Re: American as creolish [was] Re: Baltic Is Gothic

From: John Atkinson (johnacko_at_bigpond.com)
Date: 06/12/04 

Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 01:29:42 GMT

"Douglas G. Kilday" <fufluns@chorus.net> wrote in message
news:40c96407_1@newspeer2.tds.net...
>
> "Marko Rauhamaa" <marko@pacujo.net> wrote ...

> > "John Atkinson" <johnacko@bigpond.com>:
> >
> > > I favour the direct transition
> > >
> > > "Have you got X?">"You got X?">"Ya got X?">"Dja got X?",
> >
> > Maybe. Based on the observation of my children and their friends, I
> > think most language evolution originates in small children's
> > simplifications and misunderstandings. I would therefore guess that the
> > origin of "Dja got X" is in the misunderstanding that "got" is a verb on
> > its own right.
> >
> > So one says
> >
> > - I got two Rescue Hero toys. (< I've got two rescue hero toys.)
> >
> > - How many Rescue Hero toys do *you* got, Christopher?
>
> Adults were using <got> as a "verb on its own right" in printed matter six
> or seven decades ago. Among the memorabilia from my grandfather's gas
> station was a sheaf of oil-company letterhead with the slogan "I got live
> power."

In British English (and especially in Australian), where the form "do you
got" doesn't occur at all, this particular usage (which is common) might
well be interpreted as an abbreviated form of "I've got live power".
Similarly for the other past particle of any other verb, nothing special
about "got".

John.