USAGE: double modals (was Re: negativity)

From:    Geoff Horswood <geoffhorswood@...>

> It's like something my Texan wife says that drives me
> nuts: "I might could have..."  Ack!
Where's your wife from? Double modals such as this are actually
pretty rare in Texas, compared to the rest of the South, since much
of Texas was settled by people from the lower Midwest.  I myself
don't use it, and don't recall ever hearing another Texan use it,
but the more I think about it, the more it makes practical sense to
me:  three syllables less than "I might be able to have".

 =========================================================================
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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