End of ADS-L Digest - 4 Dec 1993 to 5 Dec 1993

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There are 4 messages totalling 117 lines in this issue.



Topics of the day:



 1. some U.S. "Midland" regionalisms? (2)

 2. some U.S. "Midland" regionalisms (2)



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Date:  Mon, 6 Dec 1993 08:36:00 CDT

From:  JOAN H HALL <JOANHALL[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MACC.WISC.EDU>

Subject: Re: some U.S. "Midland" regionalisms?



>From:  IN%"ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.BITNET"  "American Dialect Society"

>To:   Multiple recipients of list ADS-L <ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.BITNET>

>Subject: some U.S. "Midland" regionalisms?

>

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>Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1993 19:10:01 -0600

>From: Tim Frazer <mftcf[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU>

>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.BITNET>

>Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.BITNET>

>Subject: some U.S. "Midland" regionalisms?

>To: Multiple recipients of list ADS-L <ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.BITNET>

>Comments: To: ads-l[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uga.bitnet

>

>Query 1: In west central Illinois, I hear the following use

>of progressive aspect with "want" which seems unusual:

>I've been wantin' one of those for a long time.

>Are you wantin' an appointment next Friday?

>----------------------------

>I would expect to hear "I've wanted" and "Do you want."

>Are these regionalisms? Have you heard anything like it/them,

>and if so, where? (People who use these forms are likely to use

>other well-known "Midland" markers, including warsh/warshington.

>

>Query 2. Somewhere is a paper in which Kurath's attribution to

>elliptical structures like "the cat wants in" to Pa. German infl.

>is challenged. The author suggests Gaelic (demographically, Scotch-

>Irish) influence instead. Where did I see this?

>

>Query 3. The distribution of constructions like "the car needs washed"

>or "the grass needs mowed" seem to originate in areas Kurath called

>"Midland." In Illinois the areas where this from is accepted seem

>to recall the old Northern-Midland division. Has anyone sen evidence that

>NEEDS + V + -ED is associated with the Scotch-Irish?

>

>Tim Frazer

Tim,

The Scottish National Dictionary, at _need_ v. 4 says "Used with _pa.p._

instead of _vbl.n_ as in Eng. Gen. Sc." and gives these examples:

"This lock needs sortit." "The hail house needs guttit." "The first

driver on the list really did not need wakened."



DARE has found numerous examples of the construction "I've been knowing him

for twenty years," most of them coming from the Gulf States.

Joan Hall, DARE