today's bizarre find

[Chris F Waigl]

Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
> while looking for something else, i came across a fair number of
> examples of a (non-standard) construction which i don't recall having
> seen before -- and which baffles me.  the examples all have a
> embedded interrogative clause in which predicative "how" + Adj has
> been fronted.  not problematic.  but these examples have an extra
> indefinite article preceding "how" + Adj, and that's bizarre.
>
> for each example, i've given a version of the embedded clause with
> the predicative (in parentheses) in situ.  in the first set, the
> subject NP that follows the fronted predicative begins with "a(n)",
> which makes the examples look similar to exceptional degree
> modification -- but the phenomena are, i think, not at all related,
> and there are plenty of examples (in the second set below) where the
> subject begins with something other than "a(n)".
>
> i haven't looked at other types of interrogatives, or adjectives
> other than "big" (though i'd assume that the particular adjective
> involved is irrelevant).
>
> the question is: where does that initial "a(n)" come from, and what
> is it doing?
>
> a how good a N
>
> I am siting here thinking about a how good a donut would be right
> now. Thanks for making me laugh.
> drivetime.ravijain.org/2006/11/episode-twoseven.html
>
> [a donut would be (Deg good)]
>
> Also, an interesting place to bring visitors to London because it's
> such a great example of a how good a gastropub can be.
> www.toptable.co.uk/details.cfm/qs/rid%7C2657/spos%7C2
>
> [a gastropub would be (Deg good)]
>
> [etc.]
>

Some of these may be editing artefacts, but assuming there's something
real going on, I looked for things that appear to be similar. The
embedded interrogative is a NP, so maybe for some speakers it's possible
to introduce it with an article. Here are some with a definite article:

====
When testing, the validity of the data is a function of the how much a
difference there is between your results, and the sample size.
http://www.marketingexperiments.com/validity.html
====
As Tracey put it very forcefully on Friday, there is an important and
generally untold story that the public does not often hear about the how
peer review constitutes a massive global collaboration to provide a
system of quality assurance through critical scrutiny, superior to any
checklist approach.
http://www.rin.ac.uk/taxonomy/term/63/all
====
The how often a article is linked should give a good feeling if its
really important.
[Well ok, this smells of an editing glitch.]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Chemistry/archive05
====
Here are some thoughts on the how such a system would work:
http://jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com/20646.html
====
Attorneys, however, have an ability to influence the how quickly a case
goes forward.
http://mexico.usembassy.gov/mexico/eacs_victims.html
====
Yet it would be harder to understand the how good a model was discovered
by the neural net, and to estimate which measured attributes of the
sound most strongly correlated with specific outputs.
http://web.media.mit.edu/~nitin/classes/adaptive/proposal.html
====

Second, is the "how [adj] a" construction necessary for this effect?
Looking at other embedded wh-questions...

====
I was amazed last night that the coaching staff had the testicals to
send Branyan on a what was a certain suicide mission.
[Again, this may well have started out as "on a certain suicide mission".]
http://www.gaslampball.com/story/2007/6/6/163132/6470
====
while Elizabeth was working on a what she called a 'wee scarf'
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/print.asp?entryID=111743
====
Beckett's most famous work ' Waiting for Godot' is about two tramps
waiting on a what appears to be a desolate road for a man who never appears.
http://www.samuel-beckett.net/cricket.html
====

I don't think these are as convincing, though. Then I find a bunch where
a=of ("Bit it's no jist a matter a *who* yer fightin, or *whit* yer
fightin. It's who yer fightin *fur*. Aye, an it's* whit* yer fightin
fur.") plus some in Jamaican, where I'm not all sure about the different
senses of "a" ("A three different woman me hear seh him ‘ave, and one a
dem a fi you same frowzy missis whey pregnant an everybody a wonder a
who a go claim di pickney!").

Chris Waigl

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