19th c. language phrase

[Margaret Lee]

In David Hackett Fischer's book, _Albion's Seed_ (Oxford UP, 1989,
the 'Borderlands to Backcountry' chapter lists 'he done did it' as an
example of a grammatical construction that frequently occurred among
southern highland speakers  in the Appalachian and Ozark mountain
areas (1717-1775), p. 653.

--- Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIOU.EDU> wrote:

> Not possible?  Of course it is, and it is extremely common in both
> Appalachian and African American English.  To quote Wolfram and
> Schilling-Estes, _American English_ (Blackwell, 1998):  "The form
> 'done'
> may mark a completed action or event, ... as in ... 'I done forgot
> what you
> wanted.' ... The 'done' form may also add intensification ... as in
> 'I done
> told you not to mess up.'  This form is typically found in Southern
> Anglo
> [read South, South Midland, and Appalachian] and African American
> vernaculars" (p. 333).
>
> I cite the book because the writer of the Kentucky-based novel may
> want to
> check it for other regional usages.
>
> (Maybe David meant he would NOT be surprised?  The only thing that
> surprises me is the late date of the OED cite; but since the usage
> is
> primarily oral, it might not have shown up in print earlier.)
>
> At 01:04 PM 7/23/2003 -0400, you wrote:
> >Without knowing of a special meaning for this usage, I haven't
> found an
> >example of _done set me up_ in Making of America.  There are
> several
> >examples of _set me up_.  I would be surprised if _done set me up_
> was
> >possible.   OEDs shows done (at the entry for _do_), in the
> function of
> >"a perfective auxiliary...", with an e.q. [earliest quote] for
> 1827.
> >
> >Regards,
> >David
> >
> >barnhart at highlands.com


=====
Margaret G. Lee, Ph.D.
Associate Professor - English and Linguistics
 & University Editor
Department of English
Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668
(757)727-5769(voice);(757)727-5084(fax);(757)851-5773(home)
e-mail: margaret.lee at hamptonu.edu   or   mlee303 at yahoo.com

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