Fwd: a request

[Beverly Flanigan]

Nope, he knows what he's talking about.  And now that I'm in my office, I
found my maps:  Atwood (1953) has the distribution of past tense of "see"
in the Eastern States, with "see" as a variant in Upper New York State,
northern Penn., somewhat in NJ and MD, in eastern VA and NC, and scattered
in SC and GA--but mainly in VT, NH, MA, and CT--therefore an old form
brought over with the earliest settlers.  (The other nonstandard variants
mapped are 'seen' and 'seed'; standard 'saw' is not noted.)

A comparison with England (Francis 1961) shows the same three variants,
with 'see' mainly in eastern England (London, East Anglia) and somewhat in
what looks to be the Liverpool-Manchester area (counties aren't marked on
this map).  Hughes and Trudgill (1996) note this on p. 24, in the paradigm
"I see, I see, I have seen."

I agree, it's probably not "mainstream" anymore, but Sutcliffe wants to
know if it's used anywhere anymore.  H and T imply that it's still used in
England; how about here?  Among oldtimers in rural areas?  We're not
talking stylistics here either!


At 01:24 PM 12/13/2006, you wrote:
>Could the questioner mean "seen"?  (Though he writes "see" twice in the
>request.)
>
>--Charlie
>_____________________________________________
>
>---- Original message ----
> >Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:31:59 -0800
> >From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> >Subject: Re: Fwd: a request
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> >"Mainstream" vernacular ?  Good luck !  Except as part of a general
> narrative in the historical present, this usage must be extremely uncommmon.
> >
> >  JL
>__________________________________________
> >
> >>Could you do me a favor and ask the ADS list something. I would like
> have to have a citation (with place, date, etc) of past tense "see" used
> in mainstream American English vernacular, as in "I see her yesterday" -
> if anyone could help me with that.
> >>
> >>David S.
>
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