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From: tonyw@ubvax.UUCP (Tony Wuersch)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: I've got it
Message-ID: <140@ubvax.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 21-Mar-85 23:43:22 EST
Article-I.D.: ubvax.140
Posted: Thu Mar 21 23:43:22 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Mar-85 03:06:50 EST
References: <310@ho95b.UUCP>
Organization: Ungermann-Bass, Inc., Santa Clara, CA
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> Something that's suddenly bugging me is the construction "I've got",
> as in "I've got to go to the store", sometimes also "I have got to
> go to the store."
> 
> What does the "got" do?
> "I have to go to the store" says the same thing.
> 
> My guess on its origin is that people starting to say "I have"
> automatically contracted to "I've", and then the sentence didn't
> feel like it had a verb, so they put in the got (but why got?).
> -- 
> Robert Neinast (ihnp4!ho95c!ran)
> AT&T-Bell Labs

My own "native language user" sense (I'm not sure I accept the idea that
native language users have the right answers to these questions, but
anyhow ...) would respond this way:

That guess has some merit to it, since "I have" loses its sense of
obligation ("must") when it's contracted to "I've", so "got" has to
be used to get the sense of obligation back.  It allows the contraction
to "I've" to be automatic without seeming inappropriate in some sentences.

To more tries:

a) "got" often indicates the immediate future: "I've got to go" as
"I have to go now."  "Have" without "got" often indicates distant
future, the time for which schedules get set: "I have to go" as "It's
on my schedule to go today."  Distinctions between immediate and
distant time are major features of creoles and dialects, like Black
English.  "Got" could have passed over from a creole.

b) "got" sometimes indicates lack of choice.  "I have to go" can be
an insult in some situations if it's followed by leaving, whereas
"I have got to go" can carry hints of emergency or forced obligation.
"I have got to go" cuts off the rejoinder, "Do you have to go?", for
instance.

Tony Wuersch
{amd,amdcad}!cae780!ubvax!tonyw