Origins
The origins of HRT remain uncertain. Geographically, anecdotal evidence places the conception of the American English variety on the West Coast – anywhere from Southern California to the Pacific Northwest.
With respect to the southern hemisphere, Allan (1990) suggested that the feature may have originated in New Zealand.
It is unclear whether the American English varieties and the Oceanic varieties had any influence on each other regarding the spread of HRT.
One theory is that it arose from the habit of some young people (in Australia, anyway) ending virtually every spoken sentence with:'You know?'. Omit the words but keep the inflection and you have HRT.
It will be apparent that the 'You know?' usage is closely related to other usages devoid of meaning such as the use of 'like', 'whatever' etc. The rapid spread of all of these across the English-speaking world is safely attributed to TV.
Read more about this topic: High Rising Terminal
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)