"my your recommendation": my opinion

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:04 PM -0400 9/28/01, Thom Harrison wrote:
>Coul I add my bit here?
>
>"My your recommendation" sounds as wrong to me as it seems to to everyone
>else.
>
>But how come that seems wrong to everyone, but "I might could make it to
>the party"--the double modal--only sounds wrong to most people?
>
>Could a determined group, by sheer abundant use, force "my your
>recommendation" into recognition as part of at least some dialects?
>
>Thom
>
In brief, yes.  If a group existed for whom "my your recommendation"
was a possible way of saying 'my recommendation for you', the double
possessive would then be recognized as a (dialect) trait for the
group in question, as the "double modal" trait is for speakers in a
region including much of Arkansas, Texas, and adjacent regions.
(And of course not just any sequence of modals is possible for such
speakers, and variation within the class of speakers and the class of
modals has been attested.)  In fact, given Douglas Bigham's
attestation of "Is that your my hoodie or my your hoodie?" with the
intended meaning 'Is that my hoodie that you have stolen from me or
your hoodie that I had stolen from you [that you are wearing]?', such
a group (not necessarily a "determined" group--I'm not sure what you
mean by that qualification) already exists, assuming it doesn't
consist of just DSB's roommate.  (I've used a double comparative on
occasion--"You're more meaner than he is than he's dumber than you"
or the like--but that doesn't really count.)

Larry