whenever

[mattjuge at SOCRATES.BERKELEY.EDU]

Debra's point about Hong Kong and Singaporean English is interesting, as
this appears to duplicate the development of German "wenn" = "if".

Matt


On Mon, 27 Jan 2003, Debra.Ziegeler wrote:

> Interesting that these examples are popping up in US English -
> Trudgill and Hannah (1985-2002) list this usage as a feature of
> N.Ireland English, giving the example: 'Whenever my baby was
> born, I became depressed' (1985: 89).
>
> Also on the subject of 'whenever' and 'when', I have observed 'when'
> used in place of a generic 'if' in Hong Kong and Singaporean
> English. Not that that is anything striking, but sometimes there are
> rather alarming consequences e.g. in public notices: 'When there
> is a fire, do not use the lift', which I have carefully considered while
> waiting for many a lift to arrive.
>
> Debra Ziegeler
>
> Dr. Debra Ziegeler
> School of English and Linguistics
> Oxford Road
> Manchester M13 9PL
> UK
> Tel.: (0161) 275 3142
> Fax: (0161) 275 3256
>