LL-L "Idiomatica" 2005.06.30 (01) [E]

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From: Paul Finlow-Bates <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2005.06.29 (09) [E]

"isn't it?" (or more often "innit?") seems to be moving into mainstream
English, especially among the young and trendy.  It used to be an "ethnic"
thing, but in Nottingham I hear expressions like "Couldn't call - I lost
me phone innit?" from white youth all the time.

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From: embryomystic at cogeco.ca>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2005.06.29 (05) [E]

Ron wrote:

> I often hear "is it?" (or "isn't it?) used as a
> generalized question or tag among (South-)East Asian
> speakers of English, especially among people from
> Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.  I strongly suspect
> this to be a substitute for generally applicable
> Cantonese 係唔係 _hăi m hăi_, Mandarin 是不是
> _shi bu shi_, etc., literally "is not is".
>
> Thus, e.g.,
> "He come today, is(n't) it?"
> "Electronics are cheap here, is(n't) it?"
> "These are all yours, la!" "Is it?"

I've heard it also from people I was working with in BC, speaking an
English dialect with a Thompson Salish substrate. I don't know whether it
corresponds to something Salishan, or something that they got from the
Pidgin English that was common among First Nations peoples in Canada and
the US. Maybe both.

In any case, it was mostly something that the elders would say, along with
a few younger people who'd picked it up intentionally from them, or people
who hadn't left the rez when they were in their late teens (as is
near-universal). In any event, after working there for about a month, I'd
started to do it (I'm very susceptible to things like that; more
than fifteen minutes speaking English with my Irish teacher, and I have an
Ottawa Valley accent). It's fun, I think, and I do it now when I'm
responding to someone who thinks themself to be especially erudite, but is
really just being rude.

Isaac M. Davis

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Idiomatica

Thanks, Paul and Isaac.

It doesn't surprise me that this springs up in numerous English varieties
and is spreading.  After all, English tag questions are rather
complicated, being case-specific (e.g., "isn't, it?", "hasn't he?",
"weren't they?", "wouldn't I?") rather than generic (like "Right?", _nicht
(wahr)?_, _n'est pas?_, _ne?_, etc.).  Most languages use the
international lingua in that direction, and their speakers may be helping
English as the internation lingua franca to go in that direction, if it
does not also come from within.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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