--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Francesco Brighenti" <frabrig@...>
wrote:
>
>
> > Usage note :
> >
> > In many dialects [I add : of American English that is to say],
> > people use as in place of that in sentences like <We are not sure
> > as we want to go> or <It's not certain as he left>. This
> > construction is not sufficiently well established to be used in
> > writing.
>
> Along with other constructions exemplified in the same dictionary
> entry (<Them as thinks they can whup me jest come ahead> and <The
> car what hit him never stopped>), I wonder, and ask the connoisseurs
> of American English on the List, if this type of constructions isn't
> simply the product of an ignorance of English grammar. Are the above
> constructions used by all social groups in an geographic area, or
> are they the prerogative of the uneducated ones? Because my notion
> of a 'dialect' is that it can be spoken by all the members of the
> social fabric, including the educated ones (as is the case with
> Italian dialects).
>
> FB
>
Since no one seems to be answering your request, I'll offer what I
can, but I'm not a connoisseur of American English:
That type of constructions _sounds_ like ignorance of English grammar,
and may well be, but I don't think you'd ever encounter them outside
of certain geographical boundaries (e.g. the southern Appalachians or
the Ozarks). It may be a combination of geographical peculiarity and
ignorance of English grammar. In the geographical areas mentioned
(the southern Appalachians and the Ozarks), I don't know if there are
indeed more than one social group or stratum. Actually, I should say
"if there were" because I think such extremely divergent language
either has died out or is dying out, as more and more people become
educated. But I think you're right, that people living in these areas
who are educated would not use such grammatical constructions, so they
are probably not markers of dialect, more just symptomatic of
isolation. Nevertheless had these areas been given enough time and
had remained isolated long enough, they might well have evolved into
marginally-intelligible dialects rather than regional varieties.
But others on the list are probably more qualified to answer your
question, I hope they do soon.
I should add that my brother-in-law, who is a 58-year-old native of
eastern Ontario, Canada, uses constructions such as "the guy as told
me" (= the guy who told me) and "I see as it's getting late" (= I see
that it's getting late). He is the only Canadian I have ever heard
using such constructions.
Andrew