Search results for 'tag:Negatives tag:Dialects' matching tags 'Negatives' and 'Dialects'

Re: ain't

Kooyeen — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:47:27 GMT

I think I'd agree with GG... I don't think that "ain't" in place of "do not" or "does not" is what you are likely to hear in most American dialects. These are the most common usages, as far as I know:
I ain't seen it. (have/has not, auxiliary)
I ain't trying to help you. (is/are not)
I ain't got nothing to do. (ain't got = possessive)

EDIT: ah, and I think I usually see it used with a double negative.

Re: can't;can

Carson21 — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:55:39 GMT

Listen for a glottal stop at the end of "can't". It'll basically sound like the <n> got cut off, rather than completed as a sound.

In most American dialects, "can't" is pronounced with the stop when in it's followed by more information: "You can't do that."

It's pronounced with an enunciated /t/ at the end of a sentence: "You can't."

Both of these are assuming normal-speed speech. Faster speech tends to lose the /t/ and you get the glottal stop again, while slower speech tends to emphasize the /t/ .

As for negation: We often use double-negatives to emphasize something. You can say: "You have to go" and be implying an obligation, or you could say "You can't NOT go" (yes, emphasis on "not") and be implying that there is no "not going", no getting out of going. You literally have to, where the first one is just saying that you're expected to.

Double negation is very handy for speeches and essays. And a great way to mess with people who don't expect grammatical twists. An (slightly inappropriate) example: "Aren't you not a virgin?" A trap! Think about how you were asked before you answer that, lest you tell an untruth.

Re: "You don't mean nothing"

Kooyeen — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:58:35 GMT

Ruslana wrote:
Don't and nothing are not acceptable together, are they?

Yes, they are acceptable where double negatives are acceptable. They are ok in songs... actually, they are extremely common in songs, but it depends what kind of music you listen to (you don't find double negatives in classical music, LOL). Double negatives are common, and they can also be a feature of certain dialects.

We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control... (Pink Floyd)
I can't get no satisfaction... (Rolling Stones)
Sometimes I feel nobody gives me no warning... I don't have no time for no monkey business... (Freddy Mercury)

Re: What is the most annoying phrase in the English language?

Yankee — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:16:02 GMT

Kooyeen wrote:
Hi,
I'm just wondering if there's something strange with that "so"... I hear it very often in negative sentences like "Oh my God, that's so not funny!" My impression is that the use of "so + not + adjective/description" may be of Valley Girl origin. It's a fairly new usage.

Also, I don't know if it's only teenagers, but I'm pretty sure among teenagers "anyways" is much more common than "anyway"...
I've always thought that the use of 'anyways' had a fairly strong connection to regional dialect, but it may be true that it has come into vogue among teenagers lately.

BTW, I also notice a lot of "pretty much", but I still don't understand how to use it. It seems good before "every-something", like "I know pretty much everything" or "You'll find him pretty much everywhere", but I'm not sure how to use it before adjectives. The expression "pretty much" has been around for a long time. I've heard it since I was a kid -- which is ~~like~~ half a century ago now. It's informal, but you can find "pretty much" in dictionaries. (Try onelook.com)

Here are some "pretty much" examples:

"I'm pretty much finished." (nearly, almost).
"I've pretty much had it with you!" (nearly)
"That's pretty much the same thing I heard." (almost,basically)
"That's pretty much out of the question." (basically)

Re: Southern Accent

ScratchThat — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:28:31 GMT

Oh heck yes. I've lived in Georgia all my life, and it used to anger my mother very much how Southerners were portrayed by the media (meaning, people in New York City and Hollywood): racist, emotionally unstable, inbred, uneducated, and violent. And the accent itself was used as a stand-in for all of those negative traits. And I'm not saying that there are some of those traits in large swaths of the South. I just hate it that those who make the media get a free hand at slurring everyone who lives in the South.

That said, having lived in the South all my life, there are definitely different dialects even within the South. As has been said before, the dialect in Louisiana still sounds "Southern" to my ears, but there are many differences. Likewise, Tennessee accents also sound "Southern" but definitely have a "mountain twang" to them. And there are also many Southern accents that are just plain awful and stupid sounding ("I ain't done nuthin'"). One accent that is dying is the aristocratic Southern accent, the one that drops the R's (non-rhotic) and sounds like Foghorn Leghorn when it's exaggerated. Of all Southern accents, it's probably the only one that hasn't been stereotyped as "stupid".

To me, the Southern accent, particularly the one from South Georgia / Northern Florida (but only when it's spoken well), is the most pleasing accent to my own ears. I find myself sliding into it when I talk to children or animals. And the brutish, grating, hideous New York City accent is the worst all-around accent.

Re: I don't give nothing to nobody.

Kooyeen — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 16:34:48 GMT

Hi,

I don't give nothing to nobody - Double, triple, etc. negatives are a feature of some dialects. That's pretty common, but I'm not sure if it is the standard form in those dialects or if it is just a possible structure. In other words, I'm not sure if in those dialects "I don't give anything to anybody" or "I don't know anything" would be uncommon compared to "I didn't give nothing to nobody" or "I don't know nothing".
Those forms are only acceptable and used in certain dialects.

Me neither / Me either - Both should be used in American English, but I think "Me either" is not very common compared to "Me neither". Not sure about this, though. It depends.

Now wait for someone else's reply.

Re: anymore of

Cool Breeze — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 14:02:54 GMT

Koto wrote:

I'm not sure but I guess "anymore of " is American and "any more of" is more like British?

Hi Koto

I can only repeat what I said in my previous post: anymore refers to time. E-mails are not time. The following extract is from the Random House Webster's Dictionary (an American dictionary):

anymore
1. any longer.
2. nowadays; presently.
[1350â1400; ME ani more any longer]
âUsage. The adverb ANYMORE meaning âany longerâ or ânowadaysâ is most commonly spelled as one word. It is used in negative constructions and in some types of questions: Sally doesn't work here anymore. Do you play tennis anymore? In some dialects, chiefly South Midland in origin, it is found in positive statements meaning ânowadaysâ: Baker's bread is all we eat anymore. Anymore we always take the bus. Its use at the beginning of a sentence is almost exclusive to speech or to representations of speech.

Cheers
CB

Re: Race, US: class, UK

milky — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 19:43:30 GMT

Well, first off, what are these "non-standard" forms of English of which you speak? There are certainly unprestigious and stigmatized dialects, but each of them have their own rules of grammar. >

Yes, I think most of us here know that, Marv. The term "non-standard" has taken on a negative prosody in some circles and tended to become synonymous with "sub-standard", but that is not the way I am using it here. In linguistics, it stands as a word that describes variants that are not seen as Standard by standardists.

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< It also has absolutely nothing to do with "race". > ???

<<certain cultural groups such as African-American Vernacular English, and Chicano-English.> >

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Re: as/that

Marius Hancu — Wed, 24 May 2006 11:59:44 GMT

Inchoateknowledge wrote:
'This is the watch as I lost' -- this sentence is false.

No, it is dialect.

In some dialects
as = that

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as

: THAT -- used to introduce a noun clause and now dialect except in certain negative expressions with know, say, or see that have wide usage in informal speech <he said as he would come> <I don't know as it makes any difference> c dialect : in so far as : THAT -- used to introduce an adverbial clause <he hasn't come out again as I've seen>

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com
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Re: 'same-way' question tag

Teo — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 09:04:55 GMT

%He isn't ill, isn't he?

The above sentence is quoted from The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Cambridge University Press 2002. The symbol % indicates the status of the following example: He hadn't many friends. [grammatical in some dialect(s) only]

According to the second edition of Practical English Usage, negative-negative tag questions are only possible in British English.

Since modern British English is currently being quite strongly influenced by American English, the negative-negative question tag is probably becoming obsolete.