7.986, Sum: "not (just) REAL sick"

[The Linguist List]

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-7-986. Fri Jul 5 1996. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  77
 
Subject: 7.986, Sum: "not (just) REAL sick"
 
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Editor for this issue: lveselin at emunix.emich.edu (Ljuba Veselinova)
 
---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Thu, 04 Jul 1996 20:05:01 EDT
From:  rowe at email.unc.edu (Charles Rowe)
Subject:  sum: not (just) REAL sick
 
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Thu, 04 Jul 1996 20:05:01 EDT
From:  rowe at email.unc.edu (Charles Rowe)
Subject:  sum: not (just) REAL sick
 
 
First of all, thanks to Susanne Borgwaldt, who sent me a correction
of the German equivalent. It should be:
 
Er ist halt nicht sehr krank.
 
I have now casually asked several informants how they would interpret
the sentence in question. Three informants were from eastern North
Carolina; one was from the Foothills (Piedmont) of NC; one spent most
of his life in the DC area. I present their interpretations in that
order.  I asked them: "What does this sentence mean?"
 
'He's not just REAL sick."
 
a) "...means that a person does not have a serious life-threatening
illness."
 
b,c) "Both of us have decided that it means that he is somewhat sick
but not very, eg, minor illness."
 
d) "...means that he's ill; more than just a sniffle, but not ready
for the hospital."
 
e) "It means he's about to die!"
 
 
The distribution of these judgements leads me to believe that the
interpretation that I had originally offered (ie, essentially
corresponding to a-d) is indeed a Southernism. The (b) informant added
that he believes the construction is a Southernism, because
northerners had teased him when he used it.
 
Although all the Southern informants were North Carolinians, I do not
believe that the construction (or its interpretation) is restricted to
this area, because I am fairly sure that most such isoglosses in the
US cross state boundaries. More localized variant may obtain, of
course, but I hope to have controlled for this somewhat in using the
Piedmont informant.
 
It would be interesting to find out precisely where this isogloss
lies--especially its western boundary.
 
 
Charlie Rowe
rowe at email.unc.edu
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