Date:  Sun, 28 Dec 1997 15:59:49 -0600
From:  Mary Bucholtz <bucholtz[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]TAMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: WEIRD EXISTENTIAL

Might this be related to the structure "The thing is is that..."? The
reduplicated "is" isn't a speech error, and it's obligatory for those who
use it.

Mary

Mary Bucholtz
Texas A&M University
bucholtz[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]tamu.edu

>I recently had a two-hour conversation with my real-estate-lending agent. He
>has a peculiar syntactic form that I wonder if is just an idiosyncrasy or if
>others are familir with it as well. He begins sentences with IS THAT used as
>an existential, as in
>
>"Okay. Is that we have to see copies of your 1996 tax returns."
>
>"Well, now, thats done. Is that we need to calculate your gross income for
>1997."
>
>This guy is a native speaker. Born in New York. Is he weird or what?