Re: Emergence of tone in 'non-tone' languages

sanlosinst@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Estuary English is a group of English lects in England, based on the
> lower-class speech of London, spreading ever further from London with
> each passing year. It carries a strong element of social semiotic as a
> badge of lower-class status, but more than this it implies that the
> speaker is a 'sharp' modern city person and not some backward yokel.

OTOH, in the absence of other indicators of sharp modernity, the
"hopeless chav" bell might ring for some.

--
Adrian Smith

.

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