Tempting, but univerbation could also account for (1) - (2):

(1) Where's my books?
(2) Where's my mum and dad?

Marc

On 27/10/2013 21:29, Paul Johnston wrote:
[log in to unmask]" type="cite"> If we're talking Robert Burns here, aren't we running into the Northern Subject Rule, which states that you have present tense verbs take the -s suffix unless immediately proceeded by a personal pronoun, existential construction or not?

Paul Johnston

 
On Oct 27, 2013, at 3:18 PM, Marc FRYD <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Before this gets too cold, may I say that there is "there's", but there is also "there was", isn't there?
e.g. There was three kings into the east (John Barleycorn, Robert Burns).

Marc

On 27/10/2013 16:34, Paul Hopper wrote:
[log in to unmask]" type="cite">
So, an emergent existential...

Paul


Yes, as I said, univerbation.
Peter
________________________________________
From: Variationist List [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Troike,
Rudolph C - (rtroike) [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 27 October 2013 04:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Is vs. are research

Howdy,

  Uri, the awareness is interesting, probably showing the traumatic
effects of prescriptive schooling.
Even President George H. W. Bush used "there's people" in non-formal
speaking. It is interesting
that in languages like Spanish ('hay'), Turkish ('var'), and Chinese
('you') there is a single word
used to express the existential assertion. Probably English, left alone by
teachers and editors, would
eventuate in a single form 'theres'.

    --Rudy

Rudy Troike
University of Arizona
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
From: Uri Horesh [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, October 26, 2013 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: Is vs. are research?

Even though I am, admittedly, kinda tired of this thread, I felt an urge
to add the following anecdote that just appeared on my Twitter feed:

@quixoticblazes: Just just overheard, re: restaurants in Chelsea: "God,
there's [sic] people everywhere." (Gurl, you must be from out of town.)

Quick & dirty analysis: Even though the writer himself doesn't shy way
from non-standardisms (e.g., "Just just," "Gurl"), he made a point to
indicate that there was something out of the ordinary with "there's
people" by interjecting a "[sic]" between those two words.

I'll say no more.

Uri

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--
Dr. Marc FRYD (HDR)
http://ll.univ-poitiers.fr/etudes-anglophones/spip.php?article121&lang=fr

Faculté des Lettres et des Langues
Université de Poitiers
1 rue Raymond Cantel
86022, Poitiers, France

Tel. [33](0)5 49 45 48 11
Mob. [33](0)6 40 31 21 43


The Variationist List - discussion of everything related to variationist sociolinguistics.

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--
Dr. Marc FRYD (HDR)
http://ll.univ-poitiers.fr/etudes-anglophones/spip.php?article121&lang=fr

Faculté des Lettres et des Langues
Université de Poitiers
1 rue Raymond Cantel
86022, Poitiers, France

Tel. [33](0)5 49 45 48 11
Mob. [33](0)6 40 31 21 43


The Variationist List - discussion of everything related to variationist sociolinguistics.

To send messages to the VAR-L list (subscribers only), write to:
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