Interrogative? The question of "Nah"

[Yakima Belle]

It would appear that the use of "nah" to indicate a
question is considered obsolete. (This word is either
the first or second word when so used.)

What concerns me about shipping this to the dustbin is
that the suggested alternative, raising the pitch of
the voice at the end of the sentence, is pretty much
specific to English and some other languages. My
Michigan born and raised husband finds himself annoyed
when speaking with native Pacific Northwesterners.
According to him, we use inflections and intonations
that sound like questions to him in declarative
statements, and use sounds that indicate the end of a
sentence before we have finished what we are saying.
Having visited Michigan, I understand what he is
talking about; I suspect Northwestern English may have
been influenced by Scandinavian or Teutonic speech
patterns....

Since the Wawa has preserved certain native aspects of
both grammar and vocabulary, should we be in a rush to
adopt the English interrogative?

Nah tumtum mtsay?

=====
I swear I seen a twelve-foot-high hump-shouldered elk
with no antlers and swan neck - 19th C. miner, quoted
in "Lonesome Dromedary", The Big Book of the Weird Wild
West, Paradox Press, 1998.


		
_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today!
http://vote.yahoo.com

To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!