Contractions function almost identically to the full two-word phrase, but are only appropriate in some places in a sentence. It’s one of the weird quirks of this language we’ve.
This post needs some kind of warning sign.
I did not see that coming.
Some people say the English language is confusing. To which I say… It’s.
It’s called copula deletion, or zero copula. Many languages and dialects, including Ancient Greek and Russian, delete the copula (the verb to be) when the context is obvious.
So an utterance like “you a bitch” in AAVE is not an example of a misused you, but an example of a sentence that deletes the copular verb (are), which is a perfectly valid thing to do in that dialect, just as deleting an /r/ after a vowel is a perfectly valid thing to do in an upper-class British dialect.
What’s more, it’s been shown that copula deletion occurs in AAVE exactly in those contexts where copula contraction occurs in so-called “Standard American English.” That is, the basic sentence “You are great” can become “You’re great” in SAE and “You great” in AAVE, but “I know who you are” cannot become “I know who you’re” in SAE, and according to reports, neither can you get “I know who you” in AAVE.
In other words, AAVE is a set of grammatical rules just as complex and systematic as SAE, and the widespread belief that it is not is nothing more than yet another manifestation of deeply internalized racism.
This is the most intellectual drag I’ve ever read.
AND CAN I JUST ADD TO MY RANT FROM EARLIER THAT LATIN IS LITERALLY THE BASIS OF OUR ENTIRE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM.
MODERN MEDICINE WOULD NOT TRANSLATE ACROSS BORDERS IF IT DIDN’T USE LATIN AS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE BASIS FOR ALL OF ITS TERMINOLOGY. ALL OF BIOLOGY TAKES ITS NOMENCLATURE FROM LATIN.
BECAUSE IT’S NOT A DEAD LANGUAGE. IT’S A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. THE MODERN WORLD COULD NOT EXIST WITHOUT LATIN.
LATIN HAS BECOME SO DEEPLY ROOTED TO ALL ACADEMIA AND SCIENTIFIC NOMENCLATURE THAT WE HAVE MADE IT *IMPOSSIBLE* FOR LATIN TO DIE BARRING THE EXTINCTION OF THE HUMAN RACE ITSELF.
AND YOU KNOW WHAT. WE WILL LEAVE SIGNS OF OUR EXISTENCE ON THIS WORLD AFTER WE DIE. SOME ALIEN ARCHAEOLOGIST IS GOING TO FIND EVIDENCE OF OUR CIVILIZATION ONE DAY. AND YOU KNOW WHAT THEY’RE GOING TO FIND?
LATIN.
LATIN WILL OUTLIVE OUR SPECIES.
can i just say that i love you in latin is ego amo te
Man I hate it when people use the pronoun “you” as a singular pronoun in an informal setting. “You” is plural, unless thou dost speak to an unfamiliar person. The correct singular second person pronoun is “thou” in most cases. Grammar never changes. Pronouns must always stay one way until the end of time. Learn thy proper English. *sigh* Kids these days.
If thou this mistake shouldst make on thine own blog, then know, villain, that thou art a dirty descriptivist, and no friend of mine. Ne’er should language itself alter, it doth remain fixèd as such, untouch’d by change. Wouldst thou, vile descriptivist, that we forget the heritage of our great tongue? Nay, say I. Thou art but a dickhead who sayest so.
stynt ðy clappe! beoð ðo writerris be wetleas knafen. ðy langag o engelond diffoulened be, ille usenid bi sclaundrous novelri.
BECAUSE IF SOMETHING TRULY HURT, IT NEVER REALLY STOPS
thats because its a fucking adjective and you don’t conjugate fuking adjectives like this is the same for literally every adjective ever like goddamn why i gotta be the damn elementary school teacher on this website
i really love our generation’s joke trend of like, very calm but incredibly inflated hyperbole. like nobody says “oh she’s pretty” anymore we say “i would willingly let her murder me” and everyone is just like “lol same”
i think “same” is also great and “me,” i love when somebody reblogs a picture of like, a lizard, and just says “me” and we all know exactly what they mean. the current online Humor Discourse is remarkable because we trade exclusively in metaphors and implications and nobody ever, ever says anything outright and yet EVERYBODY understands each other perfectly
myblog 