_bees_

[Daniel L. Everett]

The "needs x-ed" construction is also extremely well-entrenched in
Pittsburgh. In fact, this is the main reason I asked the question - to see
if there were reasons for not interpreting -en as -ing. Such reasons *do*
exist, as Scott points out, if "needs fixed" would be more expected than
"needs fixing". (Alternatively, one could follow my own personal
prejudices and say that such expressions are not English. But I suppose I
must admit that there is English spoken natively outside of San Diego.)

-- DLE

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Dan Everett
Department of Linguistics
University of Pittsburgh
2816 CL
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Phone: 412-624-8101; Fax: 412-624-6130
http://www.linguistics.pitt.edu/~dever
On Wed, 9 Apr 1997, Scott Delancey wrote:

> On Tue, 8 Apr 1997, Noel Rude wrote:
>
> >         Ah yes, didn't think when making the post that "my airplane needs
> > fixing" would also be good English.
>
> And what probably most of the other readers of your note aren't
> thinking about is that your kids grew up in Oregon, where the
> _needs fixed_ construction is pretty entrenched.  The verb form
> is, of course, a participle, not a past ("Do those eggs need beaten?").
> This not only makes your interpretation more plausible (kids--and adults,
> at least in rural western Oregon, would be much more likely to say
> "NP needs fixed" than "NP needs fixing"), it also suggests the stimulus
> for the reinterpretation.
>
> Scott DeLancey
>