dialect in novels

[Mark Odegard]

Beverly writes:

>And  why is "I have got to go" ambiguous--either orally or in writing?

The 'have' is confusing, at least for my dialect. You have to scan it twice,
and be sure of the context.

I have got = I have possession, have obtained.

One you hit the 'to', you realize this analysis is incorrect. Mostly, I am
expecting "I have got /something/".

Then you have to decide if the author really should have used 'gotten'. 'I
have gotten to go' is unambiguous: I had opportunity to to. And even then,
'have got to' could mean either 'must' or 'had opportunity to'. Keeping or
dropping 'have' does not solve the ambiguity. Speaking it/spelling it as
'gotta' disambiguates 100%.

I am reporting my dialect, what 'sounds right' to me.



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