Talk:a-

Linking to parts of speech

Although I don't believe that we should need to link to parts of speech every time one is mentioned, I'm not about to maintain an argument about this. However, where such links are made they should be to something in Wiktionary rather than Wikipedia. These are all words which should have an entry in Wiktionary, but in a young program it simply hasn't been done yet. Having it appear in red can be an inspiration for someone to create that entry. If, in the absence of such an entry, we link to Wikipedia it means that some day when there are many more entries the job of revising these will be a lot tougher.

For one more needed discussion, how about Wiktionary:When to link to Wikipedia. Eclecticology 17:43 Mar 12, 2003 (UTC)

Grades

Should this page mention the grade A-, (as in just under A, but better than B+)? -- Merphant

I had to think about this. I think that this article is really about "A hyphen" rather than "A minus". I would be inclined to put the grade in the A article. There is some parallel between "A" as a grade and "A" as a musical note. Just as we could comment there about the notes "A sharp" and "A flat", so too with grades we can have "A plus" and "A minus" Eclecticology 05:55 Mar 13, 2003 (UTC)

A-happening etc.

I disagree with moving "a-happening" in from "a". I find it much more likely that a 20th-century American songwriter is simply filling in a beat — as is still seen — than trying to use an Anglo-Saxon grammatical construction. In any case, the a-present participle usage is listed a little further up the a page, as supposedly obsolete (a-dying, etc.). Finally, given that it's hyphenated, it's not a proper prefix and doesn't belong on this page.

When I next find time, I'll hunt up another contemporary meter-filling a and put a-happening where it more likely belongs. -dmh 16:21, 4 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Sorry but you're dead wrong. The a- prefix is still used on a daily basis in the Appalachian dialect. You might be familiar with it from music, but it's used and understood in speech. Wōdenhelm (talk) 01:42, 19 July 2013 (UTC)

Way late but ... I probably didn't put that well. I said "supposedly" obsolete because I was pretty sure that was wrong, as you say. I have no doubt that folks in Appalachia continue to say a-present participle. My point was just that Brian Wilson, who grew up in SoCal, probably didn't talk like that. --dmh (talk)

Adverbial prefix

Hmm, a- is an adverb-building prefix, right? I was think of words like "afire", "abreast", "arunning", "aside" etc. Is this usage presented in the article? –dMoberg 22:34, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Aware etc.

The a- prefix used on "aware" doesn't seem to be the same as the one used on "a-hootin' and a-hollerin'" but they're listed as being vague intensifiers that aren't productive, even though there are dialects of English (for example, in the Appalachians) that still use the a- prefix on progressive verbs. It has a restricted use only on -ing verbs (if it's an -ing form that is grammatically a noun, it can't take the suffix, e.g. *a-swimming is hard would be ungrammatical. It also can only go onto verbs that are stressed on the first syllable (so a-thinkin is fine, *a-remembering is not) Even if it is etymologically the same prefix as the a- of aware, it should be a separate sense.

^ Correct. Wōdenhelm (talk) 03:20, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

Old Englishh ā- (perfective prefix)

afear reads: āfǣran (“to terrify, dismay”), from ā- (perfective prefix). --Backinstadiums (talk) 21:46, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

have (auxiliary)

as in Lawd hammercy, Lawd a'mercy, Lawd a-mercy. Cf. -a as in coulda --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:56, 14 November 2020 (UTC)