dialect in novels

[Dennis R. Preston]

>I believe the consepts of "graden path" and ambiguity are being
>confused here. If you "process" "I've got..." and believe that
>"possess" is the meaning, you have been led down the garden path but
>are (quickly) corrected when you get to the "to." This is not
>ambiguity. Everybody' favorite garden-path example (with a much
>longer garden-path) is

The horse raced past the barn collapsed.

dInIs

>




>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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--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736