1318: Habitual Morphology in AAE Jul 20, 2018
The so-called “habitual be” in African
American English (AAE) that allows for simple and continuous action to be
discussed in the present tense without changing the aspect in the traditional
way as has been reviewed here before may be fairly famous, but it is not
the only way this happens in AAE. Stemming from the 3rd person
singular –s, that same sound can be added to other non-3rd
person singular present verbs to indicate habitual effect, and would look
something like:
‘I always sits
with my friends at lunch’
‘That’s just how it bes’
‘Every day he haves to go to work’
Notably again, this is for a specific
effect, and is not interchangeable with its own omission. Furthermore, a
non-habitual the 3rd person singular present verb would likely not
have any –s ending in AAE.
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