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