ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on certain grammatical features in the Mayhew Corpus (MC) and the Bolton/Worktown Corpus (BWC) which have traditionally been regarded as non-standard or vernacular forms but which have, it appears, stood the test of time. The features in question are to be found in the MC and the BWC as well as in a number of present-day varieties of English. The chapter shows that these vernacular features can be found in the historical sources going back much further in the past than the MC and the BWC. The features which have a fair claim to be what people might term vernacular veterans are: tails/right dislocation, heads/left dislocation, there's + plural NP complement, and clause-final like. The chapter examines each of these features in turn, seeking evidence from the MC and the BWC, from present-day corpora, and from historical sources.
