I'd like to turn for a moment from the verb and consider the personal pronoun since it will aid in the understanding of the verb. Once again, the format by which Norris discusses the pronoun is an unusual one but easily unraveled once one recognizes the forms by modern terminology. Today's notes come from Norris' "Sketch of Cornish Grammar" from his _The Ancient Cornish Drama_ (1968v2:242-250). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cornish Personal Pronoun The subject (nominative) form of the personal pronouns are as follows. Note that when the pronoun occurs after a word ending in a vowel (usually the monosyllabic affirmative particles _a_ or _y_) they take abbreviated forms given in parenthesis: my, me ('m) I ty ('d, 'th) you (sing.) ef ('n) he, it hy ('s) she, it ny ('n) we why ('s) you (pl.) y ('s) they Here are some examples of the subject forms: my a vyn. I will. ty yu. You are. a ty Iacob. O thou Jacob. ef a vyn. He will. hy a torse. She would break. ny a'n tregh. We will cut it. why losels. You rogues. y a'n guanas. They pierced him. The objective (accusative) forms are as follows (they are abbreviated in the sa me manner as the nominative forms): vy me sy, gy you (sing.) ef, e him, it hy, y her, it ny us why you (pl.) y they The objective forms can occur before or after the verb. They usually occur after the verb in imperative sentences: gas vy. Let me. guyth vy. Preserve me. kychough ef. Catch him. na glamyowg ny. Don't blame us. gura y. Make them. Sometimes the objective forms can occur after verbs mearly as intensive pronouns or, in the _Ordinalia_, to preserve a poetic metre: ny welaf vy. _I_ don't see. dun ny. Let us go. may fewg why. That _you_ may be. When an object, the pronoun often occurs between the verb and the affirmative particles _a_ or _y_. This usage is akin to French were the object pronouns may occur before the verb. In this usage, the forms are usually abbreviated: me a'th cusyl. I advise you. an laddron a'n dyalas. The thieves mocked him. my a's henow. I name her. mar a's guel. If he sees you. my a's gueres. I will cure you. del y'm kyrry. As you love me. The pronouns occur in combined forms with most prepositions. The more common prepositions join with the pronoun as follows: yn: in rag: for, before dre: by, through ynnof: in me ragof: for me drethof: by me ynnos: in you ragos: for you drethos: by you ynno: in him ragtho: for him dretho: by him ynny: in her ragthy: for her drythy: by her ynnon: in us ragon: for us drethon: by us ynnough: in you ragough: for you drethough: by you ynne: in them ragthe: for them drethe: by them gans: by, with war: upon a: from, of genef: by, with me warnaf: upon me ahanaf: from me genes: by, with you warnas: upon you ahanas: from you ganso: by, with him warnotho: upon him anotho: from him gynsy: by, with her warnethy: upon her anethy: from her genen: by, with us warnan: upon us ahanan: from us geneugh: by, with you warnough: upon you ahanough: from you ganse: by, with them warnethe: upon them annethe: from them the: to thym (dym): to me thys (dys): to you thotho (dotho): to him thethy (dethy): to her thyn (dyn): to us theugh (deugh): to you thethe (dethe): to them -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Must sign off now as its been longer than I thought it would be to put up this new post. Lots left to discuss so stay tuned. Anthony Velasquez Oregon State Univeristy (E-mail) velasqua@ucs.orst.edu =========================================================================