“God that came out quick didn’t it eh”
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María de los Ángeles Gómez González
Abstract
This study compares and contrasts British English variable tag questions, i.e. those containing a grammatically dependent question tag (e.g. isn’t it?), with invariable ones, i.e. those containing lexical tag questions (e.g. right?). Results are reported for five research questions concerning the (i) formal and (ii) functional characteristics of variable and invariable tag questions, as well as the factors motivating the choice of one type over the other, namely (iii) gender, (iv) age and (v) genre. Based on a sample of 858 tag questions, my findings suggest that British English shows a consistently higher preference for variable tag questions (717 vs. 141 tokens). Further differences and parallelisms are revealed for formal, functional, sociolinguistic and distributional conditions, raising new implications for further inquiry.
Abstract
This study compares and contrasts British English variable tag questions, i.e. those containing a grammatically dependent question tag (e.g. isn’t it?), with invariable ones, i.e. those containing lexical tag questions (e.g. right?). Results are reported for five research questions concerning the (i) formal and (ii) functional characteristics of variable and invariable tag questions, as well as the factors motivating the choice of one type over the other, namely (iii) gender, (iv) age and (v) genre. Based on a sample of 858 tag questions, my findings suggest that British English shows a consistently higher preference for variable tag questions (717 vs. 141 tokens). Further differences and parallelisms are revealed for formal, functional, sociolinguistic and distributional conditions, raising new implications for further inquiry.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Section I. Discourse structure and verbal interaction
- The encoding and signalling of discourse relations in argumentative discourse 13
- A typological approach to the encoding of motion events 45
- Contrastive analysis of interactional discourse markers in English and Spanish newspaper texts 75
- “God that came out quick didn’t it eh” 109
- The use of tag questions in the oral production of L2 English learners 145
- “Okay … so … nice to meet you? {smiles}” 171
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Section II. Evaluation and engagement
- Lexis and grammar as complementary discourse systems for expressing stance and evaluation 201
- Emotion and appraisal processes in language 227
- Empathy versus engagement 251
- Two dimensions of language intensity in evaluative discourse 273
- Name index 297
- Subject Index 301
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Section I. Discourse structure and verbal interaction
- The encoding and signalling of discourse relations in argumentative discourse 13
- A typological approach to the encoding of motion events 45
- Contrastive analysis of interactional discourse markers in English and Spanish newspaper texts 75
- “God that came out quick didn’t it eh” 109
- The use of tag questions in the oral production of L2 English learners 145
- “Okay … so … nice to meet you? {smiles}” 171
-
Section II. Evaluation and engagement
- Lexis and grammar as complementary discourse systems for expressing stance and evaluation 201
- Emotion and appraisal processes in language 227
- Empathy versus engagement 251
- Two dimensions of language intensity in evaluative discourse 273
- Name index 297
- Subject Index 301
