mmmkay? and its kin

[Dennis R. Preston]

>Has anyone yet speculated that "mmmkay" may be a blend of the first
>part of the variant of uh-huh which is completely nasal, plus the
>second part of "OK," or is that too obvious to even note?

It's not entirely obvious to me, at any rate. "Mmmmkay" might on the
other hand be a combination of "Hmmmmm" + "OK." If so, one would
expect to find a distribution in which "mmmkay" would indicate less
certainty than "uh-huh" or "OK," putting aside the back-channel uses
of all of them, itself a difficult task.

dInIs



>Arnold,
>     I know a user of 'mmkay'.  I believe it has a labial component, and it is
>used as  by him as an agreement marker.  I'd give it a double "m" in length.
>     Just out of curiosity, this guy is from the south or near south.  Where
>are the people from who use this form?
>
>Lois Nathan