Is there such a phenomenon as "undercorrection/hypocorrection?

Benjamin Barrett gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM
Wed Mar 16 22:01:52 UTC 2005


Isn't "a-screamin and a-hollerin" just a set phrase? The interviewee then
just reversed the internal order of this phrase for emphasis.

Benjamin Barrett
Questioning in Seattle

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Beverly Flanigan
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By the way, for those of you who think a-prefixing is dead, or at least
isn't used in Ohio, I heard a great example on local radio this morning.
Concerning a murder about 30 miles from here, in southeastern Ohio, the
interviewee said "They were a-screamin' and a-hollerin', and a-hollerin' and
a-screamin'"--four attestations!



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