LL-L: "Verbs" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 08.JUN.1999 (01)

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From: "Ian James Parsley" <I.J.Parsley at newcastle.ac.uk>
Subject: Resources

Sandy,

Yes, you make a very valid point concerning "he wus at tha ploo" vs.
"he was ploughing" - namely that Scots prefers noun phrases to simple
verbs more often than not. This is a point particularly well
established in Robinson's Ulster-Scots Grammar (1997), and an obvious
giveaway when somebody tries to speak Scots without really knowing
the intricacies of the language.

Similarly:

"He taen/tuk a danner" vs. "he dannert"
"He's at his darg" vs. "he's working"
"Scho's awa fur a swim" vs. "scho's went/gaun swimman"

A tricky point well worth highlighting.
--------
Ian.
PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT reply directly to this mail.
Instead use address: parsleyij at geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/1677

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From: "Ian James Parsley" <I.J.Parsley at newcastle.ac.uk>
Subject: Strong verbs

Sandy also made a point about the past of "slide" being "slade" in
the piece referred to, by analogy with "bide"/"bade". As I mentioned
before, this was of particular interest to me, as I've recently
completed a dissertation on the subject (with particular reference to
German), and may, funding permitting, be able to continue this with
reference to all West Germanic languages.

To explain: originally all Germanic verbs were strong - that is to
say they did NOT form their past tense by addition of a dental suffix
(i.e. 't' or 'd'), thus usually forming their past forms by mutation
of the root vowel (thus /slaid/ - /slid/). Nobody quite knows why the
dental suffix became used as a past-tense marker; the most likely
explanation is that it is in fact a shortened form of "to do" (thus
the /d/ typical in English also common in Dutch, yet the /t/ in
German).

This dental suffix marker proved remarkably productive (i.e. it
became the regular and common way of forming the past), and
historically the shift has been almost entirely strong verbs becoming
weak rather than the other way around. This process is still ongoing
- the German "bellen" has only recently become weak and verbs such as
"backen" seem in the process of becoming so (tho' this is more
noticeable in the south, in fact).

However, where strong verbs fall into a pattern, it is not impossible
for them to attract weak verbs. The English "to dive" has
historically always been weak, yet in American English "dove" is the
preferred past tense form by analogy with "drive-drove", "rise-rose"
etc. (tho' I've yet to hear "I have diven"!). Ulster-Scots shows an
even more extreme tendency - "dryv-driv", "rys-ris" and also now
"dyv-div" and even (though the verb is extremely rare) "arryv-arriv".

Very occasionally verbs "strengthen" apparently by their own accord -
consider "dig-digged" of the King James Bible - but this is very
rare. It is interesting, however, to note Sandy's example of
"slide-slid" apparently shifting to "slide-slade" (altho' I don't
know the history of the verb - perhaps the shift was the other way).
I would be most interested to hear examples of weak verbs becoming
strong or strong verbs "changing class" from all Lowlands languages,
particularly the lesser-used ones.

Regards,
--------
Ian.
PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT reply directly to this mail.
Instead use address: parsleyij at geocities.com
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/1677

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