"whenever" for "when"

[Herb Luthin]

Yes, the usage is endemic in the Pittsburgh area, to the point that it
sometimes appears in ChamberofCommerce-sponsored lists of "Pittsburghese".
For the last year-and-a-half I've been administering a Dialect Survey of
Western Pennsylvania on the web (http://ltc.clarion.edu/surveys/dialect/),
and I plan on putting this pattern on the next version of the survey (mostly
focused on lexical variation, it's a research tool for my American Dialects
class).  So I may be able to provide more detail on Pennsylvania pattern a
year from now.  But I'd be interested in hearing about any further
information you might receive in the meantime.

-- Herb Luthin
    English Dept.
    Clarion University
    Clarion, PA 16214
    814-393-2738
    luthin at clarion.edu


----- Original Message -----
From: Karen Naughton <kknaughton at ELLTEL.NET>
To: <FUNKNET at listserv.rice.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 9:50 PM
Subject: Re: "whenever" for "when"


| I am a user of 'whenever' and I am not anywhere near age 25.  In fact, I
am
| more than twice that old.  SMILE!
|
| I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, if that is any help.  It's part
of
| my dialect, I assume, and I'm not aware of how I use it or in which
contexts
| it is appropriate for me to use them.
|
| However, one of my former roommates will be sending an email regarding
this
| topic.  She remarked on my odd use of 'whenever' (which I thought was
| completely normal, of course), and will probably remember some examples.
|
| Karen Naughton