"She's like a cockroach what turned into a butterfly."

Asked Sep 29 '20 at 04:50

Active Sep 29 '20 at 05:07

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This is a line from Pocketful of Miracles (1961)

She's like a cockroach what turned into a butterfly.

Apparently in "standard English grammar" this should be

She's like a cockroach that/which/who turned into a butterfly.

Presumably this usage of "what" in place of "that" is dialectal. What kind of dialect has this grammar phenomenon? What is this grammar phenomenon called in linguistics? I recall seeing a comment by MetaEd hinting at this, but they didn't specify. The movie is an American movie and I believe MetaEd is an AmE speaker as well. This Q&A seems to suggest this occurs in BrE but I am also curious about its currency in AmE.

I guess you have no acquaintances what speak dialect. – MetaEd Mar 13 '13 at 3:30

edited Sep 29 '20 at 05:07

asked Sep 29 '20 at 04:50

Eddie Kal

1,162

3

Does this answer your question? Usage of *what* for *that* or *than* in BrE – livresque Sep 29 '20 at 04:58
@livresque Sort of. The movie is an American movie and the comment was also from an AmE speaker I believe. I believe this also occurs in American English. Also I'd like to know the grammatical term. Maybe someone will come along and point to some passage in the CGEL. – Eddie Kal Sep 29 '20 at 05:06
1

I think the grammatical term is "an error". :) – Greybeard Sep 29 '20 at 16:04

"She's like a cockroach what turned into a butterfly."

0 Answers0