I’m Like, “Really? You Were Homeschooled?” Quotative Variation by High School Type and Linguistic Style

Quotative be like in Trinidadian English

“…This not only runs counter to perceptions of personality traits associated with be like elsewhere but it also seems to contrast with findings by Buchstaller (2015) and Stephens et al. (2018) from the UK and the US, respectively, that constructing a more intellectual type of persona correlates with less use of the form. A more contextualized study focusing on convent students could substantiate or qualify this apparent contrast and throw light on how be like can contribute to persona construction in the Trinidadian context.…”

“…(2007) report a similarly high rate (about 69%) for a similar group, and an identical rate (73%) has recently been found among American college students by Stephens et al. (2018). Barbieri (2009) shows that be like is the most favored quotative for all speakers below 40 in American English conversational corpus data.…”

“…Research on social factors in the use of be like has consistently found a high degree of use among young speakers (Buchstaller, 2014: 98-99), particularly the very young but extending up to age 40. Buchstaller (2014: 119) reports a rate of use as high as about 73% for young Californians (ages 14-22); Rickford et al (2007) report a similarly high rate (about 69%) for a similar group, and an identical rate (73%) has recently been found among American college students by Stephens et al (2018). Barbieri (2009) shows that be like is the most favored quotative for all speakers below 40 in American English conversational corpus data.…”

“…Barbieri (2005: 226–227; or 2007: 28) provides a convenient overview of earlier research up to 2004 so that here we consider only the more recent studies. They include: Barbieri (2005, 2007, 2009), Rickford, Buchstaller, Wasow, and Zwicky (2007) as well as Stephens, Hall‐Lew, and Ellis (2018) on general US English, and Hansen‐Thomas (2008) as well as Kohn and Franz (2009) on US ethnic varieties; Durham et al. (2012) on UK English; Tagliamonte and D'Arcy (2007) on Canadian English; Rodríguez Louro (2013) on Australian English; and D'Arcy (2012) as well as Drager (2015) on New Zealand English.…”

“…Beyond social categories like age and gender, recent work has begun to explore be like in the context of persona construction, showing that using the form less or even eschewing it almost entirely is associated with a ‘nerd’ or ‘intellectual’ type of persona (see Stephens et al., 2018, and Buchstaller, 2015, respectively).…”