Publications

Publication details [#26130]

Meyerhoff, Miriam. 1994. Sounds pretty ethnic, eh?: A pragmatic particle in New Zealand English. Language in Society 23 (3) : 367–388.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
Cambridge University Press
ISBN
0047-4045

Annotation

An analysis of a New Zealand working class suburb's social dialect shows that the tag particle EH, used noticeably more by Maori men than by Maori women or Pakehas, may function as in-group signal of ethnic identity for these speakers. Young Pakeha women, the next highest users, may be adopting it as a new aspect in their set of positive politeness markers.