"a-Prefixing in Appalachian English"

by Walt Wolfram 1980

In Appalachian English. Ex: "he come a-runnin' out there and got shot"

"a-prefixing is restricted to those -ing particles that are part of the verb or its complement (i.e., the adverb); it does not occur in other types of contexts such as true gerunds."

"all a-prefixed participial forms are derived from prepositional phrases, and that a- itself comes from a preposition."

Used in continuous, unstructured activities like hunting, canning, churning, running. Not used in games or structured activities like baseball or puzzle-solvin. Not used in non-kinetic activities like dreaming.