User:Tinypuzzle/sandbox
It and they (pronounced dey) indicate existential constructions in AAVE that are rule-governed and are a productive syntactic feature of the language.[1] The existential markers are linked to noun phrases by a linker that is usually inflected or aspectual be, have, or got.[1] The use of have/got paired with it or dey to indicate that something is presently existing: Dey got a fly messing with me. ("There is a fly messing with me.") is less common in other forms of American English, but is present in creole varieties like Guyanese Creole, Hawaiʻi Creole English or, and Haitian Creole.[1] In this usage, they does not function as a second person plural pronoun referring to any specific entity, but instead is an impersonal marker of existence.[1]
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- ^ a b c d Green, Lisa J. (2002). African American English: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511800306. ISBN 978-0-521-89138-7.