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Benskin, Michael, “Present indicative plural concord in Brittonic and Early English”, Transactions of the Philological Society 109:2 (July, 2011): 158–185.

  • journal article
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Article
“Present indicative plural concord in Brittonic and Early English”
Periodical
Transactions of the Philological Society 109:2 (2011)
Laker, Stephen, and Paul Russell (eds), Transactions of the Philological Society 109:2 — Special Issue: Languages of early Britain (July, 2011).
Volume
109
Pages
158–185
BibTeX
Description
Abstract (cited)
In northern Middle English and Middle Scots, a verb in the present indicative plural ends in -e (later zero) if the subject is an adjacent personal pronoun; otherwise it ends in -s. This ‘northern subject rule’ is generally supposed to have become established in early Middle English. Its history is undocumented, but the idea that it arose from contact with Celtic has recently gained ground. The case is here reviewed, and though still far from compelling, is found better than has previously appeared. Regardless of language contact, it is shown that the system evident in the rule is independent of the suffix in -s, and could have arisen very early in Old English. Central to the account are the origins of the reduced inflection, and the loss at syllable boundaries of Old English h (Germanic χ).
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Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
February 2015, last updated: January 2019
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