LL-L: "Grammar" LOWLANDS-L, 17.DEC.1999 (01) [E/S]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 17.DEC.1999 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: john feather <johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: "Grammar"

John M Tait wrote:

>. I wondered gin the modren Scots uiss o _wis_ wi _you_ micht be a survival
frae the aulder Scots 'thou' forms, an if say, gin thay'r onie tendency ti
uise it wi _you_ singular raither nor _you_ plural.<

In demotic London English we have "we was", "you was" and "they was", but
not the corresponding "is" forms. In what - for want of a clearer picture in
my own mind - I shall call "country dialects" there are the indicative forms
"I/he were", as well as "I/he be". A  "confusion" between "you" and "thou"
forms "explains" only a small part of a larger phenomenon.

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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