Need help with Southern dialect (American)

[onlygoofy]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> Hi, Potioncat and anyone else from below the Mason-Dixon line. I'm editing a book in which the narrator speaks a rural Southern dialect. I need to know when to use "done" with the past tense, as in "I done made the bed." Is "done" equivalent to "had" ("I had made the bed"--past perfect tense indicating a previously completed action in contrast to simple past tense, "I made the bed")? Or does it emphasize that something has been done ("I done already made the bed")? (I remember once hearing someone in North Carolina say, "It done been settled," meaning "it has already been settled.") Are both these uses correct? Am I missing some other use of "done" in this dialect? I appreciate any help you can give me.
> 
> Please don't respond unless you're a bona fide American Southerner.
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Carol, who recalls numerous other colorful Southernisms but unfortunately none that can help me with this particular problem
>


onlygoofy now:

I was born & raised in rural middle GA.  Admittedly, I lean to the Southernisms when I visit home and pick up where I left off.  I have used the phrase "It's done been settled!"  but when I tested the bed phrase it came out as "I already done made the bed."  Don't know if that helps or confuses things more.  Grammar is not my strong suit and usually only realize I've slipped into "Southern" when I get a funny look from someone!  

Jenn