Message 1: American English Question TagsDate: 24-Sep-2004From: Erik Schleef <eschleefumich.edu> Subject: American English Question Tags I am currently working on a dissertation investigating discourse markers and question tags in American academic discourse. Not surprisingly, 'right' is the most frequently used question tag in my data set. Variant question tags (of the type isn't it; aren't I; etc.) are quite rare but do occur. While there is a lot of literature on structural and sociolinguistic issues regarding variant question tags, ?innit?, and ?eh?, relatively little has been written about 'right' and its relation to variant question tags in American English. I would therefore very much appreciate pointers to literature on: 1. the use and development of 'right' as a question tag in American English 2. restrictions (prescriptively as well as actual use) on the use of question tag 'right' versus other question tags. 'Right' does not seem to be used after imperatives and questions, and variant question tags seem to be preferred after opinion statements in my data set. Are there more restrictions or different ones in other contexts/varieties? Thanks, Erik Schleef University of Michigan Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis; Sociolinguistics Message 2: Direction-specific English 'in'Date: 23-Sep-2004From: Robert Dewell <dewellloyno.edu> Subject: Direction-specific English 'in' English 'in' can describe insertion from any direction, but I can imagine a language that would distinguish, say, downward insertion (e.g. a cookie into a jar) from lateral insertion (e.g. a necklace into a wall safe). Can anyone point me to a language that makes this kind of distinction with respect to direction of insertion? Linguistic Field(s): Syntax Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue |