Antagonistic tag questions in BE

[moodywop]

One study of BE/AE differences states that tag questions are used more often in BE and sometimes differently from AE.

One type of tag question which is described as typically BE is the "antagonistic tag question"(spoken with a falling intonation), often in response to a stupid question:

- Will it take long, the tea?
- It has to boil, doesn't it?

- Why didn't you answer the phone?
- I was in the bath, wasn't I?

- Did you speak to him this morning?
- I wasn't here this morning, was I?

Since the study was published twenty years ago I was wondering whether this usage sounds unfamiliar to Americans and whether it is indeed absent in AE.

 

[DaleC]

Whatever the intonation, this communicative function of tags is definitely unusual in AE. "With falling intonation" -- virtually never occurs in AE.

One type of tag question which is described as typically BE is the "antagonistic tag question"(spoken with a falling intonation), often in response to a stupid question:

- Will it take long, the tea?
- It has to boil, doesn't it?

- Why didn't you answer the phone?
- I was in the bath, wasn't I?

- Did you speak to him this morning?
- I wasn't here this morning, was I?

 

[panjandrum]

Antagonistic tag questions - that's a useful label
These are still around in BE - with the falling intonation. They carry a sense of resentment and suggest that the speaker thinks the question is stupid even if it isn't.

The antagonistic response matches the antagonistic tone of the question. If the question is asked in a normal voice, the same words with the tag question on a rising intonation would be neutral or positive.

 

[Brioche]

Would you say that the AE antagonistic question "Do you have a problem with that" has a falling intonation?

It seems to me to be in much the same class.

 

[Esca]

This actually sounds very normal to me. I don't know if we say it routinely, since I can't come up with any new examples where I would use it, but it sounds natural to my ears. I would usually use an intonation that rises only slightly, or in some circumstances, one that falls.
The only thing that looks weird to me is, "Will it take long, the tea?" which is another sort of tag question, one that seems to be more uncommon in AE.

 

[DaleC]

Would you say that the AE antagonistic question "Do you have a problem with that" has a falling intonation?

It seems to me to be in much the same class.

As a matter of terminology, this is not a tag question. A tag question by definition has as its underlying verb the same verb as in the original sentence.

Also, the intonation rises, as for a normal question, on this one.

 

[panjandrum]

For clarification, the bits I think are the antagonistic tag questions are highlighted in blue here:

- Will it take long, the tea?
- It has to boil, doesn't it?

- Why didn't you answer the phone?
- I was in the bath, wasn't I?

- Did you speak to him this morning?
- I wasn't here this morning, was I?

 

[nmuscatine]

To me (native speaker of AE), "Will it take long, the tea?" sounds strange. All of the other sentences are things that I might say/hear often. A tag question seems automatically antagonistic when it is a question not meant to be answered, or whose answer is obvious.

 

[cuchuflete]

The only frequent AE usage I can think of that is similar to the
falling intonation tag question is this:

Duh?

 

[moodywop]

The only thing that looks weird to me is, "Will it take long, the tea?" which is another sort of tag question, one that seems to be more uncommon in AE.

Actually this usage is also mentioned as typically BE in the study I read. However in this case it's just a tag, not a question. Here's a good example:

It's right tasty, is Websters (a TV ad for a beer)

 

[bhcesl]

To answer the original question, "It has to boil, doesn't it," can be antagonistic if 'doesn't it' has falling intonation. If 'doesn't it' is said with a rising intonation, it is a question in earnest.

 

[siares]

Might tag questions sound antagonistic if the action they tag in the sentence is not neutral but somehow controversial?
Do the tag question sound the same in formal and informal direct speech?

Minister, you recently axed 1000s of jobs, didn't you?
Minister, you recently saved orphanages from closing, didn't you?

 

[DonnyB]

The first one at least is definitely provocative. It's challenging the minister to try and talk his way out of responsibility for the job losses, and in the context of something like a TV interview it would be seen as testing him to see how skilful a politician he was.

 

[siares]

Thank you Donny.

What do you think about formality? Are the following two equally formal?

Minister, you recently saved orphanages from closing, didn't you?
Minister, I believe you recently saved orphanages from closing, is this correct?

 

[ewie]

I'd say all your questions are equally formal neutral in register, Siares. (Though axing is certainly approaching informality.)

 

[variegatedfoliage]

I think the AE equivalent might be helloooo, as in

- Did you speak to him this morning?
- Helloooo . . . I wasn't here this morning.

 

[JustKate]

I have to confess that none of these tag questions (if we agree that that's what they are) sound at all British to my ears. I mean, I'm sure they're used in BE, but they are frequently used in AmE, too.

 

[JamesM]

I agree with JustKate, but I don't think we AE speakers tend to use tag questions in an answer nearly as frequently as BE speakers do.

 

[siares]

many thanks, ewie

I'd say all your questions are equally formal neutral in register, Siares. (Though axing is certainly approaching informality.)