Re: CHAT: Nonstandard usage (was Natural language change (was Re:Charlie and I))

----- Original Message -----
From: Don Blaheta <dpb@...>
To: Multiple recipients of list CONLANG <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 1999 3:23 AM
Subject: Re: CHAT: Nonstandard usage (was Natural language change (was
Re:Charlie and I))

>I been sick.  You been sick.  He's been sick.  she's been, we been, they
been.
>Were you sick?  I was sick.
>(Fun side note: that the =B4ve disappears, at least when I'm not being
>careful to be formal.)
I find this interesting... I've heard people drop the verb "to have" in t=
his
situation but always thought people who did that dropped it in all person=
s
and numbers. Perhaps it's because of the similarity of /v/ <'ve> to the /=
b/
in <been>.

To be honest, I tend to look down at "have" dropping as sounding uneducat=
ed,
as much as I believe that grammar is arbitrary anyway... I guess there ar=
e
just some subconscious prejudices that still pop up even when you know
they're not right.