Re: THEORY: Natural language change (was Re: Charlie and I)

Nik Taylor wrote:

> "Thomas R. Wier" wrote:
> > and I think the preterite is slowly edging
> > the present perfect out.  I remember distinctly a couple months
> > ago hearing someone at the elevator in the complex where I live
> > saying "Did you do your homework yet?"
>
> Strange!  I've heard the perfect used where I'd use simple forms, like
> (actual sample from a co-worker) "The reason I had said that was that
> everyone had been looking at you", whereas I'd say "...I said that ...
> was looking at ..."
I think the confusion comes because in many instances there's
no one really correct version, per se;  it's all in how you look at
it.  The thing is, in my dialect area, the present perfect plus "yet"
is in many instances redundant, because "yet" has taken on the
full load of the verb form (much as German uses <schon>, "already,
plus the present tense for English's present perfect).

> > I think there has also been an increased recognition of the importance
> > of linguistic tolerance in those who become teachers nowadays.
>
> Hmm, if so that would be promising.  But, I've never encountered such a
> teacher in my public school career.  They were all prescriptivists.
Well, as I've said, that's my primary experience too.  I did have one
hardcore descriptivist English teacher, but she can be explained more
by her husband having a PhD in linguistics, rather than by exposure
to institutional linguistics itself (she's gotten it mostly by osmosis, I
suppose).

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

Denn wo Begriffe fehlen,
Da stellt ein Wort zur rechten Zeit sich ein.
   -- Mephistopheles, in Goethe's _Faust_
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