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