[Ads-l] spread of punctual whenever?

Galen Buttitta satorarepotenetoperarotas3 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Dec 18 08:34:39 UTC 2015


I know a family from Oklahoma (originally from North Dakota) that tends to substitute "whenever" for "when". (They also have positive "anymore".)

> On Dec 17, 2015, at 22:33, Benjamin Barrett <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      spread of punctual whenever?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> According to "Pittsburgh Speech and Pittsburghese=E2=80=9D by Barbara =
> Johnstone, Daniel Baumgardt, Maeve Eberhardt, Scott Kiesling =
> (http://bit.ly/1k5PWDs <http://bit.ly/1k5PWDs>), the punctual use of =
> =E2=80=9Cwhenever=E2=80=9D derives from Scotch-Irish English (citing =
> Montgomery & Kirk, Montgomery) and is found in Appalachia and the =
> Midwest.
> 
> I have an acquaintance just about 30 years of age in suburban/rural =
> Washington State who seems to not have the word =E2=80=9Cwhen=E2=80=9D =
> in his vocabulary.
> 
> According to =E2=80=9CWorld Englishes Paperback with Audio CD: =
> Implications for International Communication and English Language =
> Teaching=E2=80=9D by Andy Kirkpatrick (http://bit.ly/1Yls6q9 =
> <http://bit.ly/1Yls6q9>), there is a tendency to use the present tense =
> in the =E2=80=9Cwhenever=E2=80=9D clause when describing a habitual =
> action and the past tense for a single action (which I think is the same =
> as punctual).
> 
> I need to listen to see if he has a correlation between tense and =
> action. Is this use spreading?
> 
> Benjamin Barrett
> Formerly of Seattle, WA=
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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