Variable Grammars: Verbal Agreement in Northern Dialects of English

One of the conspicuous characteristics of the northern dialects of Britain and Ireland is variation in verbal agreement, especially the use of plural verbal -s. Once a mark of a consistent, categorical grammatical system in the traditional dialects of the area, today verbal -s appears in highly complex, hybrid variation patterns in the modern vernaculars. This corpus-based study explores continuities and discontinuities between the dialects involved, and discusses the implications of such hybrid variable sytems for a usage-based theory of grammatical competence.

"Pietsch has not only provided a milestone in his genuinely original contribution to the scholarly Fachliteratur; he is also exemplary in the thoroughness with which he has conducted his research at every level and also in the easefulness with which he has conceived and presented it. Difficult, complex ideas are conveyed with commendable cogency and clarity. Innovation in cartographic design provides effective interpretations. Pietsch shorws that he is as much at home with reading his data, marshalling frequencies into analysed data subsets, and conducting statistical tests, as he is with dealing with linguistic history and evolution, interpreting variation and change and engaging trenchantly with theory. This is, without doubt, a mouldbreaking study of its subject and a model for others to follow."
John M. Kirk in: Zeitschrift für Dialektologie und Linguistik Heft 2 (2010)