Is there such a phenomenon as "undercorrection/hypocorrection?

[Beverly Flanigan]

By the way, for those of you who think a-prefixing is dead, or at least
isn't used in Ohio, I heard a great example on local radio this
morning.  Concerning a murder about 30 miles from here, in southeastern
Ohio, the interviewee said "They were a-screamin' and a-hollerin', and
a-hollerin' and a-screamin'"--four attestations!

At 04:36 PM 3/16/2005, you wrote:
>John Baugh has a nice piece on hypocorrection, a now standardized
>term I think. Remember, however, it may mean structural or
>statistical hypocorrection.
>
>1) statistical - when you use more nonstandard than you or the
>situation might seem to call for, or when one groups uses more
>nonstandard than would be expected from its position in social
>structure.
>
>2) structural - when you try to use a "lower status" (presumably
>covertly prestigious form) but get it wrong. Spose one of you
>flatlanders wanted to sound like a hillbilly and got into
>a-prefixing. You might utter "I  was a-rememberin what Ole Joe tole
>me." But you would be wrong; a-pefixing doesn't occur before
>unstressed syllables.
>
>dInIs
>
>>Spoken by a black TV-show guest:
>>
>>He aks me _whose, uh, who_ car was this.
>>
>>-Wilson