Re: USAGE: NATLANG: I've Gots An English Question

On Sun, Jun 22, 2003 at 08:11:57PM -0400, Roger Mills wrote:
> Interesting to read the replies from our British friends; I wasn't aware
> this (mis)use of -s occurred outside of AAVE.
It occurs in a wide range of American dialects, certainly not limited to
AAVE.  Several members of my father's family in West Virginia (it don't get
much whiter than hillbillies :)) routinely use third-person singular
forms for other persons, at least with certain verbs.  I says, I gots, I goes
(but only when they mean "I says"; for literal going, it's always regular "I go"),
etc.

-Mark