Glenda,
Craig has referred to Joan Bybee, who has pointed out how language most commonly used gets bent toward a social purpose, one that binds the speaker to the listener together as members of a common culture. Given that, you might also look at other parts of that first line: ". . . I'm gonna write me some music . . ." What would you say about the word "me"? Is it an indirect object as in "I'm gonna get me some food"? Or, does it add something to the art of writing that intensifies the depth of the experience contained in the writing itself as it might be shared with others? When language gets bent toward social purposes, ambiguities arise that bind us ever more tightly in a culture. This, in turn, helps us survive. If evolution is about the survival of the fittest, then language evolves so that we might evolve, as well, by ascending to greater heights through the vitality of our culture. I think Langston Hughes was writing about that, as well.
Gregg
On Jul 1, 2014, at 4:17 PM, Hancock, Craig G wrote:
> Glenda,
> This "be going to" construction has been written about very thoughtfully by Joan Bybee. It has gramamticalized fairly recently (since Shakespeare's time) from a construction for expressing movement toward a place, to a construction expressing intention, to a construction that expresses epistemic prediction. ("I am going to New York. I am going to write a novel. It is going to rain hard.) In those last two manifestations, it can act as a substitute for "will." The best way to analyze your example, i think, is as modal auxiliary for "write." When the construction is followed by a noun ("I am going to the store"), "to the store" functions as a prepositional phrase.
> It's interesting to know that all our modals have gramamticalized from lexical verbs, most of that during the period for which we have written records. Bybee uses this as a key part of her argument for seeing language as "a complex adaptive system."
> Unlike "will," be going to can also convey past intention. ("I was going to pay my bills, but I ran out of money."
> Lanston Hughes' work makes for great classroom study since he uses nonstandard forms so thoughtfully and wisely.
>
> Craig
> From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Conway, Glenda <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2014 5:12 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: "I'm gonna write"--verb + infinitive or verb + auxiliary?
>
> Greetings—
>
> Today, in my Advanced English Grammar class, I showed Langston Hughes’s “Daybreak in Alabama” as an example of a poem with two sentences.
>
> I realized while showing the poem that I was not sure how to divide the slots of the first main clause, which is
>
> …I’m gonna write me some music about
> Daybreak in Alabama….
>
> Shall I think of “I’m gonna write” as being equivalent to “I will write,” thus considering “[a]m gonna” as an auxiliary to “write”?
>
> Or shall I think of “I’m gonna write” as being equivalent to “I am going to write,” thus considering “to write…” an adverbial infinitive phrase?
>
> I would love to read some discussion on this clause and to be able to share it with my students afterward.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Glenda Conway
> Professor, English
> Coordinator, Harbert Writing Center
> Department of English and Foreign Languages
> Station 6420
> University of Montevallo
> Montevallo, AL 35115
> 205 665-6425 office
> 206 665-6422 fax
> [log in to unmask]
>
> 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/
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/
|
