- Northern subject rule
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The Northern Subject Rule is a grammatical pattern inherited from Northern Middle English. Present tense verbs may take the verbal ‑s suffix, except when they are directly adjacent to one of the personal pronouns I, you, we, or they as their subject. As a result they sing contrasts with the birds sings; they sing and dances; it's you that sings; I only sings.
In the modern Northern English dialects, this pattern varies and now competes with standard forms.
Furthermore, other non-standard dialectal patterns are found which developed separately from the Northern Subject Rule. These include, for example:
- The free use of ‑s in the historic present (especially when introducing quoted speech, I says).
- The free use of ‑s as a marker of habitual semantics (I goes to work) may also occur.
- There is also a widespread tendency to level the contrast between was and were (sometimes to I were, he were, more often to we was, you was).
- The contrast between There was a raven/There were two ravens is levelled almost universally.
Some controversy surrounds its origin. Some scholars (e.g. Graham Isaac) argue for its development out of the Old English verbal endings, but the theory has been voiced that this could be a language contact transfer feature from the Brythonic language historically spoken in that area (e.g. H. Tristram).
This is part of the greater debate whether the Celtic languages have had any influence on the structure of English due to the Celtic population learning the English language rapidly but imperfectly after the coming of the Saxons.
References
- Isaac, Graham R. 2003. “Diagnosing the Symptoms of Contact: Some Celtic-English Case Histories.” In Tristram, Hildegard L.C. (ed.). The Celtic Englishes III. Heidelberg: Winter. pp. 46-64.
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