New use of "unless"?

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 09:02 AM 1/23/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Mike Salovesh wrote:
> >
> > Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> > >
> > > herb stahlke records an occurrence of
> > >  >"I can't eat it like that unless I have heartburn all night."
> > >
> > > i'm fairly sure i've heard "without" used this way in pennsylvania
> > > dutch country, but i don't think i've heard "unless".
> > >
> > > arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)
> >
> > 1)  Could "unless" in this context be a substitute for "lest"?
>
>
>I have heard people in Central PA use "unlest" in this context.

I would assume the /t/ is added as liaison with the following vowel, as in
"acrosst", "oncet", "twicet," etc.--common in much of the Midland.

But I suppose "lest" alone (re: Salovesh) is derived from "unless" too,
which suggests the usage of both has a long history.

_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm