query: John 'n them, John's mob, etc.

[David Gil]

Dear all,

This query is about dialects of English which have associative 
non-singular constructions of the form /John 'n them/ or /John's mob/.  
(This is actually just an amplification of "Question 1" in my previous 
message on associatives dated 28 November.)  My question is:  in 
constructions of the form

(1) John 'n them have gone home
(2) John's mob have gone home

can the subject NP refer to exactly two persons (ie. John and one of his 
friends), or must it necessarily refer to three or more persons (ie. 
John and at least two of his friends)?

In your response, please state which dialect of English you're reporting 
on, and what the form of the associative construction is.

Thanks,

David


PS Of course I'd still be very happy to get data from other languages as 
well (as per the earlier query).

-- 
David Gil

Department of Linguistics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119
Email: gil at eva.mpg.de
Webpage:  http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/