"A Whole Nother" and "Alls I Know Is"

[Wilson Gray]

Beverly, you say that "the 'all as' origin has been pretty well
established." Would you, by chance, have a cite handy? If you're
wondering why I might want to see a cite that *supports* my analysis,
it's like this. Many years ago, ca.1977, I intuited the "all as"
analysis. When I suggested it to my "alls"- speaking roommate from
Vermont, he poo-pooed the idea. Given that he wasn't some naive native
speaker, but, rather, a grad student in linguistics at M.I.T. who is
now a tenured professor at a Big Ten university, I respected his
opinion and made no effort to pursue my intuitive analysis. However, I
didn't forget it.

So, when I saw the present query, I figured, WTF? Other members of the
listserv will have fun blowing my analysis out of the water, but, so
what? Then I find out that "my" analysis is the standard analysis!
Needless to say, my curiosity has been piqued. Or is that "peeked"?
;-)

-Wilson

On 10/6/06, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at ohio.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "A Whole Nother" and "Alls I Know Is"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "A whole nother NP" is common everywhere, I believe.  Isn't it a reanalysis
> of "an other" along the lines of "norange-->an orange" and (in reverse) "an
> uncle" or "mine uncle" --> Shakespeare's "nuncle"?  Liaison /n/ has
> shifted.  (I just explained "an" as an allomorph of "a" with liaison /n/ to
> my intro. grad class yesterday, and they were totally amazed!  Here, the
> consonant /h/ has broken up the normal liaison, but the /n/ is retained
> even though another consonant, /l/ now precedes the vowel in 'other'.)
>
> "All's" is common in Ohio too, but I think we've not yet pinned down the
> general distribution.  The "all as" origin has been pretty well
> established.  A puzzlement to me, though, is "anyways," which is also
> common in parts of Ohio and elsewhere.  A reanalysis of plural marking?
>
> Beverly
>
> At 01:01 AM 10/6/2006, you wrote:
> >"A whole 'nother NP" is pretty much the standard form for Black
> >English and other Southern-based dialects. In California, it's almost
> >the only form used in black enclaves from San Diego to Sacramento.
> >
> >"All's I know ..." equals "all that I know," not "all I know ..." "As"
> >is used as the complementizer instead of "that," i.s. "all as I know"
> >>"all's I know."
> >
> >"All's" is common enough to be not at all unusual in the greater
> >Boston metropolitan area. A friend of mine originally from Burlington,
> >VT, also uses it.
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >
> >On 10/5/06, Katherine Hageland <khageland at comcast.net> wrote:
> >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       Katherine Hageland <khageland at COMCAST.NET>
> >>Subject:      "A Whole Nother" and "Alls I Know Is"
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>I'm a PhD graduate student taking my first linguistics class in many,
> >>many years. I guess I'm the traditional non-traditional student. I
> >>constantly hear people saying "a whole nother" when they mean something
> >>like "That's a whole other ball game." I also hear people saying, "Alls I
> >>know about it is this" when they mean "All I know about it is this." I'm
> >>originally from California, but now studying in the Midwest. Are the
> >>constructions I'm hearing part of a dialect or are they some other
> >>linguistic phenomenon?
> >>
> >>Thanks!
> >>
> >>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >
> >--
> >Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
> >complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >-----
> >Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
> >a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
> >race. He brought death into the world.
> >
> >--Sam Clemens
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
race. He brought death into the world.

--Sam Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org