[B-Greek] Ancient Greek-Grammar war?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Feb 28 19:43:59 EST 2006


On Feb 28, 2006, at 7:04 PM, Donald R. Vance, Ph.D. wrote:
> On Feb 28, 2006, at 7:15 AM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>
>> Of course the fact is that "You done good!" is NOT wrong; it's not
>> standard or literary grammar taught in the schools and in upper-
>> middle-class families but it is what is actually spoken by no few
>> people who understand what they're saying and are understood by
>> those to whom they speak.
>
> As to the first point, actually, of course, "You done good!" IS
> wrong. Just because a hearer can decipher what the speaker intends to
> convey does not make the sentence correct. Just because linguists
> wish only to describe and are loath to prescribe does not make
> prescription wrong.  Further, the lack of precision in sentence
> construction can lead to serious misunderstanding. That language
> evolves and changes I do not deny, nor am I advocating the setting up
> of the English equivalent of Académie Française or the less well
> known Florentine Accademia della Crusca. But the fact that most
> parents coach their children constantly ("'I am,' sweetheart, not 'I
> is.'") about the fundamentals of grammar belies the idea of only
> standard vs. non-standard. It is wrong in that it violates the rules
> of English grammar.

I'm not referring to a listener deciphering what he or she knows is  
improper grammatical usage.  If you haven't heard "I done that  
yesterday" or "I seen him last week," then your regional or social  
intercourse has been restricted somewhat narrowly." I don't know the  
history of this; it may be simply a matter of dialectal omission of  
an auxiliary with a participle, but I think I've encountered  
something like that in colloquial German too.
Upper middle-class white parents may coax their children to say "I  
am" but there have been and still are English dialects where "I be"  
is not at all exceptional. While I may not talk or write that myself,  
I don't think I have any business looking down my nose at those who do.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/




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