[Linganth] Fwd: Re: nouns/verbs

[Patrick, Peter L]

thanks kit!

Just curious - does anybody on the list experience this as casting Bush
as anything other than an AAVE speaker? Is there some other dialect
which this might evoke? there isn't for me...

As I read it, the over-generalisation of 3rd-singular -s suggests a
completely regularized grammar which lacks it -
this is the usual picture for AAVE, but Bush would here be
hypercorrecting in formal speech ("I has... I intends"). Blair, on the
other hand, would be speaking the normal vernacular variety ("he have").
The other bit from Bush ("I 'are' "), is not as far as I know attested
for any dialect, however stigmatized.

	Of course this is not suggesting that the author had these
readings consciously in mind - but I am wondering whether their idea of
"stupid/no grammar" depends on AAVE as a default model. In fact, it
might be surprising if the author actually intended reference to AAVE,
as I don't think there is much reason to associate Bush with the
variety, other than general denigration. To a speaker who was aware of
these general patterns, the intended satire on Blair would also be lost,
since he is speaking vernacularly and thus not following Bush's lead -
you would expect the British character to be given more posh speech (esp
since Blair is often caricatured here as Bush's poodle or lapdog).

just being a linguist - I did think it was kinda funny...

	-plp-

Peter L Patrick
Dept of Language and Linguistics
University of Essex
patrickp at essex.ac.uk

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-linganth at ats.rochester.edu
> [mailto:owner-linganth at ats.rochester.edu] On Behalf Of Kathryn Woolard
> Sent: 11 November 2004 06:49
> To: linganth at cc.rochester.edu
> Subject: [Linganth] Fwd: Re: nouns/verbs
>
>
> This comes courtesy of my socio-cultural anthro. friends, but I
> haven't yet seen it from ling. types, so here it is - KW
>
>
>
> >>
> >>><http://www.borowitzreport.com>The Andy Borowitz Report
> Breaking News
> >>>BUSH CANCELS AGREEMENT BETWEEN NOUN AND VERBS
> >>>
> >>>'I Has a Mandate, and I Intends to Use it,' Says President
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>President George W. Bush announced the first major initiative of
> >>>his second term in office today, canceling the agreement between
> >>>nouns and verbs.
> >>>
> >>>The president, who had been widely expected to announce a series
> >>>of faith-based initiatives, surprised Washington insiders by
> >>>kicking off his second term with a grammar-based one.
> >>>
> >>>Mr. Bush left little doubt that he intended to consign the
> >>>agreement between nouns and verbs to the dustbin of history,
> >>>telling reporters, "I has a mandate, and I intends to use it."
> >>>
> >>>In world capitals, heads of state responded with a mixture of
> >>>shock and dismay to the president's decision to back out of the
> >>>noun-verb agreement, long considered a cornerstone of human
> >>>communication.
> >>>
> >>>"It was one thing to back out of the Kyoto Protocol and the Geneva
> >>>Conventions, but if Mr. Bush intends to break the agreement
> >>>between nouns and verbs he is going it alone," said French
> >>>president Jacques Chirac.
> >>>
> >>>But President Bush was quick to correct Mr. Chirac, responding, "I
> >>>think what my good friend Jacques Chirac means is, I 'are' going
> >>>it alone."
> >>>
> >>>The president noted that his proposal had received a vote of
> >>>confidence from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who earlier in
> >>>the day said, "He have my full support."
> >>>
> >>>Mr. Bush went on to announce a series of other bold initiatives,
> >>>such as imposing a moratorium on complete sentences and
> >>>eliminating the letter "g" from the end of most words.
> >>>Elsewhere, the Pentagon announced that U.S. fighter jets missed a
> >>>target in southern Iraq today, strafing a middle school in New
> >>>Jersey.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
>
> --
> Kathryn A. Woolard			kwoolard at ucsd.edu
> Professor				Phone: (858) 534-4639
> Department of Anthropology, 0532		Fax :     (858) 534-5946
> UCSD
> 9500 Gilman Drive
> La Jolla, CA 92093-0532
>