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Re: Southernisms (was Re: Genitive relationships (WAS: ConstructStates))

From:John Cowan <cowan@...>
Date:Thursday, March 11, 1999, 20:01
Tom Wier wrote:

> I really like this explanation. Do you think it has to do with the /l/ > being velarized?
Maybe, but not necessarily. The reduced form /@m/ of "them" is probably descended from the OE 3pl dative pronoun "hem", the sole survivor of the old 3pl system, which has otherwise been replaced by the Scandinavian borrowings "they", "their", "them". So we need not look to phonological explanations for reduced pronouns: after all, "y'all" transparently was once "you+all", and there is no reason why [y@] could not have survived as its reduced form. -- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org You tollerday donsk? N. You tolkatiff scowegian? Nn. You spigotty anglease? Nnn. You phonio saxo? Nnnn. Clear all so! 'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)