Early appearances of "irregardless"

Fri May 4 04:48:28 UTC 2007

Unthaw is not uncommon in adult language.  Perhaps we are dealing with overt
and covert negatives?  Break = undo, unmake; thaw = unfreeze.

JCS

Michael Israel writes:

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

James C. Stalker
Department of English
Michigan State University

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