Friday, April 22, 2016

american english - a fighting for the glory - how do you understand this type of grammar?


A stanza from a song called John Paul Jones by Johnny Horton:




When John Paul was a captain in the U.S. Naval Band
A fightin' for the glory and the freedom of our land
He made those British captains wish that they were on dry land
He sent their mighty vessels to the bottom of the sea
He took their bags of treasure and he sank their chests of tea
He gave his blood for all free men and his life for liberty



The only thing I know is that this type of grammar is usually only used in old songs and poems, but I don't think I know how to actually understated it. I asked an American friend of mine, but he couldn't give me a definitive answer as to how one should understand it, only that this is some kind of manner of speech that's mostly used in old poetry and songs.



Answer



The "a-" prefix is not part of standard English grammar. It is used in some dialects of English (especially the American South, I think) with progressive present verbs that end with -ing. In my experience, it does not provide any extra meaning.



It is usually written a prefix with a hyphen (not as a separate word): He's a-runnin', She's a-comin', We come a-wassailing, etc.


Here's a high-level answer from ELU: The times they are a-changin'


One answer on ELU suggests this a corruption of an Old English construction, in which on was used to make a verb progressive:. In Old English (hundreds and hundreds of years ago), present verbs were not progressive unless prefixed by "on": "the times change" versus "the times are on changing."


This is certainly consistent with the fact that "a-" prefix is only used with progressive -ing present participles. In modern usage, I think it is used purely as an intensifier or to help the meter in poems or songs. (However, I don't speak a dialect of English that uses the prefix normally, so I'm not 100% sure.)


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