wag

[Wilson Gray]

On Nov 18, 2004, at 12:23 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: wag
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>
>> I forgot to mention the negative "nary," as in "nary a one."  In
>> general
>> use yet?
>>
>> Isn't "any" in AppEng "ary"?  Or are both "air" and "ary" used?
>> Native
>> speakers??
>
> MW3 for example shows "air" as a variant of "ary".
>
> In this Wellman fiction "nair"

Where I'm from, ETx, folk say - or said, 50 years ago - "nair one" in
place of "none." It's pronounced [nae @n], with nasalization of the
vowels and stress on [ae]. They also say, instead of "ain't got no
more," "ain't got nair 'nother one" pronounced [nae@ n^dn], also with
nasalization of [ae@], but not of [^]. Stress falls on [^]. Note that
these are not alternants but are the only forms used with the relevant
meanings. (For the record, I haven't actually lived in Texas since the
'Forties and haven't even visited there since the 'Seventies. DARE
lists only one, presumably white, informant from my birthplace of
Marshall. So, I figure, what the hell? Can't hurt. May help.)

-Wilson Gray

> often appears where others would use
> "never", and in some other contexts too, presumably = "nary".
>
> The speakers seem to be natives, but they're fictional ....
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>