a locus classicus for fronted "anymore"

[Wilson Gray]

Baruch ha-Shem!

-Wilson

On Sat, Aug 22, 2009 at 11:46 AM, Laurence Horn<laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: a locus classicus for fronted "anymore"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 12:41 AM -0400 8/22/09, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>Anymore, I hear it all around me since moving to the Wyoming Valley
>>region of NE PA (Greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Metro Area), on both
>>sides of the Susquehanna.
>>
>>-Wilson
>
> Indeed, that's good "anymore" country, as is western PA.  You won't
> here "Anymore, we all pump our own gas" if you cross the Delaware
> into NJ, because state law there prohibits it.  ;-)
>
> LH
>
>>
>>On Wed, Aug 19, 2009 at 11:59 AM, Laurence Horn<laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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>>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>>  Subject:      Re: a locus classicus for fronted "anymore"
>>>
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>  At 11:27 AM -0400 8/19/09, Lynne Miles-Morillo wrote:
>>>>The quotation from the Times is  an instance of fronted negative
>>>>anymore, but I think *positive* fronted anymore is a particularly
>>>>interesting thing to hear, and this usage thrives around here
>>>>(central Indiana) in sentences such as
>>>>
>>>>Anymore, we all pump our own gas.
>>>>
>>>
>>>  My hypothesis (not explicitly formulated) is that because the fronted
>>>  "anymore" is not in the scope (or, more technically, the c-command
>>>  domain) of the negation in examples like the Duluth one from the
>>>  Times ("Anymore, the airlines don't want to take the risks"), no
>>>  speakers would find that one possible who wouldn't accept yours as
>>>  well (or cf. "Anymore, the auto makers are willing to accept the
>>>  risks")  Certainly, there are a lot of speakers who would never say
>>>  either one, and there are a lot (although a smaller numer) who could
>>>  say either, but are there speakers who could utter/accept the fronted
>>>  negative (Duluth) example but not the fronted positive ones?  There
>>>  are certainly speakers who get positive "anymore" (e.g. D. H.
>>>  Lawrence's example from _Women in Love_, "Suffering bores me any
>>>  more") but can't do the fronting.  This is why I was saying earlier
>>>  that the fronted _anymore_ speakers are a proper subset of the
>>>  positive _anymore_ speakers.  If there's someone who can get the
>>>  Duluth example but not e.g. "We all pump our own gas anymore", my
>>>  hypothesis is falsified.
>>>
>>>  LH
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>On Aug 19, 2009, at 10:12 AM, Alison Murie wrote:
>>>>
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>>>>>-----------------------
>>>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>>Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
>>>>>Subject:      Re: a locus classicus for fronted "anymore"
>>>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>>I may have posted on this before.  I first heard positive "anymore"
>>>>>from a neighbor in Shelton, WN, in 1947 (which neighbor had moved
>>>>>there during the war from  rural MO).   I was startled by what, to me,
>>>>>was a novel use. I had grown up in Lincoln NE & Chicago North Shore.
>>>>>My older brother began using it after living many years in Portland,
>>>>>OR.  Go figure.
>>>>>AM
>>>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>-Wilson
>>---
>>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>>to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>-----
>>-Mark Twain
>>
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--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain

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