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Re: bless (adj)

From:Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>
Date:Friday, August 20, 2004, 5:22
Date:    Thu, 19 Aug 2004 18:10:17 -0400
From:    "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
Subject: bless (adj)

> So here in the southern US we seem to be in the middle of a change that > I'm not sure how to categorize: the bare word "bless" is acquiring the > meaning of its participle "blessed" (something that has been blessed). > So far I've only seen it in the set phrase "have a bless day", where it > obviously came from a merger of the /t/ and /d/ in "blessed day" > /blEstdei/, but I've now seen it written down in -edless form several > times, and I can't help but wonder how long it will be before this new > meaning of unsuffixed "bless" becomes lexicalized in GAE. It may already > have that status in AAVE . . .
Who've you heard it from? Final consonant cluster simplification is a common feature not just of AAVE, but of many Southern dialects as well. (Which is not surprising, given the two's historical relationship.) A more interesting question for me is the phrase itself: is it just a passing fad, or more evidence that America is undergoing a so-called fourth "Great Awakening"? ========================================================================= Thomas Wier "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally, Dept. of Linguistics because our secret police don't get it right University of Chicago half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of 1010 E. 59th Street Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter. Chicago, IL 60637

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Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>