LL-L "Grammar" 2001.10.26 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 26.OCT.2001 (04) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Grammar

Dear Lowlanders,

Talking about the kind of grammatical leveling discussed in this thread, and
bearing in mind what Sandy Fleming wrote in his initial inquiry ...

> 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"

... I am wondering about Australian English dialects.  In casual speech you
will hear things like "There's no clean plates left in the cupboard," "There's
swarms of flies," "There's tons of money," "There's about five dollars left,"
and "There's lots of drunken drivers on the roads on Sat'dy nights."

Come to think of it, it seems to be rather limited, probably always to 'to be'
and to "there's ..."  Or is it?  I do not think you would hear anything like
*"The flowers is blooming," definitely nothing like *"The flows grows slowly."

This is mostly based on pre-1983 observations in Australia, mostly in
southwest-coastal Western Australia.

Questions:

Is it still used a lot?

Might it be of Scottish in origin, or can it also be observed in the dialects
of England?

What is its extent/spread?  (What about English dialects elsewhere?)

Another observation, this time in (substandard) American English: "says I"
instead of "I say," "said I" or "I said."

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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