Re: YAEDT? Syntax in dialects of English (was: Of accents & dialects (was: Azurian phonology))

Daniel Prohaska wrote:
> Hi Eliott,
>
> I’d say, rather than a generally British thing the “I was sat in the pub”
> construction is predominantly northern.
Nah - it's common enough here down south (I live in Surrey) and is also
common in south east Wales where I live for 22 years. Just as common
here down south in England & in south east Wales is "I was stood in the
queue for ages."

The latter sounds to this old-timer as though the person had been placed
there bu someone else. But I've heard it often enough to know that it
means just "I was standing ......"

Also, as I wrote quite recently, in south east Wales, rather than "I was
lying flat out on the bed" they say "I was laid [lEd] flat out on the
bed" - which sounded very strange when I first heard it!
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deinx nxtxr wrote:
[snip]
 > Locally, there are a lot of strong verbs that become weak.  You'll
 > hear "knowed" instead of "knew" for example.  Then there are the ones
 > like "seen" instead of "saw" where the participle takes over for the
 > simple past.

The use of "seen" instead of 'saw' is also typical of Newport in south
Wales - "I seen him yesterday."

--
Ray
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Frustra fit per plura quod potest
fieri per pauciora.
[William of Ockham]

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