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Re: USAGE: Circumfixes

From:Tommie L Powell <tommiepowell@...>
Date:Wednesday, May 19, 2004, 16:57
Mark J. Reed wrote:
> I would agree with Ray on that point. The phrase "ain't do > nothing" is nonsense in my 'lect - not because it's "formally" > wrong, not because it's "improper grammar"; it simply > makes no sense, at a fundamental level. Nor have I > personally heard it in other dialects.
I also agree, whole-heartedly. But I can see why a person whose native language isn't English would think that he was hearing English speakers say "ain't do nothing." To wit: "Ain't doing nothing" has n follow ng, and that ngn sequence is hard to say in many dialects, so the phrase becomes "ain't doin' nothing," and the n sounds merger, so we hear "ain't doinothing." And, in many dialects, that oi dipthong's i is so weak that people who aren't native speakers just don't hear it, so they think they hear "ain't do nothing."