Sociolinguistic Variation and Discourse Function of Constructed Dialogue Introducers: The Case of Be + like

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. ONE OF THE MANY CHOICES AVAILABLE to speakers of American English asthey narrate stories of personal experience is whether or not to include instances of dialogue in the story. Not all speakers do so. However, including instances of verbal interchange is one way speakers can heighten the performance value of their stories, thus making them more vivid. When dialogue is included, speakers have even further choices to make. They can select direct speech or indirect speech (e.g., He said, "I'm coming" or He said that he was coming). When direct speech is the option, narrators are likewise free to include dialogue without an overt introducer, using a null form or zero introducer (e.g., I nudge my husband. 0 "Wake up. "). Though rare, this interesting choice receives attention from Mathis and Yule (1994). If narrators do choose an overt introducer, an additional discourse resource over which they exercise choice lies in the various tense options available. Among these are the past tense and the historical present, that is, the present tense used to describe past events (as in He says, "Don't step on it" used to convey a past event). Tense variation in verbs of saying, its constraints and functions, has been the subject of scholarly interest by Schiffrin (1981), Wolfson (1982), Tannen (1986; 1989), andJohnstone (1987; 1990), among others. But speaker choice does not stop with tense selection. Narrators may optionally select which type of quotative complementizer is to be used as a grammatical indicator that what follows is a representation of the speech or thought of others. They may choose between say, go, or be + like.'

Como in Commute: The Travels of a Discourse Marker across Languages

“…In reference to the variation of "like" according to age, younger speakers employ "like" as a discourse marker more than older speakers (Blyth et al, 1990;Romaine & Lange, 1991;Ferrara & Bell, 1995;Tagliamonte & Hudson, 1999 In contrast to the use of "like" according to age, studies of "like" according to gender demonstrate conflicting results. Although Romaine & Lange (1991) conclude that women use "like" as a discourse marker more than men, Ferrara & Bell (1995) find that men use "like" as much as women do, and Dailey O'Cain (2000) concludes that although speakers perceive that women use "like" more than men, both men and women use "like"…”

“…This discourse function of "like" has come to be known as the quotative "like" in future studies (Blyth et al, 1990;Romaine & Lange, 1991;Ferrara & Bell, 1995;Tagliamonte & Hudson, 1999;Dailey O'Cain, 2000;Tagliamonte & D'Arcy, 2004). Blyth et al (1990: 215) further develop Schourup's definition by stating that the quotative function of "like" "allows the speaker to express an attitude, reaction, or thought, as well as something actually said."…”

Non-African Linguists Be Like, “This Is a New Way to Quote!”

“…According to D'Arcy (2007: 393, italics in original), "be like is an innovation, representing ongoing change." Current research on the origins of quotative be like has suggested that it developed (or grammaticalized) from "focuser like," as in We watched this John Wayne movie that was like really bad (Underhill 1988, Meehan 1991, Romaine and Lange 1991, Ferrara and Bell 1995, Eriksson 1995, Buchstaller 2001, Cukor-Avila 2002 3, also see Buchstaller 2004 for a derivation of Quotative like from Focuser like). However, we argue that quotative like is not used in this focuser role in either AAA speech of the US or Akan (Asante Twi) and that such comparatively recent usage is typical of non-standard colloquial white American varieties of English (perhaps due to a re-analysis or misinterpretation of the way quotative like was originally used in AAA).…”

Het Quotatieve Van

“…Dit aspect is -wat betreft het Engelse like -met name door Tannen (1989, 110ff. ), Ferrara et al (1995) en Pascual (2002; benadrukt. Zo'n fictief voorbeeld kan ter plekke geconstrueerd worden of al vaker gebruikt zijn, zodat het een zeker conventioneel karakter heeft, als in (23) en (24): (23) Dergelijke voorbeelden gaan op een natuurlijke wijze over in voorbeelden waarin vergelijkbare typerende karakteriseringen geïncorporeerd zijn als eerste lid van een samenstelling, zie daarvoor de vele voorbeelden in Pascual & Janssen (2004): daarzit-wat-in-blik, 'wij-blanken-begrijpen-elkaar'-toontje, 'aha'-gevoel. De typificerende uitingen staan vaak metonymisch voor een gedachte, gevoel, gedrag waar die uiting heel goed bij zou kunnen optreden.…”