uised Scots an
English thegither for effect.
Lik in 'To A louse'
Wee sleekit cowrin tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickerin brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,
Wi' murderin' pattle!
I'm sorry man's dominion,
Has broken nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle
At me , thy poor, earth-born companion,
An' fellow mortal!
...
Appearently the Scots represents the roch nature o kintra life an the
English the refinement o civilisation etc. Or something alang thae lines -
A'm no a leeterar creetic but ye ken whit A mean.
O course whan it comes tae presentin siclike ye canna chynge the English
acause it wad scomfish the hail pynt o sicna uiss o langage.
Coud ye no pynt oot that Burns uised Englsh for poetic effect an present
the English lines etc. that's deleeberate in anither colour lik daurk gray
for ensaumple gin the lave o the text is in black.
Ma 'redd up' version:
Wee sleekit couerin timorous beastie,
O, whit a panic's in thy breistie!
Thou needna stairt awa sae hasty,
Wi bickerin brattle!
A wad be laith to rin an chase thee,
Wi murderin pattle!
I'm sorry man's dominion,
Has broken nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes thee startle
At me , thy poor, earth-born companion,
An' fellow mortal!
Bi the by dis oniebodie ken gin the 'thy' an 'thee' wis uised in Scots o the
time or wis it anither leeterar affectation?
Aw A ken o is thon ye, thoo thingmie that's aiblins uised bi aulder fowk in
soothren Scots an still tae the fore in Shetland.
>A think maist like if the Bible wis pitten ower intae Aulder Scots, the
>sitiation wad be the same as in English - the poets micht uize its langage
>for effeck, but the fowk wad juist gae on spaekin their ain Scots.
Ay, o coorse A wisna meanin fowk wad nou be speakin Aulder Scots if the
Bible haed been owerset.
>As for the Union, Middle Scots wis shuirly awa bi thon? An what wey dis
folk
>think on Middle Scots as "michty" or "muckle"? It seems tae me tae be mair
>English-like than modern Scots tradition, an if it seems "muckle", it's
>juist wi the wey the Makars ay teuk len-wirds fae ither langages tae bouk
it
>up a bittie!
Thon bit o 'Middle Scots' A made up masel. It wisna meant tae be sairious.
Tho thare's some bodies aboot that thinks it wad be grand gin we wrate thon
wey.
Andy Eagle
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