John Quijada:
> I have been pondering the strange morpho-syntax of the class of adverbial
> phrases in colloquial American English involving expletive nouns or
> expletive-like nouns which convey a harshly annoyed connotation. Such
> expressions include 'the hell', 'the heck,' 'the f**k', etc.
>
> I notice the peculiarly narrow range of grammatically acceptable usages.
> For example, they appear acceptable with all the WH-class of question
> words, but using them in any answer to a WH-question appears to be
> permissible only by means of an additional prepositional or quasi-
> prepositional element, as in the following examples (grammatically
> unacceptable forms marked with asterisks):
>
> WH-type Questions:
>
> What the hell are you doing?
> Where the hell did he find that?
> Why the hell is he coming?
> Who the hell cares?
> How the hell should I know?
>
> Answers to WH-type Questions:
>
> I'm mowing the lawn.
> *I'm mowing the hell the lawn.
> *I'm the hell mowing the lawn.
> I'm mowing the hell OUT OF the lawn.
>
> He found it up in the attic.
> *He found it the hell up in the attic.
> *He the hell found it up in the attic.
> He found it WAY the hell up in the attic.
This construction occurs with wh-interrogatives (in main or
subordinate clauses ("He wondered what the hell she was doing"))
and also -- a less determinately delimited environment -- as
an apparent modifier of a locative result complement, typically
(or only?) of GET, e.g. "I want you to get (?him) the hell away
from me".
> There also appears to be a restriction in effect based on whether the
> context denotes a scalar degree versus a fixed absolute degree (or is it
an
> aspectual restriction?). For example:
>
> I beat the hell out of him.
> *I killed the hell out of him.
That looks to be an ordinary resultative construction, where "the
hell" is subject, not modifier, of "out".
> The specific phrase 'the hell' (but apparently not 'the heck' or 'the
> f**k') also appears in the following construction:
>
> The hell you're going to any party!
> The hell he's marrying my daughter!
One of a wide range of related constructions in which 'rude words'
function as negators. (Google for 'rude negators'.) Conlanger Nick
Nicholas (translator of Klingon Hamlet) recently wrote a paper on
these.
> ANYWAY.I'm curious as to whether anyone on the list is aware of a formal
> grammatical treatment of such phrases in the linguistic literature.
No, but I haven't read recent stuff such as Jonathan Ginzburg's book
on interrogatives. I did do some abortive work on the subject
myself some years ago (specifically on whereabouts in the
interrogative clause these phrases attach), but found nothing
conclusive.
> I'm
> especially curious as to why such phrases carry the highly unusual
> compositional structure of DEFINITE ARTICLE + NOUN being used adverbially.
> I can't think of any other types of nouns used this way in English, e.g.,
>
> *Why the table don't you call me?
> *When the sky did you get here?
> *Where in the noodle have you been?
> *They trashed the convenience out of his house.
> *The responsibility you're marrying my daughter!
> *The cat with you!
The requirement is that the phrases have to be (mild or strong)
swearwords/cursewords. There's loads of idiolectal variation about
which particular words work in these constructions.
--And.