re Northern Subject Rule

[Gordon Selway]

What about one of the basic rules of classical Greek - neuter plural nouns take
a singular verb, which I think was presented to us in my first lesson in the
early '60s (well 'before the Beatles first LP')?

The construction is similar (but not entirely so) in Gaelic - it could be
formulated as plural nouns take singular verbs - but the synthetic forms are
not common in Scots, and may be relatively rare in some Irish dialects.

How much are the similarities (between English and Insular Celtic) areal?  And
how far apart were Brittonic and Gadelic before moving into Old Welsh and Old
Irish respectively - if they were quite close, and the influences which are
supposed to be substrates were common to both islands, why should there be a
difference between the two?  [Thurneysen seems not to include this construction
explicitly in his Grammar of Old Irish, and I've not been able to unearth any
other Gadelic, or any Welsh, grammars.]

Gordon Selway
<gordonselway at gn.apc.org>

At 12:58 pm 10/12/00, David L. White wrote:
>        As noted by Klehmola (and Venneman), one of the more striking
>evidences for Brtittonic influence in English is the so-called "Northern
>Subject Rule".

[ moderator snip]