AAVE query

[Salikoko S. Mufwene]

There is a discussion of direct and indirect questions in the following
book:

Burling, Robbins. 1973. /English in black and white/.  New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

One of the earlier, 1980's editions of Akmajan et al.'s /Introduction to
linguistics/ discusses the construction too, but too theoretically in my
opinion. I can't double-check this now, as I am writing from abroad,
from my hotel room.

Sali.

Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:

> from a very old friend:
>
> I am currently teaching physics at ... a historically (and pretty
> much actually) African-American college, in ... Birmingham, Alabama.
> Some of my students use "What that is?" in asking questions.  Has
> this been studied?  Is it regional, hip-prestige, or what?
>
> -----
>
> any leads?
>
> i have asked him if he hears only this one formula, or more things of
> the same form, like "What your name is?"
>
> arnold
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
**********************************************************
Salikoko S. Mufwene                    s-mufwene at uchicago.edu
Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor
University of Chicago                  773-702-8531; FAX 773-834-0924
Department of Linguistics
1010 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
http://humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene
**********************************************************

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org