Date:    Fri, 8 May 1998 17:58:57 -0400
<br>From:    Beverly Flanigan <flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: Deleted "to";  'em singular
<br>
<br>I wonder if the "99 bottles" variation isn't more generational than
<br>regional?  The responses on the list seemed to be age-graded, and my
<br>polling of my students suggests the same: 20 students in my Dialects class
<br>uniformly rejected my "If one of those bottles should happen to fall" in
<br>favor of "Take one down, pass it around."
<br>
<br>On 'to' deletion:  I've heard prep. 'to' deleted in southern Ohio, but I'm
<br>not aware of deleted infin. 'to', beyond the general ones noted by Ron.
<br>"I'm gonna go store" would be an example of zero prep. 'to.'  There could
<br>be a very reduced 'to' in there, I suppose, as Mike Salovesh noted, but it
<br>would actually be a reduced 'to the,' which is quite a lot to reduce.
<br>Other examples?
<br>
<br>
<br>At 12:57 PM 5/7/98 +0200, you wrote:
<br>>Dear List,
<br>>
<br>>I note that the "99 bottles...take one down, pass around", and the "go
<br>>with" and "come with" users turned out to have quite complex regional
<br>>distribution in the States. What about the following features which I
<br>>would have thought originally Black and/or Southern:
<br>>
<br>>1) Deletion of _to_ infinitive marker as in "I want you guys have a good
<br>>time"
<br>>
<br>>2) The use of 'em for (h)im in unstressed position. (This question
<br>>assumes that speakers generally have an opposition between schwa and lax
<br>>/I/ in unstressed syllables).
<br>>
<br>>I went to see the Titanic movie recently, and noticed the present day
<br>>characters at the beginning using the deleted "to". These speakers
<br>>sounded more Midland than Southern. =20
<br>>
<br>>I also noticed the male lead, Leonardo di Caprio, regularly using the
<br>>=B4em for (h)im feature, whereas the upper class heroine only used it
<br>>occasionally, otherwise (h)im.
<br>>
<br>>My impression is that deleted "to" in non-southern speech implies
<br>>extreme laid-back colloquial-ness - I've noticed it being used when
<br>>giving orders, as if to soften their impact.
<br>>
<br>>I'd be glad if you could put me right on this, regarding usage,
<br>>distribution, etc. Thanks! I know I can be wildly wrong - for instance
<br>>the other day I assumed "folding laundry" was a lexical item like
<br>>"folding money".
<br>>
<br>>Post script: the film was great, in the full sense of the word. Most of
<br>>the time I wasn't even thinking about pronunciations!
<br>>
<br>>David Sutcliffe
<br>>Universitat Pompeu Fabra
<br>>Rambla  30-32
<br>>Barcelona
<br>>
<br>