Date:  Fri, 27 Oct 1995 10:43:32 -0500

From:  "Kathleen M. O'Neill" <koneil1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UIC.EDU>

Subject: Re: upspeak in German



>While I've never heard "upspeak" in standard German, there is at least one

>dialect (Schwabisch) in which people tend to put the word "oder" (or), with

>an upward intonation, at the end of statements - sort of the equivalent of

>saying "isn't that right?" after a sentence. I knew one guy when I studied

>in Germany who used it at the end of almost every sentence - much to the

>amusement of Germans from other regions.

>

>Jenny Becker

>beckerj[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]omri.cz





That reminds me of my struggle to drop the same "oder" from my speech

when I returned from Germany a few years back.

After spending so long speaking German, I couldn't find a replacement

for "oder" so, without thinking, I'd use "or."

"This is a nice party, or?"

Got a lot of funny looks from my friends and family.

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;Kathleen M. O'Neill ... Language Laboratory Technician I        ;

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