Date: Sun, 22 Oct 1995 11:01:30 -0400

From: SETH SKLAREY crissiet[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IPOF.FLA.NET

Subject: Re: statements spoken as if it were a question



What is the origin of the trend I've noticed of raising the tone of

voice at the end of a sentence that is obviously a statement and making

it sound like a question? This is my new cat? or



I don't know anything about its origin or history, but it's associated

with females more than with males and with Southerners more than with

Yankees. Southern females are, therefore, prime examples of it. The

videotape "American Tongues" has a funny segment on the Southern use of

question intonation as an explanation of why the South lost the war --

commands like "charGE" (rising pitch) were construed as questions rather

than commands.

--Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)





Could this be the Valley Girl talk which originated in Southern California?

Connie Chung did a program on it about a year or two ago.



Seth Sklarey