Re: My version

--- On Thu, 2/19/09, Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...> wrote:

> From: Andrew Jarrette <anjarrette@...>
> Subject: [tied] Re: My version
> To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Thursday, February 19, 2009, 6:48 PM
> --- 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

I've also heard these expressions in westerns, never in person