copula deletion and BEV

[Dennis R. Preston]

Well, when do we delete copulas, and when do we simply employ
ordinary phonological (reduction) processes? (And can we say for sure
when were doing one or the other?)

Seem like to me that "You takin' Delta" could have lots of sources:

Non-interrogative (all falling intonation):
1) Copula deletion
2) /r/ deletion (You're taking....") in which the copula is not
deleted, just the only phonetic clue that it is there. That there
could be a historical relationship between these facts goes without
saying. Look at all them "They goin' to school" speakers who are NOT
r-deleters.

Interrogative:
1) Copula deletion
        a. From a non-interrogative structure ("You are taking Delta)
made interrogative by rising final intonation only
        b. From an interrogative structure ("Are you taking Delta")
2) Weak syllable reduction /ar/ -> /r/ and loss (since the resulting
onset cluster /ry/ is not allowed, although Japanese speakers can
handle it.) Note /may/ and /zi/ in "Am I..." and "Is he..."
construction where the onset is permissible.
3) /r/ deletion from the non-interrogative as in 1) a) after contraction.

I would not regard anything other than the 1)s above as "Copula deletion."

dInIs (who woulda said the same thing under the rules for
Interrogative 2 above)


>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: copula deletion and BEV
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Early this morning I drove my wife to the Atlanta airport;
>approaching the terminal, I distinctly heard myself inquire (in
>WEV), "You taking Delta or AirTran?" Of course, in writing I
>wouldn't delete the copula in such a sentence, and the copula seems
>easier to delete in questions, and possibly in second-person
>constructions ("You gonna eat that?"). Still, I definitely deleted
>it!
>
>--Charlie
>____________________________________________
>
>>
>>>Date:    Tue, 23 Jan 2007 12:23:09 -0500
>>>From:    Michael H Covarrubias <mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU>
>>>Subject: Re: a dialect using just participle?
>>>
>>>It looks like copula deletion.  Labov claimed this feature was an
>>>important community marker of Black English Vernacular.
>>>
>>>Quoting Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>:
>
>>>   > Now, finally, I'm reading the handbook (Longman Writer's
>>>Companion) and in their discussion of the progressive & perfect
>>>tenses they identify as a dialect example this:
>>>>
>>>>   The interview starting five minutes late.
>
>>>>   (They analyze it as omitting _is_ in _is starting_.)
>>>>
>>>>   I've never run across this dialectical variant. Now I feel
>>>>really stupid for thinking that my student was stupid.
>
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--
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himself [sic] in his own true character - that is, as an ignorant man
thinking, actively utilizing his small share of knowledge. Alfred
North Whitehead

Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
Office: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755

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