Sochi

[Leigh Kimmel]

> ------------------------------
> 
> Date:    Sun, 9 May 2010 13:20:40 -0400
> From:    E Wayles Browne <ewb2 at CORNELL.EDU>
> Subject: Re: =?koi8-r?Q?=F3=CF=DE=C9?=
> (snip)
> I think it is English that is the odd man out, or odd
> language out, in this respect--not Russian.
> English often has singular agreement for plural-form place
> names, e.g. not only "Mineral'nye
> Vody is..." but also "The United States is..."
> It is interesting to look at the Wikipedia article for
> British Virgin Islands. This name occurs in the
> text both with singular verbs and with plural verbs.
> 

The "United States is/United States are" usage is of historical and political interest -- prior to the American Civil War/War Between the States/War of the Rebellion (a name choice which is of itself of intense historical and political significance), most people typically used the "United States are" construction, but afterward there was a shift to "United States is" as a way of affirming the indivisibility of the Republic.

It is interesting to note that in Harry Turtledove's alternate Civil War series (_How Few Remain_ and its sequels), he has his Northern characters continuing to use the construction "United States are," treating the weakened Union as a collection of sovereign states rather than an over-sovereignty.

It's further complicated by English having shifted away from formal grammatical agreement of the words as lexical items to logical agreement of the underlying referents to the words, but that's starting to get into Sapir-Whorf territory.
--
Leigh Kimmel -- writer, artist, historian and bookseller
leighkimmel at yahoo.com     http://www.leighkimmel.com/
http://www.billionlightyearbookshelf.com/
http://www.amazon.com/shops/starshipcat/


      

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