Grammar
To Be
There are also several grammatical variations that we see in Midland English that differ from Standard English. One variation that occurs is with the verb to be. As we know, words like am, is, are, was, and were are all words for the verb to be. Sometimes in the American Midland dialect, these verbs are incorrectly used in the place of one another. An example of this is shown in the sentence, "there was a lot of us girls." Instead of the word was, the correct word to use in this sentence would have been were. This is something that is heard very commonly in all American English dialects, not only the Midlands. A lot of times when this type of speech is heard, we automatically characterize the person as being uneducated, but that is not always the case. This type of speech is spoken by people of the highest education, as well as the lowest.
Need/Want + Past Participle
Another place where to be is varied is the use of need(s)/want(s) + past participle. An example would be: "I want out," most other dialects would say: "I want to be outside." Murray and Simon claim that the earliest example of someone using this was from someone in Pennsylvania in 1931. They say that they are not sure what part of Pennsylvania though, since the schools the authors were affiliated with were in metropolitan towns where people may not have taken on such a dialect since it is not usually as correct as most metropolitan areas seem to want to be (141).
Positive Anymore
Another grammatical variation that we see in Midland American English is the use of positive anymore. In instances of Standard English, the word anymore is used only in instances where there is negative polarity, such as in the sentence, "She never comes home anymore." In cases of the Midland dialect however, many times the word anymore is is used in sentences where there is negative polarity, such as, "all college students get bad grades anymore." This type of grammatical speech is heard specifically in he Midland region of the United States. Along with the Midland states, this type of speech is also seen in many North American states. There are a lot of different theories as to how it actually got started in the Americas. Some give Scottish-Irish immigrants the credit for the arrival to North America (Haycock 50). they argue that in parts of Ireland and Scotland, the word anymore was used in positive contexts. Around the same time that the Scottish-Irish immigrants began settling in North America, the instances of positive anymore began to arise there as well (Haycock 51).
Speech Repair/Utterances
A grammatical variation being found within the younger generation of the Midland Dialect are known as utterances. These are words like um and like, which are used to set up a person's speech (Allen). Another thing found within the younger generation is known as speech repair, or repetition of a sentence to fix what a person messed up on (Allen). Many people who use speech repair, use discourse markers to set up the importance of what they are saying (Allen). These are words like firstly, well, and more importantly to give an order to what he was saying (Allen).
Construction
Lastly, another prominent feature in grammatical variation that one sees in Midland American English is the construction of the “need/want +past particle construction originating from Pennsylvania (Murray 255). “My clothes need washed,” is a great example of this. This type of construction is mostly specific to the North Midland dialect, and is very prominent in Indiana.
There are also several grammatical variations that we see in Midland English that differ from Standard English. One variation that occurs is with the verb to be. As we know, words like am, is, are, was, and were are all words for the verb to be. Sometimes in the American Midland dialect, these verbs are incorrectly used in the place of one another. An example of this is shown in the sentence, "there was a lot of us girls." Instead of the word was, the correct word to use in this sentence would have been were. This is something that is heard very commonly in all American English dialects, not only the Midlands. A lot of times when this type of speech is heard, we automatically characterize the person as being uneducated, but that is not always the case. This type of speech is spoken by people of the highest education, as well as the lowest.
Need/Want + Past Participle
Another place where to be is varied is the use of need(s)/want(s) + past participle. An example would be: "I want out," most other dialects would say: "I want to be outside." Murray and Simon claim that the earliest example of someone using this was from someone in Pennsylvania in 1931. They say that they are not sure what part of Pennsylvania though, since the schools the authors were affiliated with were in metropolitan towns where people may not have taken on such a dialect since it is not usually as correct as most metropolitan areas seem to want to be (141).
Positive Anymore
Another grammatical variation that we see in Midland American English is the use of positive anymore. In instances of Standard English, the word anymore is used only in instances where there is negative polarity, such as in the sentence, "She never comes home anymore." In cases of the Midland dialect however, many times the word anymore is is used in sentences where there is negative polarity, such as, "all college students get bad grades anymore." This type of grammatical speech is heard specifically in he Midland region of the United States. Along with the Midland states, this type of speech is also seen in many North American states. There are a lot of different theories as to how it actually got started in the Americas. Some give Scottish-Irish immigrants the credit for the arrival to North America (Haycock 50). they argue that in parts of Ireland and Scotland, the word anymore was used in positive contexts. Around the same time that the Scottish-Irish immigrants began settling in North America, the instances of positive anymore began to arise there as well (Haycock 51).
Speech Repair/Utterances
A grammatical variation being found within the younger generation of the Midland Dialect are known as utterances. These are words like um and like, which are used to set up a person's speech (Allen). Another thing found within the younger generation is known as speech repair, or repetition of a sentence to fix what a person messed up on (Allen). Many people who use speech repair, use discourse markers to set up the importance of what they are saying (Allen). These are words like firstly, well, and more importantly to give an order to what he was saying (Allen).
Construction
Lastly, another prominent feature in grammatical variation that one sees in Midland American English is the construction of the “need/want +past particle construction originating from Pennsylvania (Murray 255). “My clothes need washed,” is a great example of this. This type of construction is mostly specific to the North Midland dialect, and is very prominent in Indiana.