Northern Subject Rule


The Northern Subject Rule is a grammatical pattern that occurs in Northern English and Scots dialects. 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. Various core areas for the rule have been proposed, including Yorkshire and southern Scotland.
In several other dialects across England, occasional variations in agreement between subjects and verbs can be found.
The origin of the Northern Subject Rule is debated. Some linguists have proposed that it arose, in part, from contact with the British Celtic languages in the early phase of Anglo-Saxon settlement, or Old Norse during the Danelaw period. Others have argued that it was a language-internal development that became common during the Middle English period. The late attestation of the rule and the paucity of northern texts in Old English means that dating its formation, and explaining its origin, with any degree of certainty is difficult.
Graham Shorrocks notes that a similar use of the historic present occurs in some dialects of north Germany, citing Gordon and Wakernagel-Jolles.