Plural Nouns in Nicaraguan English
(Where is Nicaragua?)
In Nicaraguan English, nouns are made plural by adding the suffix –dem / /. This suffix comes from the plural pronoun in British English them.
Read aloud the sentences below in Nicaraguan English.
a. The boat-dem de in the river. ‘The boats are in the river.’
‘are’
b. I did see Ronald book-dem. ‘I saw Ronald’s books.’
c. The boy-dem want food. ‘The boys want food.’
d. Manuel baby-dem happy. ‘Manuel’s babies are happy.’
In each sentence above circle the plural noun. Draw a line from the plural noun in Nicaraguan English to its corresponding plural noun in standard English.
For every match you’ve made that fits with the matches below, star the sentence with that match.
Nicaraguan English standard English
the boat-dem the boats
Ronald book-dem Ronald’s books
the boy-dem the boys
From these examples, how can we make nouns plural in Nicaraguan English?
Fill in the blanks in the hypothesis below to state your prediction:
Add plural to the singular to form its plural.
But we can find examples of Nicaraguan English that don’t follow this hypothesis.
Read aloud this verse from the Nicaraguan English version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” recorded by the popular musical group, Dimension Costena.
On the first day of Christmas, my true love send to me two turtledove,
four callingbird, five golden ring, four callingbird, three Frenchhen, and a
partridge in a pear tree.
Circle each plural noun phrase in this verse.
If the plural noun does not add –dem, put an asterisk * in front of it.
Considering the way this verse presents plural nouns, how should we revise our hypothesis, “Add plural -dem to the singular noun to form its plural”?
Now, let’s read some more Nicaraguan English sentences with plural nouns. Will they contain different forms of plural nouns and invite us to revise our hypothesis even more?
Some dog did bark loud. ‘Some dogs barked loud.’
Is many dog in Bluefields. ‘There are many dogs in Bluefields.’
‘there are’
Several dog did bark last night. ‘Several dogs barked last night.’
These dog de in the street. ‘These dogs are in the street.’
‘are’
Circle the plural nouns in the sentences above.
Draw a line connecting the plural nouns in NE with those in sE.
Now, how do we need to revise our hypothesis to include these sentences we’ve just read?