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It appears to be a "new information marker", which is a feature in quite a large number of the world's languages. English, despite the efforts of legions of fif
by stan_rogers 12y ago
It appears to be a "new information marker", which is a feature in quite a large number of the world's languages. English, despite the efforts of legions of fifth-grade English teachers, is a natural language, and its grammar changes, or at least tries new things, through time. Languages that aren't dead yet do that. We recently had a similar thread about the use of "no", which has become a sort of redirection/steering indicator.
- vram22 12y ago"no" at the end of a sentence, after a comma, to mean "isn't it so?", was common in Mumbai (Bombay) from many years ago. Interesting that it has started being used in the States now, which I've noticed on other forums and in personal interactions too. My guess is that it came into use in Bombay English via some Indian language, where it is a normal way of speaking.
- chetanahuja 12y agoThat appended, questioning "No?" at the end of a statement is prevalent all over India. And yes, it comes from a Hindi construct "Arre, Chal naa yaar" (literally, "Let's go, No? friend".)
- vram22 12y agoYes, I kind of guessed that idiom might be prevalent in multiple Indian languages, because I have noticed the same thing with other idioms - they are there in more than one Indian language.