[Ads-l] spread of punctual whenever?

[Benjamin Barrett]

According to "Pittsburgh Speech and Pittsburghese” by Barbara Johnstone, Daniel Baumgardt, Maeve Eberhardt, Scott Kiesling (http://bit.ly/1k5PWDs <http://bit.ly/1k5PWDs>), the punctual use of “whenever” derives from Scotch-Irish English (citing Montgomery & Kirk, Montgomery) and is found in Appalachia and the Midwest.

I have an acquaintance just about 30 years of age in suburban/rural Washington State who seems to not have the word “when” in his vocabulary.

According to “World Englishes Paperback with Audio CD: Implications for International Communication and English Language Teaching” by Andy Kirkpatrick (http://bit.ly/1Yls6q9 <http://bit.ly/1Yls6q9>), there is a tendency to use the present tense in the “whenever” clause when describing a habitual action and the past tense for a single action (which I think is the same as punctual).

I need to listen to see if he has a correlation between tense and action. Is this use spreading?

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA
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