Journal article 1688 views
Quotative 'be like' in American English: Ephemeral or here to stay?
Federica Barbieri 
English World-Wide, Volume: 30, Issue: 1, Pages: 68 - 90
Swansea University Author:
Federica Barbieri
Full text not available from this repository: check for access using links below.
DOI (Published version): 10.1075/eww.30.1.05bar
Abstract
This study investigates the use of the quotatives be like, go, be all, and say in a corpus of conversation in American English dating 2004/2005. The goal of the study was to investigate whether speakers who were using quotative ‘be like’ (and other innovative quotatives) in their youth in the mid-19...
| Published in: | English World-Wide |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0172-8865 |
| Published: |
2009
|
| Online Access: |
Check full text
|
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa13437 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Abstract: |
This study investigates the use of the quotatives be like, go, be all, and say in a corpus of conversation in American English dating 2004/2005. The goal of the study was to investigate whether speakers who were using quotative ‘be like’ (and other innovative quotatives) in their youth in the mid-1990s were still using it ten years later, in order to establish if language change had taken place, or whether instead use of innovative quotative was a case of ‘age-grading’. The study replicates Barbieri (2007, in English World Wide), which was based on a comparable corpus dating 1995/1996. Findings revealed that by 2004/2005 be like was the main quotative for all speakers below age 40, regardless of sex. Data also showed that use of be like had increased of 20%-50% among the men and women who were 16-26 in 1995/1996. In sum, the study suggests that be like is a true change in progress. In addition, the finding that be like was used by the older generations (the over ’40), albeit in smaller proportions, provided evidence of ‘life span change’, which in turn presupposes ‘communal change’. |
|---|---|
| Keywords: |
quotatives, be like, go, sex, age, American English, change in progress, lifespan change |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Issue: |
1 |
| Start Page: |
68 |
| End Page: |
90 |