Re: Dialect & accent (was: Announcement: New auxlang "Choton")

From:    Trebor Jung <treborjung@...>
> Ray írta: "A few older dialect relicts remain, e.g. in my native Sussex, the
> simple present tense affixes -(e)s for _all_ persons, not just the 3rd
> singular."
>
> So is this where 'methinks' comes from?
No, actually, _methinks_ is an ancient construction, in which the
experiencer is treated as a kind of oblique (Dative in OldEng), and
the verb agrees with the NP motivating the experience.  The phenomenon
that Ray is referring to involves how agreement in general works in
one dialect, not just agreement for one class of verbs.

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Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637

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