"like that"

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 11:13 AM 1/15/01 -0800, you wrote:
>On Mon, 15 Jan 2001, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
> >
> > But isn't this just the pause marker "like"? (or focuser 'like' or
> > intrusive 'like', to use variant terms for this syntactic
> > interrupter).   In contrast, "like that" is a real conjunction, introducing
> > an embedded (subordinate) clause.  "Like" has many functions: focuser,
> > quotative ("And he's like 'I don't want to go'"), preposition, and
> > conjunction--but in the last case, it's generally used alone; the double
> > 'like that' as conj. is Southern, if I'm not mistaken.
>
>Gosh, Beverly, I'd like to confirm your notion here, but I'm absolutely
>sure this is a double conjunction. It's most often used after _feel_: "I
>feel like that we ought to stop for groceries." It's all over the place
>up/out here, and not used exclusively by Southern emigres. Most other
>speakers would say either "like" or "that" after "feel"; perhaps the
>double conjunction is used to underscore the speaker's opinion or feeling
>about something, used in place of (or--horrors!--in addition to) "really":
>"I really feel like that the entire city council should just resign."
>
>_That_ is definitely not pronominal: "I feel like that sometimes."
>
>Peter R.

This is interesting!  From your previous note, I didn't catch this
usage.  Maybe other Westerners have heard this too?

_____________________________________________
Beverly Olson Flanigan         Department of Linguistics
Ohio University                     Athens, OH  45701
Ph.: (740) 593-4568              Fax: (740) 593-2967
http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/linguistics/dept/flanigan.htm