transitive "be done" (again?)

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Aug 20, 2012, at 11:00 AM, Larry Horn wrote:

> To respond to a student's query, I'm trying to recall a thread from a discussion I seem to vaguely remember our having a while back.  It concerned transitive "be done", if that's the right label.  An example is "I'm done my homework", with the meaning essentially that of mainstream "I'm done with my homework".  The questions are:
>
> 1) what is the geographical range of this construction?
> 2) what are the grammatical/semantic constraints on when it occurs?
> 3) what papers have described it (maybe something in _American Speech_?)
> 4) what if anything is it called?
>
> Answering (4) might help answer some of the others.  I looked carefully (I think) through the DARE entries for "do" and "done" without finding it described, although I may have missed it.  The student writes:
>
> .....
> This usage seems to be common in Baltimore, Philadelphia, parts of New Jersey and Delaware, and also Quebec. I would be happy to give more specific
> subject. Here is a link to a blogger who discusses it.
> http://shubhabala.com/archives/1310
> I have noticed it among my friends from these regions and have also been
> documenting its use.
>

from my files:

“I’m done my homework” ‘I’m done with my homework”, on ADS-L Oct.-Dec. 2004, attested in (at least) Middle Atlantic states and in western Canada

search on: "I'm done my homework"

arnold

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