Re: Word usage in English dialects // was Slang, curses and vulgarities

Adrian Morgan wrote:
> (I've never thought about it before, but it's worth asking whether the
> same is true of other English dialects internationally: i.e. that
> "shall" is common in questions but only in questions, so that hardly
> anybody would say "I shall go" but most people might say "Shall I
> go?".)
In my dialect, "shall" is marked as highly formal, and is never
used except in unusual circumstances. And when it is used, it certainly
doesn't hold to the prescriptive rule of "shall" for first person,
"will" for second and third.

-----------------
Tristan wrote:
> Don't Americans have speed cameras? (Or are they relatively
> new?) They're everywhere here.
I would have to disagree with a number of other respondents to this
comment.  They are quite quickly proliferating here, but -- as with
most things in the United States -- one cannot generalize across
state lines.  In Texas it seems that they're putting them up at
every stop-light, and it's become a major worry for civil-libertarians.

-----------------
Adrian wrote again:
> > > Besides, "shall" is easier to say than "should" :-)
> >
> > I think you'll find it hard to prove that!
>
> [d] -> [l] is a pretty common sound change, especially after [U], I
> suggest, and easy to reproduce by slurring.
Ah, but originally it was a cluster [ld], and the [l] deleted.
(<Could>'s spelling is based on a false analogy.)

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From:    "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
> Ahem.  "The Wiggles".  Disney channel.   Aussie *children's* pop culture
> is now the world's. :)
Ah, yes, I'd heard of them... but I think it's still safe to say
that most Americans haven't heard of the Wiggles.

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Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637