Phraseology and Culture in English

Daniel Schreier 
for instance, that both Yorkshire English and Saint Helenian English have 
“I is” forms, and that is concord with third person plural subjects (‘they is’, 
‘the houses is’) is found in varieties of Scottish English (Miller 1993). 
Notwithstanding its origins, how you is? is very frequent in contempo-
rary TdCE and used by a vast majority of Tristanians in every-day commu-
nication. Due to its salient status, it has been commented on by various 
visitors from the “outside world”, most notably by Crawford (1945). When 
stationed on the island during World War II, Crawford mentions that he 
was immediately greeted by Tristanians with how you is?, and that from the 
first meeting on the islanders used this local expression to address him and 
to inquire about his well-being. In recent years, however, this formula is 
less often used in interactions that involve outsiders, and expatriates are 
more often addressed with non-local greeting formulae (particularly how
are you?). Not only has the usage of traditional how you is? with outsiders 
decreased, it has also changed its significance and there is some indication 
that the Tristanians differ in their attitudes as to when and whether it should 
be used with visitors and non-locals. These attitudes are particularly notice-
able when non-Tristanians use how you is? to open a conversation, and the 
reaction ranges from total acknowledgment to mild amusement to down-
right rejection and open correction. These attitudes are important for an 
investigation of the social significance and context-related attitudinal val-
ues attached to greeting formulae, and they can thus offer important in-
sights into the general motivation of such processes. With this aim, some 
specimen of the responses to this formula in interactional usage are briefly 
exemplified. 
3.3. Interactional usage: Some examples 
Most of the examples of how you is? in Tristan da Cunha English were col-
lected when I conducted sociolinguistic and ethnographic fieldwork on the 
island in 1999, and I recorded some further instances of conversational open-
ings using this formula on a shorter re-visit in 2002. 
One point that was striking immediately was the wide range of reactions 
it evoked. Consider, for instance, the following exchange involving the au-
thor (DS) and N, a 47-year old Tristanian male: 
DS: How you is? Everything all right?
N: I’s fine, brother. How you is?

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Greetings as an act of identity in Tristan da Cunha English 
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Here, there is no indication whatsoever that the usage of how you is? by 
a non-local is disapproved or considered as out of place or inadequate. The 
greeting formula is interpreted and returned before the conversation con-
tinues.
On the other hand, we also find the opposite, namely that locals do not 
comment on how you is? overtly, but use a more standard-type formula in 
return, as exemplified in the following exchange between myself and D, a 
32-year old Tristanian male: 
DS: How you is?
D: No complaints, brother, how are you?
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D uses how are you? even though prompted by a local greeting, and 
there is no open comment or reaction, and thus no indication that the usage 
of this formula by an outsider was noticed or judged as appropriate or not. 
This exchange occurred in a relaxed informal context, and the mutual usage 
of kinship terms suggests that both participants are well acquainted and on 
friendly terms. The present case is far from clear-cut, and the usage of D’s 
how are you? does not yield information whether this is a case of code-
switching to non-local language norms, a demarcation of sociolinguistic iden-
tity expressed by linguistic means, or an indication of disapproval that an 
outsider uses a salient local norm. What these two exchanges demonstrate 
is that Tristanians have the option to take up the formula and use it to ad-
dress an outsider, or else to use a non-local type associated with the linguis-
tic background of the addressee (we will consider value judgments below). 
There are indeed cases where it is obvious that Tristanians switch be-
tween the two formulae, and where by doing so they display an obvious 
awareness with whom to use local norms and with whom not. This is ex-
emplified in the following excerpt, taken from a tape-recorded interview con-
ducted with G, an elderly Tristanian female. During the interview, G’s daugh-
ter I stopped by for a surprise visit, and her impromptu appearance led to 
the following exchange: 
I: Hello. 
G: Who’s this? Oh, it’s you, I .. Danny, have you met I? 
DS: Yes of course we have met. What a nice surprise to see you here. How