"Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee"

[Dennis R. Preston]

Wilson,

I've also always assumed that "Can't anybody..." is also nonstandard,
although its uniqueness to AAVE is very questionable.

Note that interrogative "Can't anybody/somebody" constructions are
pure whitebread dandy (like that better than "standard"?), so let's
not hear from nobody about them. We ain't talkin bout them.

dInIs


>Naturally, you are correct, as usual, dInIs. It's only that this is the
>first and only time that I have ever heard this particular construction
>used in real life as opposed to its use as an attention-grabber in the
>old commercial. A minor quibble: wouldn't "grammatical" be a better
>descriptor than "standard"?
>
>How do you feel about a structure like "doesn't anybody ...?" Many
>times, I've heard constructions like, "She's so mean and evil that
>*can't anybody* stay with her." I considered them to be both
>grammatical *and* standard - "can't nobody" would be non-standard -
>until I heard a lecture in which Haj Ross pointed out that such
>constructions are peculiar to BE. [And perhaps to other non-standard
>dialects? Haj didn't say and I don't know.]
>
>-Wilson
>
>On Jun 8, 2005, at 10:36 AM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: "Nobody doesn't like Sarah Lee"
>>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>--------
>>
>>Perfectly standard multiple negation; now, if she had said "Doesn't
>>nobody want to be...." that would have been a complete makeover of
>>another sort.
>>
>>dInIs
>>
>>
>>>Heard on today's Maury Povich Show, spoken by a woman who'd had a
>>>complete makeover: "Nobody doesn't want to be with me, now!"
>>>
>>>-Wilson Gray
>>
>>
>>--
>>Dennis R. Preston
>>University Distinguished Professor
>>Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
>>         Asian and African Languages
>>Wells Hall A-740
>>Michigan State University
>>East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
>>Office: (517) 353-0740
>>Fax: (517) 432-2736


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
A-740 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-3099
Fax: (517) 432-2736
preston at msu.edu