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Mercian dialect
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==Grammar== Mercian grammar has the same structure as other [[West Germanic dialect]]s. ===Nouns=== Nouns have three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter; and four cases: [[nominative]], [[accusative]], [[dative]] and [[genitive]]. These, in addition, all have [[Grammatical number|singular]] and [[plural]] forms. They can also be strong or weak. ====Examples==== *Strong masculine noun ''stān'' (stone) **nominative (singular, plural): stān, stānes **accusative: stān, stānes **dative: stāne, stānen **genitive: stānes, stāne *Weak masculine noun ''name'' (name) **nominative: name, namen **accusative: namen/name, namen **dative: namen/name, namen **genitive: namen/name. namene/namen ===Pronouns=== [[Personal pronoun]]s (I/me, you, he, she, we, you (pl.) and they) come in all the above cases and come in three numbers: singular, dual ('you/we two'), plural. [[Demonstrative pronoun]]s vary in the same way described below for the indefinite article, based on 'ðes' only for ''this''. ''That'' and ''Those'' are the same as the definite article. [[Relative pronoun]]s (who, which, that) are usually 'ðe' and 'ðet.' ===Articles=== The [[definite article]] is equally complex, with all [[Grammatical gender|genders]] changing in the singular in all cases, based on variations of 'ðe.' In the plural all genders take the same word. The [[indefinite article]] was often omitted in Mercian. ===Adjectives=== Adjectives are always declined, even with some verbs (which means they can double up as [[adverbs]]), e.g. I am cold. Having split into weak and strong [[declensions]] (depending on the strength of the noun), these split again into all four cases, both singular and plural. [[Comparative adjective]]s (e.g. ''bigger'') always add 're.' Example: Æðelen (noble), æðelenre (nobler). ===Verbs=== Verbs can be conjugated from the [[infinitive]] into the [[present tense]], the past singular, the past plural and the [[past participle]]. There exist strong and weak verbs in Mercian that too conjugate in their own ways. The future tense requires an [[auxiliary verb]], like ''will'' (Mercian ''wyllen''). There are three moods: [[indicative]], [[subjunctive]] and [[Imperative mood|imperative]]. Like most inflected languages, Mercian has a few irregular verbs (such as 'to be' ''bēon'' and 'have' ''habben''). For basic understanding, the four principal parts must be known for each strong verb: weak verbs are easier and more numerous, they all form the past participle with ''-ed''. ===Vocabulary=== Mercian vocabulary is largely inherited from [[Proto-Germanic]], with [[Latin]] loanwords coming via the use of Latin as the language of the [[Chalcedonian Christianity|Early Church]], and Norse loanwords that arrived as part of the Norse incursions and foundation of the [[Danelaw]] which covered much of the midlands and north of [[England]]. Some morphological differences between the Mercian and [[West Saxon dialect|West Saxon]] include: * Change of West Saxon final {{lang|ang|-c}} to {{lang|ang|-h}}, presumably alluding to its ultimate loss in Modern English. : {{lang|ang|Ic}} ({{lang|en|I}}) ↔ {{lang|ang|Ih}} * The preservation of {{lang|gem|-k}} in Proto-Germanic in some pronouns, like {{lang|ang|mec}} ({{lang|en|me}}).
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