Aikman's Texan English

[Laurence Horn]

>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).

My comment on regional usage really applied more to that "as/than
what" construction, which as far as I know is not part of
Northeastern or California usage.  I associate it with southern
speech, but I really don't know what the isogloss is.  I have no idea
about the double "had", but I have encountered it before.  There's a
lot of variation in the syntactic expression of counterfactual
conditionals.

LH

>
>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?
>?
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