Is there such a phenomenon as "undercorrection/hypocorrection?

[Beverly Flanigan]

I agree on both counts.  Our college students pretend they don't know the
form, until some finally admit that maybe their grandfather uses it (yeah,
sure).  And I've never seen it in writing.

At 07:59 PM 3/16/2005, you wrote:
>I can't speak for Ohio, but I hear "a-" prefixin' almost daily here in
>East Tennessee.  Hardly ever from college students, though.  And I don't
>believ I've ever seen it in a freshman theme.
>
>JL
>
>Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM> wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Benjamin Barrett
>Subject: Re: Is there such a phenomenon as
>"undercorrection/hypocorrection?
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Isn't "a-screamin and a-hollerin" just a set phrase? The interviewee then
>just reversed the internal order of this phrase for emphasis.
>
>Benjamin Barrett
>Questioning in Seattle
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>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!
>
>
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