on 16/12/2000 1:57 am, [EMAIL PROTECTED] at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Looking at Cynthia's transcription below, and specifically at the use of the
't' ending for certain past tenses, I would say Burns did get the song from
a third party and did not write it himself. Fere is normally spelt without
the i, either way.
> And pu't the gowans fine;
> We twa hae paidlet i' the burn,
> And there's a hand, my trusty feire,
There are parts of the song which point to construction by somone whose
natural word-order and vocabulary are English rather than Scots. The mock
antique 't' ending must have been clearly pronounced and I don't think that
Burns himself would have employed this for an active past participle like
pulled or paddled (pu't and paidlet). In real speech it seems to gravitate
towards passive, reflex or adjectival forms: e.g. 'marriet' (as a
condition), drookit (ditto) etc. Using it where the 'd' form would be
correct and normal is an affectation which makes the language seem more
archaic, and on the whole Burns avoided this and tried to stick with real
vernacular or plain Scots (just as he equally carefully avoided the Strephon
and Phyllida syndrome!). Also words like 'trusty' and clauses like 'There's
a hand' are plain poetry - if I had to reword the opening of the last verse
in believable Scots it would be
Sae tak' ma haun', ma leal fren'
Bullshit warning: I know nothing about all this. I just read stuff and think
about it, and I don't even speak the language. David
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