Non-Standard conjoined subject noun phrases

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Feb 24, 2010, at 7:14 PM, Robin Hamilton wrote:

> ... at least I think that's what I'm asking about.
>
> Specifically, what (if anything) can be said about the relation of
> five
> texts located sometime in the eighteenth and early nineteenth
> centuries.
> The linkage may be purely chance, but it seems possible that some
> sort of
> correspondence lies behind them.

[all the texts have sentences with subjects of the form "me and NPpl"]

this is what i think of as "vernacular case marking" of subjects (as
opposed to the prescriptive standard).  subjects of this form have
been around for centuries -- and, of course, continue to the present
day.  there's nothing remarkable about your examples.

a number of linguists have noted that the scheme for vernacular case
marking is:
   use Nom for a subject (that is, a "complete subject");
   use Acc otherwise.
and some have claimed that this system is more "natural" than the
prescriptive standard system.

arnold

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