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From: Rotes Sapiens <rs@redplanet.mars.org.cy>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: Valley-girl speech
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 17:09:35 +0930
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On Fri, 13 May 2005 19:17:21 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
<mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>Brian {Hamilton Kelly} wrote:
>> On Friday, in article
>> <IRVge.370$E_3.83@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net>
>> m_debusk@despammed.com "Michael DeBusk" wrote:
>>> On Thu, 12 May 2005 23:43:36 GMT, Bob Cunningham
>>> <exw6sxq@earthlink.net> wrote:
>>>> There has been much discussion in Usenet of the peculiarity
>>>> of speech shown by some younger people wherein they have a
>>>> rising intonation at the end of a declarative statement,
>>>> making it sound like a question.
>>> It's far more common among women than young people... especially
>in
>>> the Southern US, as far as I can tell. As I understand it, it's
>not
>>> so much a question as an invitation to provide some sort of
>>> response. Sort of like, "Hi, this is Patricia; do you know who I
>>> am?" or "Hi, this is Patricia; will you speak to me?"
>>> Never having done it myself, I don't know for certain, though.
>> The theory in the UK is that it originated from imported Australian
>> "soaps" (such as Neighbours, Home & Away, etc.); apparently this
>> misleading intonation is common (and, as you say, more so amongst
>> young women) in the big cities in Australia.
>> However, from the thread's title, it would seem that there's a
>> home-grown USAian subspecies?
>And I remember a kind which was used natively by East-Devonians. It
>isn't exactly the same, but some Syrians have something like it, too:
>much piss-tooken by Palestinians.
>What I'd like to know is how it got into Aus speech: it was, I feel
>sure, quite absent in the 'fifties and even the 'sixties. We call it
>"up-speak", do we not? I have a very strong feeling, though one which
>comes entirely without warranty, that it really started as an
>alternative to "Are you with me so far?" and "You do know what I
>mean, don't you?" when a girl was telling a story, and then kind of
>spread. But that may just be the way I first interpreted it: I do
>remember resisting the impulse to snap "Of course I know what you
>mean by 'hospital', you bloody fool!"
I remember first hearing it in the 70s in Australian comedy and drama
shows. It mostly seems to be associated with mid and north
Mediterranean migrants (e.g. Greek and Italian), as well as
working-class speech.
If someone says "This is x?" there is an implied "Remember me?" or "Do
you have time to talk?" It might imply nervousness or lack of
self-confidence with the person they are contacting, or with language
skills. I've also heard it used by young women when they are angry,
irritated or excited. Lets say a husband rings up and says, "Where
were you today? I rang up and nobody answered!" She might say, "I
had to go the the supermarket? Then I had to get my hair done?" She
is saying "Is that ok? What's wrong with that? Are you implying
something?"
Occasionally I've heard it used when someone is being extremely casual
or parodying an ethnic group. "What are you doing tonight?" Reply: "I
am thinking about going to Giovanni's?" (Do you want to go there?)
It seems to be dying out now as the above mentioned second and
migrants become more Australianised.
Sig:
Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need. -Voltaire,
philosopher (1694-1778)
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