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I watch a lot of American shows and I noticed that the actors tend to drop "does" or "did" from the dialogue when a sentence begins with it. For example:

Does she have a name? becomes She have a name?

Did you do it? becomes You do it?

Not sure if this is a common occurrence in other cultures as well. I wanted to know if this is a general rule in english to verbally drop the "does" or "did" when a sentence begins with it.

Prachiti Prakash Prabhu
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    It's not done in formal writing (or even informal writing outside of texts or comments), but it's common in informal dialogue. – Jason Bassford Jun 30 '20 at 20:58
  • @JasonBassford thank you for your answer! Also, is it specific to American English or is it practiced in other parts of the world too? – Prachiti Prakash Prabhu Jun 30 '20 at 21:01
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    "In other cultures" – not in BrE. To my ear, someone wants to "talk tough." I would think it rude or affected to be talked to brusquely like that. Please don't learn English from TV shows. "She have a name?" would be "What's her name?" and "You do it?" would be "Did you?" – Weather Vane Jun 30 '20 at 21:01
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    @PrachitiPrakashPrabhu I live in Canada, so I'm exposed to both US English and UK English, and I've also travelled frequently to both the US and the UK in the past. I would be surprised if it didn't happen in both of those places, although I can't say for certain if it does or doesn't since I haven't lived extensively in either country. – Jason Bassford Jun 30 '20 at 21:04
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    In BrE I would assume that the speaker was imitating 'movie' talk. – chasly - supports Monica Jun 30 '20 at 21:04
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    @PrachitiPrakashPrabhu According to Google Ngram Viewer, it's about twice as common in the US in comparison to the UK. (But still seen in printed dialogue in the UK.) – Jason Bassford Jun 30 '20 at 21:11
  • Thank you everyone for your input. From what I understand, this kind of speech is more popular among American English speakers than it is with British English speakers. – Prachiti Prakash Prabhu Jun 30 '20 at 21:38
  • @JasonBassford thank you so much for the link! I didn't even know such a tool existed. It would be very helpful for me to learn new things in formal english! – Prachiti Prakash Prabhu Jun 30 '20 at 21:40
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    @PrachitiPrakashPrabhu The tool is useful, but be careful when using it. For instance, I only compared one specific phrase. Also, you have to be aware of context. If it finds lots of instances of a particular phrase, it could just be that it's found books where one sentence ends with one of the words in the phrase and another sentence starts with the next word—but that there is no instance of the phrase existing in a single sentence. – Jason Bassford Jun 30 '20 at 21:45
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    This is Conversational Deletion. It deletes anything (not just does or did, but anything) at the beginning of a spoken sentence that's required by the grammar but can be inferred from the context, like pronoun subjects, interrogative words, auxiliary verbs, etc. It doesn't happen in print, so searching online for it won't help; it's strictly in spoken English, and it's very very common. – John Lawler Jun 30 '20 at 22:02
  • I disagree partly with @WeatherVane. This does happen in British English, but the specific case - dropping does - seems much less common to me. Dropping did seems more natural ("They see it then?"), as does second person do ("You want it?" or just "want it"). But for some reason "She have a name?" strikes me as American. – Colin Fine Jun 30 '20 at 22:48
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    @JohnLawler thank you for the insight! It is very well written and makes total sense. – Prachiti Prakash Prabhu Jun 30 '20 at 23:33
  • There is a progression of deletions that leads to the full deletion. “Did you do it”-> “Didjuh do it”-> “Juh do it” -> “J’do it?” -> “Ya do it?” – Jim Jul 01 '20 at 03:59
  • @JohnLawler Please make that an answer. – StephenS Nov 28 '20 at 03:52
  • I already did that and linked to the answer in my comment. – John Lawler Nov 28 '20 at 18:03
  • Yes, like instead of asking, "Do you want to come?" someone will simply ask, "Ya wanna come?" (i.e., "You want to come?"). – Benjamin Harman May 04 '21 at 06:44

3 Answers3

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I have to disagree with Weather Vane: a statement to indicate the interrogative is used in British English in the way you describe.

22:30 GMT: The post is heavily edited at this point in view of the comments by Hot Licks and the OP, Prachiti Prakash Prabhu.

In

1 Does she have a name? becomes She have a name? / 2 Did you do it? becomes You do it?

the verb in each of the the second versions is an infinitive, but that differs only from the present active in the present third person and past tenses (and not with all of those.) Even with the past tenses, these can be replaced by the historical present.

Further confusion is created by a present tense interrogatively toned statement.

I think the first example is still possible as the do/did can be de-emphasised to extinction.

As an examples I have heard

“You smoke?”(usually said by someone who wants to be given a cigarette) for “Do you smoke?”

A: “You smoke?”

B: “No.”

A: “Your mate – he smoke?”

B: No.

"He smoke?" does not sound particularly natural.

But, in a game of cards, involving a kitty:   A: “You put in?”-> Have/Did you put in?

B: “Yes.”

A: “Your mate – he put in?”-> Have/Did he put in?

B: “Yes”.

This sounds OK as “put” can be taken as the past tense, or the infinitive.

Greybeard
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    This doesn't seem quite the same. "You picked losers" is, absent the question mark, a perfectly valid declarative sentence. The question mark signals an intonation that turns it into a question. "She have a name", on the other hand, is not a syntactically valid declarative sentence. The difference is that, in the OP's examples, "does" or "did" has been elided. – Hot Licks Jun 30 '20 at 21:27
  • Yes, @HotLicks is correct. My question is directed towards the omission of "does" or "did" in speech – Prachiti Prakash Prabhu Jun 30 '20 at 21:42
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    Any auxiliary can be deleted if it's predictable. Do-support has no meaning but carries the tense, which can also be inferred from context. You like that? is present (do deleted), You ever go there? is past (did deleted), You ever been there? is perfect (have deleted), You going tomorrow? is present progressive (are deleted), etc. – John Lawler Jun 30 '20 at 22:06
  • Your points are well taken. I have edited. – Greybeard Jun 30 '20 at 22:37
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Google Pigeon English: Etymology. Pidgin derives from a Chinese pronunciation of the English word business, and all attestations from the first half of the nineteenth century given in the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary mean 'business; an action, occupation, or affair' (the earliest being from 1807)

Also, a hybrid of English and local languages, it traces its roots to the Atlantic slave trade in the 17th century. More than 75 million people are believed to speak pidgin across Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.

In the Carribean, this type of speech is known as 'Patwa/Patois', i.e. speech or language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. As such, patois can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects or vernaculars, but not commonly to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of cant.

To to answer the comment on 'Did you do it?' becomes 'You do it?' you might get 'I did not do it! becomes 'Me nah do it!' In this instance 'Me' is 'I' and 'nah' is 'not' or 'did not'.

The term patois comes from Old French patois, 'local or regional dialect' (originally meaning 'rough, clumsy or uncultivated speech'), possibly from the verb patoier, 'to treat roughly', from pate, 'paw' or “pas toit” meaning “not roof” (homeless), from Old Low Franconian *patta, 'paw, sole of the foot' -ois.

There is an argument that Carribean slaves were not taught to speak a quality version of the slave master's mother tongue which may have been English, French, Dutch, etc. Teaching evolved from minimal learning requirements for the benefit of following rules. A modern argument for this issue may be seen here: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110418/letters/letters3.html or http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/opinion/patois-is-not-the-problem-stupid-_150436?profile=1096

To put it into context, in the UK, there was no national system of education before the 19th century. We should all have been speaking in a more basic manner. Only a small section of the child population received any schooling. This was either religion-based or as universities, for those whose families had the considerable resouces required.

The industrial revolution and the need to follow rules made by factory owners lead to a forced requirement for children to, under duress and on pain of financial penalty (for the parent), attend school. Prior to this schooling, or practical skill, was provided by the family

Language is indicative of the philosophy of education during industrialisation as the Industrial Schools Act was passed in 1857 and gave magistrates the power to sentence children between the ages of seven and fourteen years to a period of education in an industrial school (https://clairegarside.com/2020/01/22/the-effect-of-industrialisation-on-education-policy-and-the-school-system/).

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Usually, people say it, especially when it's a formal occasion. Sometimes, however, people in informal settings or just trying to get the question out will drop it thus changing 'Does she have a name?' to 'She have a name?'.

This can be done because English's polar questions (yes-or-no questions) have two changes; the first is the obvious grammar change, and the second the phonological change.

The grammar change is what you've noticed and how you've found this pattern. We'll take an indicative statement, add the auxiliary verb 'to Do', then move 'to Do' to the front of the sentence. Take the following example:

  1. She has a name. (Original, indicative statement.)
  2. She does have a name. (Auxiliary 'to Do' added)
  3. Does she have a name? (Polar question)

The second aspect of English is the phonological aspect. Most English statements tend to end with a downward shift in pitch. This is said to show certainty. If instead we raise the pitch and make the grammatical change as described above, we're asking a question.

This being the case for questions alone (at least, most of the time it is), it is implied by raising the tone alone that the statement is understood to be a question. I'll put the word with the highest pitch in bold here to illustrate the point:

  1. She has a name. (Indicative)
  2. She have a name? (Interrogative).

Notice, too, that the verb 'to Have' retained its semiïninitive form 'have' instead of 'has'. This, in the third person singular, is a means of identifying this as a question as the 'Does' at the beginning is implied.

I've noticed this in other dialects of English outside of the Usonian dialect, too, though not always to the point of complete omission. For instance, a friend of mine from the UK (speaking Queen's English [Received Pronunciation]) will say ''Ezh she have a name?' (/əʒ ʃi hɑv ə ne͡ɪm/). Notice how he doesn't say 'Does' in its entirety, but a remnant of it is still there. This, using the pronoun 'he' instead would be rendered as ''Z'he have a name?' (/zi hɑv ə ne͡ɪm/). This just follows some predictable sound changes that can be observed throughout the language.

Curtis Sheppard
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