That quotative development is another interesting wrinkle.  A lot of
grammatical and lexical change takes place on the basis of metaphor,
that is, speakers trying to be more expressive.  But then the more
expressive expression becomes hackneyed and that gradually wears down to
almost nothing.  Take English "have", which meant "possess, hold" in OE
but has become a perfect auxiliary with for nearly all speakers reduces
to schwa, as in "woulda" and for some speakers simply drops out as in
the non-standard perfect aspect "I seen him".

 

Herb

 

 

Stahlke, Herbert F.W. wrote:



Marshall,

 

Synchronically, I'd argue that there's a register difference, as you
suggest, between A and B and that "as" and "like" are both
subordinators.  In C, "the way" is the head noun modified by an
asyndetic relative clause, that is, a clause that doesn't start with
"that" or one of the wh-relative words.  Functionally, "the way" may be
on its way to becoming a subordinator in its own right, but I don't
think it's shifted that far yet.  

 

Diachronically it gets interesting because "like" comes from Old English
"lic", which meant "body".  We derive both "like" and the suffix -ly
from "lic."  That is, a noun has gradually morphed into a
/conjunction/preposition and into a suffix.  "The way" is acting as if
it's at the beginning of such a change.  That suggests that at some
time, and, perhaps, for some speakers already, "the way" has ceased to
be an ordinary noun phrase.

 

Herb

 

 

 

  

Fellow Grammarians,

Let me ask about a related subject. Look at the following constructions.
I consider them to be paraphrases of each other. Granted, the first is
probably more acceptable in academic English, the second is more
conversational (some of you may remember the Winston cigarette
commercial: "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. It may be bad
grammar, but it's great taste."). The third, I'm not sure about.

I see the first as using "as" as a subordinator. In the second, I see
"like" also as a subordinator. What I am not sure about is the third
one. Is "the way" acting as a subordinator? They all seem to have the
same structure, but do they?

                                  A. He thinks as I do.
                                  B. He thinks like I do.
                                  C. He thinks the way I do.

Marshall

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select
"Join or leave the list" 

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ To join or leave this LISTSERV
list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave
the list" 

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/ 

Herb,

Thanks for your quick and learned reply.

Isn't "like" also being used as a quotative as in the following
sentence?

                                     I saw him on the corner, and I
said, 'Like, what are you doing here,' and he says,                    
                                     'Like, I'm waiting for Mary.'   

Marshall

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web
interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select
"Join or leave the list" 

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/

To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"

Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/