I've just come across evidence that the much-despised antipodean rising inflection habit has gone full circle and has now been superimposed on written (well, at least on *some* written) discourse (citation: a Freecycle group - sorry, it's a closed group and therefore cannot substantiate with a web ref, he said primly and conscientiously...):
(start quote) ..........................
Hi i am hoping that someone has got some exercise equiptment lurking somewhere that perhaps needs a new home??
I have lost quite a bit of weight and wanted to keep it going with adding some exercise?
Any offers would be fab.
Thanks for reading
...................................(sic)
What is absolutely amazing is that no-one would have dreamed of writing this even 10 years ago - my thesis is that people have just got so used to the sound and feel of saying stuff like this that when they come to the (relatively marginal) job of writing, the inflection is replicated in text. I'm quite fascinated by this...
1 comment:
Oh dear. As a way of expressing uncertainty in what's being said I think it's a useful device, but when used indiscriminately it makes the speaker sound like they have no confidence at all in what they're saying. Every now and then I hear myself blurting out, "Are you asking me or telling me?".
I imagine aussie soaps must make up a generous portion of Guantanamo Bay's daily soundtrack...
Kevin.
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