SWAE relative "what"

[William Salmon]

I agree with Wilson on the relative 'what' and Southern English. I
recall hearing it pretty commonly in South Texas.  Especially with
older speakers.

> Really, Wilson?  I've never heard it, in lower or higher orders (a horrible
> phrase, btw, even though I know you're implying a smiley face).  But I do
> hear it from foreign-born English speakers often, including those who have
> lived here a long time.  I doubt the blend theory though; let's not get
> carried away with blending as an explanation.
>
> Beverly
>
> At 08:35 AM 8/17/2006, you wrote:
>> "What" as a relative is quite common, here in the Colonies. It's a
>> well-known feature of Southern English and especially of Black
>> English, at least among the lower orders.
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>> On 8/17/06, Lynne Murphy <m.l.murphy at sussex.ac.uk> wrote:
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Lynne Murphy <m.l.murphy at SUSSEX.AC.UK>
>>> Subject:      Re: SWAE relative "what"
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> --On Wednesday, August 16, 2006 11:22 pm -0500 Greg Pulliam
>>> <pulliam at IIT.EDU> wrote:
>>>
>>> > The T and the W are three keys apart--doesn't seem like a typo to me.
>>> > Maybe some other type of error, though.
>>> >
>>> > Still, relative "what" is so common in so many dialects, it seems
>>> > likely to penetrate SWAE sooner, not later.
>>>
>>> I don't think the distance of the keys determines whether it's a typo or
>>> not.  I frequently type 'ing' when I mean to type 'ion' at the end of a
>>> word, just because it's a familiar typing pattern.  One's probably more
>>> likely to do such things at the end of a word rather than the beginning,
>>> but I wouldn't rule out the typo explanation.
>>>
>>> It could also be a blend error:
>>> Write down one thing a week that you're thankful for.
>>> Write down once a week what you're thankful for.
>>>
>>> Relative pronoun 'what' (or 'wot') strikes me as really, really British--I
>>> didn't know it was found in US dialects.  But here it's so far from
>>> standard that it would only be used humorously in a newspaper.  There's a
>>> discussion of it on one ESL forum where it's described as "very council
>>> estate"
>>> <http://www.englishforums.com/English/RelativePronounDefinitionRuns/brprl/Post.htm>
>>>
>>> Lynne
>>>
>>>
>>> Dr M Lynne Murphy
>>> Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and English Language
>>> Arts B133
>>> University of Sussex
>>> Brighton BN1 9QN
>>>
>>> phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
>>> http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>> --
>> Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have
>> found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be
>> imposed upon them.
>>
>> Frederick Douglass
>>
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>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



~Will Salmon

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