Fwd: a request

[Paul Johnston]

I didn't know that it had come over here, but past tense "see" (no n) is
attested in the SED materials.  I think it has a Southwestern distribution
in England, but I'll have to look that up for sure.  It could result from a
generalization of the OE plural stem sig- > sej- > see  instead of the
singular seah, which gives saw, as well as from a past participial form (Far
Southern ME yse(3), no -n).  Southwesterners got all over the place here
settlement-wise, but I'd look for it in the two extremes of the 13
colonies--South Carolina (& Georgia) on one hand and rural New England on
the other.  The Canadian maritimes and Newfoundland, too.

Paul Johnston
----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Doyle" <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 1:24 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: a request


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Fwd: a request
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> Could the questioner mean "seen"?  (Though he writes "see" twice in the
request.)
>
> --Charlie
> _____________________________________________
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:31:59 -0800
> >From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> >Subject: Re: Fwd: a request
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> >"Mainstream" vernacular ?  Good luck !  Except as part of a general
narrative in the historical present, this usage must be extremely uncommmon.
> >
> >  JL
> __________________________________________
> >
> >>Could you do me a favor and ask the ADS list something. I would like
have to have a citation (with place, date, etc) of past tense "see" used in
mainstream American English vernacular, as in "I see her yesterday" - if
anyone could help me with that.
> >>
> >>David S.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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