Is there such a phenomenon as "undercorrection/hypocorrection?

[Dennis R. Preston]

Ya'll flatlander 'pocopers. I done forgot you!

dInIs



>At 4:36 PM -0500 3/16/05, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>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.
>
>But fortunately, we'd remember our Wolfram & Schilling-Estes just in
>time and pre-correct our imminent hypocorrection.  Actually, in this
>case, couldn't we flatlanders do a little 'pocope prep first and come
>out with "I was a-'memberin..."?
>
>Larry


--
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