mmmkay? and its kin

Arnold M. Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Fri Jul 2 00:34:58 UTC 2004


from Genre magazine, August 2004, p.30, article on digital cameras:

-------------
Finally, cameras that use rechargeable batteries will lkely save you
money in the long run, mmmkay?
-------------

i'm familiar with "ok?" (or even "ok!") produced with an initial
prenasalized velar stop.  does this have a labial component for some
speakers?  a *prolonged* one?  can it be used as an agreement marker as
well as a question marker?

there are a few "nkay?" web hits on google, no relevant ones for
"ngkay?", but large numbers for "mkay?", "mmkay?", "mmmkay?", and some
even for "mmmmkay?", "mmmmmkay?", "mmmmmmkay?", and "mmmmmmmkay?"
(though once you get past three m's, google asks if you meant
"mmmkay?").

let me know if anyone's studied the phonetics and/or pragmatics here,
mmmkay?

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)



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