Date:  Fri, 27 Oct 1995 12:53:27 EDT

From:  mai <MAINGR01[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UKCC.UKY.EDU>

Subject: Re: upspeak in German



On Fri, 27 Oct 1995 10:43:32 -0500 Kathleen M. O'Neill said:

>>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.





While living in Heidelberg, my Landlady Frau Gessner used to say "gel'?"

in somewhat the same manner, with a rising tone. It meant about the same as

"nicht wahr, nicht, nitt" etc. She used it quite frequently.



Mark Ingram

maingr01[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ukcc.uky.edu