Re: Nostratic (was Re: Schwebeablaut (was Re: tolkien?))

John writes:

>Rob Haden scripsit:
>
>>  English has replaced two of its pronouns: first
>>  _hi_ "they" was replaced by an Old Norse 3p pronoun, which is the ancestor
>>  of Modern English "they";
>
>And a good thing too, or the 3sg/3pl distinction would have vanished in
>the nominative due to sound change.
Why a "good thing"? The 3sg/3pl distinction is still maintained in
the verb conjugation in modern English (eg. brings/bring). German
manages to survive with sie bringt/sie bringen/Sie bringen. And even
if the verb distinction theoretically had tanked, perhaps we would
have come up with something analogous to how we (in various dialects)
distinguish "you" in the singular and the plural. He all? H'all? He
guys? Heze? Heze guys? ad infinitum, ad nauseum.....

Kou