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Scot LaFaive wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:BAY104-F2908085E1E8B6F614758A4BFC40@phx.gbl"
type="cite">Question: is the chunk "I are" common at all in Black
English or was it just
<br>
made up here solely for rhyming purposes?
<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
<big> In one of his publications, which I cannot remember precisely
now and cannot check either (as I am traveling), the late J. L. Dillard
reported attestations of "I'm am" in Louisiana. He then argued that for
some speakers the 1st subject singular pronoun in AAVE must be "I'm"
(rather than "I"). I have never heard "I'm am" myself, least of all "I
are."<br>
<br>
Sali.<br>
</big>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
**********************************************************
Salikoko S. Mufwene <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:s-mufwene@uchicago.edu">s-mufwene@uchicago.edu</a>
Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor
University of Chicago 773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
Department of Linguistics
1010 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene">http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene</a>
**********************************************************
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