imported_kier
Juniors
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- 325
I didn't know the US spelt aliminium differently.......I thought it was purely a pronuciation difference.
While on the subject of accents does anyone here have any knowledge on the Universal Interogative (I think that's its' name) the speech system beloved of aussies, kiwis and californians where a questioning lift is put at the end of spoken sentences/statements.
As David Hadfield put it in "XIII Worlds"
Instead of saying 'I went to the game in Thames', a kiwi has to say 'I went to the game in Thames?' - which is to say ' I think I went to Thames, if that's alright with you, but feel free to correct me if you think I have been mistaken'.
Since marrying a kiwi it's something I've thought about a fair bit and it's lead me to two theories. Both based on the fact that the UI makes a person sound very friendly.
The first is that it seemed to me that the countries/areas where the UI is common are places which were until recently "frontier country". Often surviavl was dependent on the help and goodwill of others. As a result how people spoke - especially to strangers was highly important. My theory is that the UI developed out of the need to have a highly friendly/helpful means of spoken communication between people.
The second thought of mine is about the "whinging Pom" cliche. It follows from the earliers theory but is liked to my belief that the British sound unhappy/sullen purely because the use of a rising inflection is really only evident in direct questions.
example - A Briton saying"it was a good game" meaning I thought that was a good game. Would be heard by an aussie/kiwias - I thought that game was crap because it would be delivered "flat" with the inference taken that it was a grudging, insincere comment.
As I said only theories that I've been toying with - what do others here think?
While on the subject of accents does anyone here have any knowledge on the Universal Interogative (I think that's its' name) the speech system beloved of aussies, kiwis and californians where a questioning lift is put at the end of spoken sentences/statements.
As David Hadfield put it in "XIII Worlds"
Instead of saying 'I went to the game in Thames', a kiwi has to say 'I went to the game in Thames?' - which is to say ' I think I went to Thames, if that's alright with you, but feel free to correct me if you think I have been mistaken'.
Since marrying a kiwi it's something I've thought about a fair bit and it's lead me to two theories. Both based on the fact that the UI makes a person sound very friendly.
The first is that it seemed to me that the countries/areas where the UI is common are places which were until recently "frontier country". Often surviavl was dependent on the help and goodwill of others. As a result how people spoke - especially to strangers was highly important. My theory is that the UI developed out of the need to have a highly friendly/helpful means of spoken communication between people.
The second thought of mine is about the "whinging Pom" cliche. It follows from the earliers theory but is liked to my belief that the British sound unhappy/sullen purely because the use of a rising inflection is really only evident in direct questions.
example - A Briton saying"it was a good game" meaning I thought that was a good game. Would be heard by an aussie/kiwias - I thought that game was crap because it would be delivered "flat" with the inference taken that it was a grudging, insincere comment.
As I said only theories that I've been toying with - what do others here think?
