Re: Old Norse (was Re: New to the list)

Oskar Gudlaugsson wrote:

>  As regards English, the
> honorific pronoun has overtaken the normal 'thou' (I know you know that). I
> see this as the single most annoying, confusing, and intolerable part of the
> language: failure to make a singular-plural distinction in the second person
> pronouns. "You guys" can't always cover the plural, as it's very colloquial
> and often inappropriate. I've often heard English speakers say something
> like "you, and with you I mean all of you, as a nation, not you
> personally..." to me.
That's really only true, though, for Standard English.  Nearly 100 million Southerners
in the US -- somewhere between a fifth and a fourth of all native English speakers
anywhere -- use "y'all", and "youse" is supposed to be used in various (mostly basilectal)
varieties in the Northern US and in the UK.  "y'all" has no class connotations, and would
only not be used in highly formal situations, such as official ceremonies, (most) government
speeches, and on (most) television programs.

The 'thou'/'you' distinction is current in some rural areas of England as well.

> One of those things I don't really understand how they
> could happen (as well as the overuse of the /-s/ morphophoneme).
What "overuse" are you referring to?

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: trwier
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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