Hinglish and "innit"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>i thought it was understood that all the tags we've been talking
>about in this thread are invariant.

The more I read the original Sean Coughlan Web-piece, the less I'm sure
what it says about "innit".

Regardless of what it says, I think the basic point of possible interest is
that South-Asian English often has invariant "isn't it" tag ... whereas
what I would call 'standard' English doesn't have it.

I suppose the invariant tag "isn't it" (I assume an invariant tag
pronounced "innit" or so to be the same) is derived from the 'standard'
English tag "isn't it" -- which is not invariant. I suppose this happened
independently in various places ... in India possibly under Hindi
influence, in Wales possibly under Welsh influence, elsewhere perhaps under
other influences. I don't know whether or not my notion jibes with whatever
Sean Coughlan is trying to say.

Maybe I'm still missing something.

-- Doug Wilson


--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.14.0/525 - Release Date: 11/9/2006

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org