| 词组 | don't |
| 释义 | don't In the 17th century several contracted negative verb forms came into use—among them don't, won't, shan't, an't (an ancestor of ain't), han't, wa'n't—that are noticeable because their pronunciation differs rather markedly from that of the positive elements from which they were formed. This somewhat obscured phonological relationship allowed several of these to be multipurpose forms: an't was used for am not and are not; don't for do not and does not; han't for has not and have not. The 17th century got by with fewer of these contractions than we use today. No one is sure how don't came by its pronunciation; it matches neither do nor does. The most likely explanation, accepted by Strang 1970 and tentatively accepted by Jespersen 1909-49, is that the pronunciation comes by way of analogy with won't. The spelling obviously comes from do and not, but how this spelling came to be used for the third person singular is not so obvious, though (since don't was a spoken form long before it was written down) it seems likely that one or more phonological processes were involved. A contributing factor may well have been the unsettled condition of the third person singular of do, in the 17th century. The northern form does had long been competing with the southern doth (both variously spelled) for several centuries. In addition to these two there was in the 16th and 17th century an uninflected form do. This form was regularly used by Samuel Pepys in his diary: • ... the Duke of York do give himself up to business, and is like to prove a noble prince; and so indeed I • do from my heart think he will but I should be more glad that the King himself would look after business, which it seems he do not —21 Jan. 1664 It is possible that this uninflected form had some influence on the written don't. From the 17th century through the 19th century, don't seems to have had unimpeachable status. Our examples here begin with works of the Restoration playwrights, who have supplied many of our earliest examples in print of these contracted forms. • OLD BELLAIR. No matter for that; go, bid her dance no more. It don't become her, it don't become her — George Etherege, The Man of Mode, 1676 • LANDLADY. ... you know it, sir. GAYMAN. Ah, but your husband don't—Aphra Behn, The Lucky Chance, 1686 • LOVELESS. So, thus far all's well my wife don't expect me home till four o'clock —Sir John Van-brugh, The Relapse, 1696 • It don't appear that he knew any thing of your book —Thomas Gray, letter, 14 Feb. 1768 • Putting as much contempt as I could into my look and tone, I said, "Dr. Johnson don't!—humph!" — Horace Walpole, letter, 26 May 1791 • ... and if Wordsworth don't send me an order for one upon Longman, I will buy it —Charles Lamb, letter, 7 June 1809 • But never mind;—'God save the king!' and kings! For if he don't, I doubt if men will longer—Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto viii, 1823 • ... and the sun dont shine, ... and the wind dont blow, ... and the birds dont sing —Emily Dickinson, letter, 5 Apr. 1852 • However, it don't matter if you've read the play — George Bernard Shaw, letter, 24 Dec. 1897 Indicative of the social status of third singular don't in the mid-19th century is this example: • There is one other phrase which will soon come to be decisive of a man's social status, if it is not already: "That tells the whole story." It is an expression which vulgar and conceited people particularly affect, and which well-meaning ones, who know better, catch from them. It is intended to stop all debate, like the previous question in the General Court. Only it don't —Oliver Wendell Holmes d. 1894, The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, 1858 The attack on third singular don't seems to have begun in the second half of the 19th century and in the U.S. Longman 1984 says that it was "common in educated informal speech" in British English "well into the 20th century," and gives an Aldous Huxley letter as an example. Partridge 1942 says it "is now a solecism." It seems to have lost status earlier in the United States. The earliest attack on its use that we have seen comes from George Perkins Marsh in 1859. He represents the two directions of attack on don't. The older one is a general attack on contracted forms that had been carried on since the time of Swift and Addison; in the United States it seems to have been particularly directed against don't, won't, and ain't, all of whose origins were unknown to or considered erroneous by the attackers. Marsh wrinkles his nose at don't meaning "do not" and opines that only careless speakers use it for "does not." Scheie de Vere 1872 considers the third singular use "objectionable slang"; Ayres 1881 does not like it; Bar-deen 1883 lists five sources who object. It must have rapidly gotten into school books and handbooks; almost all of our early 20th-century sources condemn the use. The usage survey reported in Crisp 1971 shows that third singular don't then had lower status than it had had in the survey of Leonard in 1932. Earlier in this century it could still be found in both British and American poetry: • To-night he's in the pink; but soon he'll die. And still the war goes on; he don't know why—Siegfried Sassoon, in Georgian Poetry 1916-1917, 1919 • "He don't consider it a case for God" —Robert Frost, Mountain Interval, 1921 And in American fiction of that period, third singular don't was being put into the mouths of ordinary middle-class and working-class characters, whose conversations tended to depart considerably from the norms taught in grammar school: • "Old wind-bag," he sputtered. "Why does he want to be bragging? Why don't he shut up?" —Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio, 1919 • "... It makes elegant reading, but it don't say nothing ..." —Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt, 1922 • "I says 'Lay it down,'" says Cap. "If that don't mean 'bunt,' what does it mean?" —Ring Lardner, How to Write Short Stories, 1924 It still is used in speech, mostly but not exclusively by the less educated, and in casual writing: • ... the carpenter don't build a house just to drive nails —William Faulkner, 11 Mar. 1957, in Faulkner in the university, 1959 • ... I judge Fr. C. belongs to the tribe that knows what's bad but don't know what's good —Flannery O'Connor, letter, 19 Apr. 1958 • And them bass fiddles that's electrified, they're so loud, and the average man that plays 'em don't know how to turn 'em down —Birch Monroe, quoted in Bluegrass Unlimited, September 1982 Doesn't is a more recent formation than don't. No one seems to have turned up an example earlier than one from 1818 reported by Karl W. Dykema (English Journal, September 1947). Byron seems not to have known it; at least he used only don't for all persons throughout Don Juan, although he uses both does and doth in positive constructions. Nor will doesn't be found in the fiction of Jane Austen. Although third person singular don't appears in her dialogue, does not is the preferred form. Don't is, of course, still standard in all uses except the third person singular, but in that use it has lost all the status it once enjoyed. It is instructive to note that the reduction of status of third singular don't was in large part accomplished by those who were zealous to improve and correct the language but who were utterly ignorant of the origin and earlier literary use of don't. As Flesch 1964 notes, don't is not an illiteracy. But neither is it standard any longer in edited prose. See also ain't. |
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