"The sun has riz, the sun has set, and here we is in Texas yet" (1933)

[Charles Doyle]

Thanks, Larry, for precisionizing!

For me:

   *"Here we are in Texas YET."
   ?"There's YET more to be revealed about Anna Nicole's death."
    "We're not out of the woods YET."

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 16:19:42 -0500
>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>Subject: Re: "The sun has riz, the sun has set, and here we is in Texas yet" (1933)
>
>At 2:18 PM -0500 2/14/07, Charles Doyle wrote:

>>The sentence-terminal "yet" in "Here we is in Texas yet" seems significantly different (more "German"/less "English") than "yet" in the verb phrase of "Does that star-spangled banner yet wave . . . ?" And, of course, different from "yet" in "Are we out of Texas yet?"
>>
>>My brain is too tired to postulate reasons WHY!
>>
>>--Charlie

>
>Well, the third, which is the only one I find natural, is the negative polarity counterpart of "already".  (For me, your question could be answered "No, not yet" or "Yes, we're (already) out of Texas; we just crossed into Oklahoma", but not "Yes, we're still out of Texas.")  Similarly, "I'm already through"/"I'm not through yet".
>
>In the other two, "yet" alternates with "still".  The sense of "here we is in Texas yet" is presumably that after all that driving, or riding, we're still within the state lines, Texas being Texas and all.  And the rhetorical question posed in the anthem is whether that SSB is still waving.  It's this "yet" = 'still' that falls outside my native competence.
>
>LH
>
>>_______________________________________________________
>>
>>---- Original message ----
>>>Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:52:43 -0500
>>>From: "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU>
>>>Subject: Re: "The sun has riz, the sun has set, and here we is in
>>>Texas yet" (1933)
>>
>>>
>>>Larry asks:
>>
>>>
>>>Besides the obvious virtue of its elegance, this
>>>line (in the positive versions) has the very nice
>>>use of "yet" for 'still', which I assume derives
>>>from German influence in Texas, as it does in
>>>Wisconsin.  Any thoughts?
>>>
>>>   <<<<<
>>>
>>>Why postulate foreign influence?
>>>
>>>         O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
>>>         O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
>>>                 (By a fellow alumnus)
>>>
>>>-- Mark A. Mandel, St. John's College (Annapolis) 1969
>>>[This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]
>>
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>
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