summary man thanks responses really something get number quality ideas 1 initial query south african english use occur contexts b fine english varieties languages confronted examples vistors country often comment sa english means yes course true would response question time speaker nt time generally couple people commented definitely mean yes contexts rather negate possibility negative belief concerning answer question example instance b negating possible belief b well south africans hold possibility negative beliefs strong denied remains seen varieties english use types examples cited anyway recorded according responses australian english american english english english recorded nigerian ghanaian english appear related identical discourse uses similar particles varieties english english responses actually dealt usage far majority man languages seem used variety languages way sa english similar uses recorded scandinavian languages german och similar identical cameroon french bangkok thai plaw lit empty spanish also occurs incidentally afrikaans 2 man question related use man express negative emotional involvement speaker sort irritation impatience annoyance examples given man hot today hurry mom man man cant right english huge response showed man used similarly american english black white scottish english tyneside english north east england jamaican english welsh english americanism found varieties english american english usage least necessary carry negative sentiment general tag kind emotional intonation laid example b example typifies sa usage found odd wierd american respondants reason man although interjection still appears flavour term address mom man sounds like two forms direct address row seems man sae bare feature term address contexts instance similar usages given tyneside english shut man geoff kegs tight man mary though actual term address occurs finally opposed use man finally sae needs explored interest distinctly american use man sae like south african use man cool man type utterances sa examples man daddy man 5 year old daughter stood toe man david nt mean wife self altercation man right man bloody computer giving problems saenglish man alternates shwa full vowel contexts sae shwa occurs vowel stressed contexts shwa eg related usage currant american english use ude languages related uses man include dutch swedish boy used similar way norwegian german use etwa may similar function german usually indicate weariness spanish lhasa tibetan mi person interestingly dutch ouble address form hurry mom man impossible schiet op man must interesting stuff came see interest sa english item sorry beg pardon e g drops something without knowing b picks calls sorry dropped something anyway thanks helen adamson geoffrey sampson elin haf gruffyd jones celso alvarez caccamo mai kuha mark donohue marek przezdziecki scott delancey mats eegolofsson dom watt hilde hasselgard nicole nelson jane edwards sren harder charlie rowe nobue mori adiego lajara bruce connell krisadawan hongladarom frank bramlett deborah milam berkley douglas oliver larry trask kristine hasund paul boersma lynne roecklein judy l delin benji wald stephen p spackman john verhaar randall major person wished anonymous references