In a message dated 6/22/2003 12:14:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
draqonfayir@JUNO.COM writes:
>So then what dialect of English *adds* final |-s|s where Standard
>American says they don't belong?
>The song "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)" by Jason Mraz that's been on the
>radio recently includes the line:
>"if you've gots the poison, I've gots the remedy"
>At another point in the song he seems to say "I says" as another use of
>final |-s| on a non-3rdperson present verb.
>So does anyone know if this is a feature of any specific dialect(s)?
I seem to recall learning that in Scotland & Northern England, final -s
traditionally appears on 3rd person plural present tense verbs, in accordance with
a rule I can't remember but which someone here is sure to explain.
As for the US: It was mentioned in one of my college linguistics classes that
-s on non-3rd-sg verbs is fairly common in much of the US, especially when
the present tense is being used to narrate a past event.
"I says" is perhaps the most common example. I would be surprised if there
are any Americans who've never heard it.* It's common enough that it was
referred to (and mocked) in a Dilbert cartoon within the past year or 2 (or 3?).
I don't think the cartoonist would have done that if he'd believed that
readers in some regions wouldn't have recognized this feature.
On a related note: anecdotal evidence and the comic strip _For Better or for
Worse_ tell me that some children have reanalyzed "got" as the present tense
of a verb meaning "have" instead of the past tense of "get." Hence, they say
"I got [=have] only one candy bar and Sally gots [=has] two! No fair!"
("Gots" then shows a normal 3rd sg present inflection.)
*Now that I've said this, I will be inundated with mail from Americans who've
never heard it.
Doug