Re: why the -s in English verbs?

Trond Engen skreiv:

In many dialects, however, the grammatical case of pronouns has given way to a split between accentuated and unaccentuated forms. The accentuated forms are used initially or for emphasis. The unaccentuated forms generally act like clitics. This is most developed in the third person (the examples are somewhat idealized from my own Eastern Norwegian idiolect):

(Eng: X hit(s) - When X hit(s) - Does X hit? - I _hit_ X - I hit _X_)

The last two columns are past tence forms. It didn't occur to me that the English 'hit' is ambiguous to tence.

3psm: Han slår - Nårn slår - Slårn? - Jæ slon - Jæ slo han
3psf: Hu slår - Nåra slår - Slåra? - Jæ sloa - Jæ slo henner
3pp: Dem slår - Nårem slår - Slårem? - Jæ sloðem - Jæ slo dem

I should have added a column for the present transitive with emphasis on the verb:

3psm: Jæ slårn
3psf: Jæ slåra
3pp: Jæ slårem

1ps: Jæ slår - Nåjæ slår - Slåjæ? - Jæ slomæ - Jæ slo mæi
2ps: Du slår - Nåru slår - Slåru? - Jæ sloðæ - Jæ slo dæi
1pp: Vi slår - Nåvi slår - Slåvi? - *Jæ slovårs - *Jæ slo vårs
2pp: Dere slår - Når dere slår - Slår dere? - Jæ slo dere - Jæ slo dere

1ps: Jæ slåmæ
2ps: Jæ slåræ
1pp: *Jæ slåvårs
2pp: Jæ slår dere

[...] As you see, in some instances it's parsing from syntax that tells us whether the clitic is a subject or an object.

--
Trond Engen
- silencing the clitics
.