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

[Beverly Flanigan]

I'm taking Arnold Zwicky's word for it , actually.  But he and I have both
studied complementizers, including double complementizers like "like that"
(Southern), "as if" (traditional but perhaps fading, largely replaced by
"like"), "as though," and the Old English "swa swa," etc.  I think there
are more Old and Middle English analogues, but I can't recall them off
hand. Arnold?

At 05:15 PM 10/6/2006, you wrote:
>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!
>> >>
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>> >
>> >
>> >--
>> >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

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