Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 11:03:24 +0000

From: Charlotte Thomas EGP95CMT[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SHEFFIELD.AC.UK

Subject: Re: English Dialect Information Exchange



Dear Ronald,







On Mon, 18 Mar 1996, Charlotte Thomas wrote:



If we did take it upon

ourselves to say who could and who could not subscibe to the list

according to the language/dialect they speak, we may be denying that

person the opportunity to learn and contribute, and denying others

the opportunty to learn from them.



Is it Sheffield dialect to write "If we did . . . we may be denying . . ."

rather than "If we did . . . we might be denying . . ."? Or is this example

just a typo?



Although I'm doing my PhD in Sheffield, I'm not actually from here.

I've only been here since Sepember. I'm actually from Colne in

Lamncashire (Sheffield's in Yorkshire), but some features are

similar. Anyway, to answer your question ,my dialect would allow me

to use either "may" or "might" in this context, meaning the same

thing. I must admit, I hadn't even noticed that I'd written one or

the other!

Charlotte



##########################################################

Charlotte Thomas EGP95CMT[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]Sheffield.ac.uk

CECTAL

Dept. of English Language and Linguistics

University of Sheffield

Sheffield

S10 2TN

UK



"Why does anyone believe he ought to speak better than he

can, and so in the end speak far worse than he might?"

(P.Wright, 1974)