"Heynabonics. Kina funny, hey na?"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Nov 16, 2007 3:20 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> FWIW, four minutes on YouTube of a "class" on the dialect of NE PA.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sMI2jb16eo

And some background:

http://www.timesleader.com/news/20071115_15heynabonics_ART.html
http://www.ecweekend.com/features/story.asp?id=45626

> Not much new, except for the use of _hey na?_ for "right? you agree?
> okay wit chu?", etc.

DARE's got _haina_ (one cite from nePA, 1986), cross-referencing
_ainna_ (used chiefly in German settlement areas, contraction of
_ain't it_, influenced by Ger. _nicht wahr_).

This came up in a discussion here last year on "innit":
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0611B&L=ADS-L&P=R2030

--Ben Zimmer

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