oh-oh! uh-uh! (ekse: Hawaiian loanwords)

[Henry Kammler]

R K Henderson wrote:

> I would submit the Jargon itself as persuasive evidence that uh-huh and
> uh-uh are of New World origin.

I wouldn't be too optimistic about this. First we would have to prove that no

regional variant of English or Gaelic/Welsh has expressions resembling uh-huh

and uh-uh, second we would have to look at other European contact languages
like French. I think these utterances and the sounds they employ are too
generic and cannot be traced down to one historical source.

> That, and the fact that the British don't say "uh-huh" and "uh-uh," and
> laugh at colonials for doing so (though with the Americanisation of world
> media, this is probably changing), indicate that this tradition
> originated in the New World.

Yeah, from a BBC English's point of view. The "British" also mock their rural

compatriots for their local dialects, and you can bet you hear "strange"
things when you travel through Britain, and it's all rightfully considered
English by those that speak like that.
Now take the French expression "hein?" (sounds like a nasal Canadian "eh" at
the end of sentences). German has the same element at the same phrase final
position with the same meaning, it sounds like an open [hE]. Given the fact
that French doesn't have an [h]-phoneme, one *could* simply conlude French
just borrowed [hE] and remodelled it according to its sound system. But I'm
sure that this is not the case. Languages do not only change by diffusion of
elements.
As written sources reflect developments in spoken language only very late
(e.g. English orthography) one will probably not find the ultimate proof of
either this or that version of the uh-huh-story.
BTW when and where did uh-huh and uh-uh first appear in written form? (it
would still not give much information about the actual articulation and
intonation ... but it might be a hint).

Henry,
Frankfurt