Aikman's Texan English

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

In what way is this an example of "regional" speech? Do we really KNOW that these constructions are regionally and not socially distributed? The "what" construction seems to me particularly pan-American (and maybe not just US/Canadian).

FOX announcer and former star Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman,?
who did color commentary on yesterday's Giants-Redskins game, always?
provides a good number of examples of regional English testifying to?
his upbringing and professional career in the Texas/Oklahoma area?
(with some time off attending college at UCLA that doesn't seem to?
have left a lasting impression on his speech). Here's one sample?
sentence from the fourth quarter of yesterday's broadcast; the use of?
post-complementizer "what" is particularly ubiquitous in Aikman's?
speech, but the double "had" counterfactual here is nice too. (The?
references are to Redskins' defensive back Carlos Rogers and Giants'?
receiver Plaxico Burress after the latter escaped the clutches of the?
former for a touchdown catch.)?
?
============?
Had Carlos had been looking into the backfield and seen where that?
ball was bein' thrown, he had every bit as much of an opportunity to?
make a play on that ball as what Burress did.?
==============?
?
LH



-----Original Message-----
From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Sent: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 7:50 pm
Subject: [ADS-L] Aikman's Texan English


FOX announcer and former star Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman,?
who did color commentary on yesterday's Giants-Redskins game, always?
provides a good number of examples of regional English testifying to?
his upbringing and professional career in the Texas/Oklahoma area?
(with some time off attending college at UCLA that doesn't seem to?
have left a lasting impression on his speech). Here's one sample?
sentence from the fourth quarter of yesterday's broadcast; the use of?
post-complementizer "what" is particularly ubiquitous in Aikman's?
speech, but the double "had" counterfactual here is nice too. (The?
references are to Redskins' defensive back Carlos Rogers and Giants'?
receiver Plaxico Burress after the latter escaped the clutches of the?
former for a touchdown catch.)?
?
============?
Had Carlos had been looking into the backfield and seen where that?
ball was bein' thrown, he had every bit as much of an opportunity to?
make a play on that ball as what Burress did.?
==============?
?
LH?
?
------------------------------------------------------------?
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org?


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