Early appearances of "irregardless"

[Michael Israel]

Larry points out that redundant negative morphology
often crops up in places where a blending analysis
is not very plausible, and that such unneedless redundancy
is not unusual either in English or crosslinguistically.

It's can also be found in some of the ways young
children will creatively use negaive morphology. The following
examples are from Melissa Bowerman's diary studies of her
two daughters:

(Child trying to get out of swimsuit says:)
    Child:    How do I untake this off?
    (= How do I take this off?)

Child:    Will you unopen this?
    (= Will you open this?)

(Child trying to pull sheet of stamps apart says:)
    Child:    Ho do you unbreak this?
    (= How do you break this?)

(Child holding up chain of glued paper strips says:)
    Child:    I know you take these apart. Unsplit them and put'em on.
    (= Split them and put'em on.)


Of course, these sorts of uses are unlikely to have a lasting
effect on any adult variety of English, but they do suggest that
innovations along these lines might be more natural than our
logical prejudices would have us believe.

-mi


On 5/3/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Early appearances of "irregardless"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >Btw, "irregardless" is almost certainly a blend ("regardless" +
> >"irrespective").
> >
> >Gerald Cohen
>
> I wouldn't say almost certainly.   The redundancy of negative prefix
> + privative suffix represents what used to be a much more robust
> pattern found especially among adjectives of the form "unXless" in
> the 16th and 17th centuries, typically meaning 'unXful' or 'Xless'.
> The OED, under un(1), 5a, lists such forms as
>
> unboundless
> undauntless
> uneffectless
> unguiltless
> unhelpless
> unfathomless
> unmatchless
> unmerciless
> unnumberless
> unquestionless
> unremorseless
> unrestless
> unshameless
> unshapeless
> untimeless
> unwitless
>
> So "unmatchless", for example, meant 'unmatched' or 'matchless".  Nor
> is English alone in allowing such redundancy; cf. German
> "unzweifellos", lit. 'undoubtless', but actually 'doubtless'. (The
> literal reading arrived at compositionally in these cases is ruled
> out by the general constraint that prevents attaching un- to
> evaluatively or formally negative bases (e.g. *unsad or *unhostile
> alongside unhappy, unfriendly).  Perhaps a blend analysis makes sense
> for some of those , but "unmatchless" would be more plausibly a blend
> of "unmatched" and "matchless", and we don't have analogous sources
> for "irregardless" (regardless + irregardful?). Some speakers may
> have "irrespective" in mind--but it's no slam dunk, as Mr. Tenet
> would say.  Similar redundant morphology pops up with un-verbs and
> their kin:  unthaw (= thaw), unloose(n), debone, dissever,
> unshell,...  Blend analyses don't seem (to me) particularly
> compelling in such cases.
>
> LH
>
> >________________________________
> >
> >From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Bonnie Taylor-Blake
> >Sent: Thu 5/3/2007 7:33 PM
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >Subject: Early appearances of "irregardless"
> >
> >
> >
> >I'm always a little concerned that I'm simply repeating work that
> someone's
> >already posted or published here or elsewhere.  Irregardless, since the
> word
> >came up on the list today, I'll go ahead and share several early
> appearances
> >of "irregardless" that I've found in American publications.  (OED2
> provides
> >as an early sighting an entry from Wentworth's _American Dialect
> >Dictionary_, 1912.)
> >
> >-- Bonnie
> >
> >----------------------------------------------------
> >
> >(From the poem "The Old Woman and Her Tabby," *City Gazette and Daily
> >Advertiser* [Charleston, South Carolina], 23 June 1795, Vol. XIII, Issue
> >2458, Pg. 3.  [Archives of Americana])
> >
> >But death, irregardless of tenderest ties,
> >    Resolv'd the good *Betty*, at length, to bereave:
> >He strikes -- the poor fav'rite reluctantly dies!
> >    Breaks her mistress's heart -- both descend to the grave.
> >
> >-------------------
> >
> >(From "Trip to Harrisburg, &c."  *The Grant County Witness* [Platteville,
> >Wisconsin], 3 October 1861, Pg. 2.  [newspaperarchive.com])
> >
> >As five as per order, down came the tents irregardless of the occupants,
> >should there be any.
> >
> >----------------
> >
> >(From *The New York Herald*, 29 January 1862.  [Accessible Archives])
> >
> >He was the bearer of messages from commercial men in the South to English
> >merchants in reference to opening a trade with the South irregardless of
> the
> >federal blockade.
> >
> >----------------
> >
> >(From "Notes on Current Events:  Foreign an Domestic.  The War Policy and
> >the Constitution," *The Knickerbocker Monthly; A National Magazine*,
> March
> >1863, 61, 3, Pg. 280.  [APS Online])
> >
> >Goaded on, solicited, threatened, implored, to appease the fanatical
> >representatives of abolitionism, irregardless of what conservatism which
> >recent elections demonstrate so incontestably preponderates at the North,
> >[...].
> >
> >----------------
> >
> >(From "Texas Items," *Flake's Bulletin* [Galveston, Texas], 3 October
> 1867,
> >Vol. III, Issue 90, Pg. 5. [Archive of Americana])
> >
> >Judge Noonan has applied to the Governor for permission to summon jurors
> >irregardless of the test oath ordered to be administered by General
> Griffin,
> >knowing that such a jury as required cannot be found in his upper
> counties.
> >[Reprinted from the San Antonio Herald, 25 September.]
> >
> >----------------
> >
> >("Irregardless" appears with growing frequency in publications from the
> >1870s and thereafter. -- BTB)
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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>

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