Reciprocals

So-called reciprocal clauses involve mutuality. In Standard English this is expressed with “each other”:

– They spoke with each other for a while.

In Shaetlan that can be expressed with the object form of the pronoun:

– Dey spak dem a start. (Lit. “They spoke them a while”)

This is proper Shaetlan grammar and to “correct” it would be misguided. It is similar (but not identical) to the Old Norse construction, which has a special form the verb (action word) plus the dative object form of the pronoun:

– Talask þau við. (‘They speak with each other’, lit. “speak them with”)

The Old Norse ‑sk verbal ending ultimately goes back to the pronoun sik ‘oneself’. It survives in the Scandinavian passive forms: Sw. talas (vid), Da./BoNo. tales (vid), NyNo./Icel. talast (vid/við).

The special verb form has disappeared in Shaetlan, but the pronoun object form remains. It is not impossible that the Shaetlan reciprocal could be a substratal Norn feature that has been hiding in plain sight.