"Alls I Need..."

[Beverly Flanigan]

Double complementizers were common in earlier English, including Dennis's
"all as" and also "when that" (cf. Chaucer), "if that," "which that," "so
that," "an if," "as if," "like that," etc.  Interestingly, "as if" is now
formal and giving way to "like" (as conj. as well as prep.), and "like
that" is retained only in South Midland/Southern (but narrowly
so--Tennessee southward?).  I have a paper on this, if I ever get it out. . . .
On "all's," I hear it sporadically here, mainly from outsider-urbanites
(Dayton, maybe Columbus...) rather than from local southern Ohioans.  Sen.
Paul Wellstone from Minnesota has it too, curiously--but again, it seems to
be widespread, not particularly regional.

At 11:24 AM 6/13/01 -0400, you wrote:
>In earlier English there was considerable diversity in those
>particles which would become the main complementizer. Without too
>much detail,let us just note that some of the competition wavered
>between "that" and.' "That" (and zero = "All you need is love") won
>out in most varieties, but in others both a full form of "as" and a
>reduced form, attached to "all," have survived; hence
>
>I know as I want to go = I know that I want to go
>
>in some varieties, and
>
>Alls I want to do is leave = All (that) I want to do is leave
>
>in many others. It is widespread in the US, not at all restricted to
>Central Texas. I have heard it in South Midland (presumably the major
>"imput" diaealct for Central Texas), North Midland, and Inland
>Northern varieties.
>
>dInIs (who cain't honestly say anynmore if he's got it honestly or not)
>
>
>
>>I've developed the habit of saying "alls" instead of "all" when the
>>word comes at the start of sentences, as in "Alls you need is love,"
>>or "Alls I'm saying is that we can't go to the lake."  I'm trying to
>>figure out where that comes from, or whether anyone else does it at
>>all.
>>
>>I'm aware of the discussion of "You'alls" and "Y'alls", but this is
>>something different.  And while I would have guessed it is a local
>>habit of rural Central Texas, I've spent two weeks listening for it
>>and heard no one else using it.
>
>--
>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


_____________________________________________
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