preverbal done

noun

linguistics

: the verb form done used in various ways (as before a past tense verb form) in several varieties of English to communicate that something (such as an action) has ended: such as

a

: the verb form done (see done entry 1) used in African American English (as in "Everybody done gone" and "I done forgot his name!") to indicate that something (such as an action, a state, or an event) has ended or been completed and often to add emotional emphasis (as to convey a reaction of shock, surprise, or disappointment) : 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.

b

: the verb form done used in some varieties of Southern American English 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 (see creole sense 4c) 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