preverbal done

noun

linguistics

: the verb form done used in several varieties of English to communicate that something (such as an action) has ended: such as

a

: the verb form done used in African American English to indicate that something (such as a state or an event) has ended or been completed or that the speaker is feeling an intense emotion (such as shock, surprise, or disappointment) that counters the speaker's expectations : dən, perfective done sense a, unstressed done

Rather than simply asserting that the subject was a participant in an event that occurred in the past, AAE [=African American English] preverbal done sentences would, in addition to this, assert that the subject is therefore in a state of having participated in that event. It is understandable, then, why speakers would make the pragmatic choice of using a done construction instead of a simple past construction such as After I won all that money in cases where personal responsibility is to be highlighted.

—J. Michael Terry

Note: The African American English feature called preverbal done is unstressed in pronunciation; usually precedes past tense verbs forms (such as talked, lived, or went) that express events or actions and that have a definite end point; sometimes precedes present tense verbs; and sometimes follows the invariant be and stressed BIN features of African American English. Syntactic rules (such as usage, sentence placement, and grammar) vary across the different dialects and varieties of English.

b

: the verb form done used in Southern American English varieties to communicate the completion of something (such as an action) : perfective done sense b

Preverbal done … presents an interesting example of possible Creole (and therefore Black English) influence on Southern White speech.

—Crawford Feagin

c

or preverbal don

-ˈdōn 

: the verb form done used in Guyanese Creole to communicate the completion of something (such as an event or state)

Guyanese Creole also has a preverbal done (don) construction …

—Katie Martin

Edwards (1991) discusses similarities and differences between preverbal don in Guyanese Creole and dən in AAE. … One difference is that Guyanese Creole [preverbal] don is produced with significant stress, but AAE dən is produced as an unstressed form.

—Lisa J. Green

Word History

First Known Use

1972, in the meaning defined above