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The main purpose of this paper is to present the results of an investigation about functioning of tag questions in oral corpus of Chilean Spanish from a systemic-functional language perspective. The categories of interpersonal analysis are derived from the semantic-discursive and lexicalgrammatical strata. In the meaning stratum, the speech function and the semiotic commodity have been considered, while in the coding stratum, the clause modes and the location of the tag question in the clause have been considered. It is concluded that the tag question is a productive resource for the expression of interpersonal meanings in all speech functions. It is mostly integrated in moves that fulfill the role of 'give', while the main subject of negotiation is 'information'. Within the MOOD system, they are mostly integrated in final position of declarative clauses and to a lesser extent in imperative and interrogative clauses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the behaviors of tag questions in Chinese and proposes a unifying analysis involving empty CP/DP pro-forms and predication. It is found that there are universally two types of Tag questions – (i) the invariable type and (ii) the (modal) verbal type, which correspond to the question-types in Chinese syntax. Previous research by Culivocer (1992. English tag questions in Universal Grammar. Lingua 88. 193–226) analyzed English tag questions as a pro-IP structure that is bound by a previous sentence. However, in Chinese, two types of tag questions include both A-not-A form and particle form. Furthermore, both the two kinds of tag questions display syntactic predication between the tag and an empty subject pro. An abbreviated "yes-no question" is attached to empty CP/DP constituents in these constructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes one practice of "resistance" to challenging interviewees in television news interviews. Interviewers use turn medial tags when working with field reporters to display shared knowledge to an overhearing audience. In contrast, analysis focuses on examples in which tag questions are issued midturn, e.g., "You put your finger on the button didn't you.=when you said ...". In this practice knowledge and understanding are built as shared in the face of resistance from high-status and highly experienced interviewees. The syntactic reorganization of different elements within individual turns, combined with the possibility of manipulating the sequential positioning of an utterance, allow intersubjectivity to be invasively and coercively re/built through displays of mis/alignment across turns and sequences of talk. We explore the implications of this for how resistance can be understood. Our analysis also contributes to a politics of intersubjectivity and, more specifically, interknowledgeability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hungarian question tag mi? is subject to more special contextual restrictions compared to ugye?. An utterance that features mi? i) tentatively commits the addressee as a source for the anchor proposition of the tag question, and ii) it commits the speaker as a source for the addressee's being a source for p, which is a pragmatic presupposition. A speaker is a source for a proposition p if that speaker's commitment to p does not depend on any other discourse participant's commitment (Gunlogson 2008). The results of an online survey of a minimal set of pragmatically relevant contexts support claim i), and indirectly, claim ii). The effect of mi? on the immediate context of the discourse is modeled on a conversational scoreboard (Farkas & Bruce 2010; Malamud & Stephenson 2015). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's agency in their own lives is increasingly recognised as important, including within paediatric health care. The issue of acknowledging child agency is complex in the context of paediatric palliative care, where children have serious and complex conditions that often impact their ability to verbally communicate with others. This study explores how clinicians and parents/guardians direct talk towards a child patient when they are present in a consultation. Conversation analysis methods were used to examine 74 video‐recorded paediatric palliative care consultations. Detailed turn‐by‐turn examination of the recorded consultations identified the recurrent use of a practice described by linguists as a 'tag question', which follows some statement (e.g. 'he loves that, don't ya'). Both clinicians and parents/guardians often directed these tag questions towards the child patient. Analysis demonstrated how these tag questions: (1) validated the child's epistemic authority over what was being said and (2) made a child's response a possible, but not necessary, next action. The findings are discussed in relation to the sociology of child agency and how this agency is acknowledged and displayed within and through social interaction. This research provides direct evidence of children's competence as informants about their own symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues for a new theory of the origin of wh-correlatives from indefinite uses of whwords in paratactic or asyndetic conditionals. We show that this theory predicts a generalization that has so far gone unnoticed: wh-based correlatives always have a universal reading; they may also have a definite reading, which may be morphologically marked. This is in contrast to correlatives where the relativizer originates from a demonstrative element: these always have a definite reading and may also have a universal reading. We demonstrate the validity of this generalization on a data set containing thirty-eight correlative structures from thirty-two languages, that is, all of the correlative structures that are sufficiently well described in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on variable tag questions (VTQs) in English, e.g. That was Sunday wasn't it?, Don't look back will you?. Our aim is to forge a unified framework to establish marked and unmarked function-to-form correlations integrating other relevant features. This analysis is innovative in approach and coverage. VTQs are classified according to four kinds of stance meaning: epistemic, deontic, attitudinal, and textual. To be able to plot function-to-prosody mappings, four prosodic parameters are included in the analysis (accent position, boundary tone, intonational contour, phrasing). Additional correlations are obtained regarding grammatical characteristics (mood pattern, polarity, position, verb of the tag), dialogic features (type of response, turn taking participation) and contextual information (type of (meta-)genre). Based on the quantitative systematic study of 383 VTQs, tests for statistical significance reveal a number of correlations and interactions. Some confirm or modify previous claims, but all constitute novel contributions to the constructional pragmatics of VTQs in English, most notably the proposal of a model of association of the observed variables. • Presents a unified framework for the analysis of variable and invariable tag questions in English and across languages. • Classifies English VTQ into four stance types: i.e. epistemic, attitudinal, deontic and textual. • Identifies function-to-form correlations for these stance types of variable tag questions. • Reveals variables and values that are key to determining the pragmatics and prosody of variable tag questions. • Proposes a model of associations discerning the variables that show the strongest correlations with pragmatic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our article aims to contribute to our understandings about using different polar question formats in everyday Estonian interaction. The article compares the division of labour between three "knowing" stance question formats: declarative questions (DQ) and tag questions formulated by vä and jah. The research is based on language in its natural environment, thus illustrating how grammar is affected by the interaction. The data (303 questions) come from the Corpus of Spoken Estonian of the University of Tartu. Most of DQs are B-event statements but they are also used in the case when the speaker has forgotten the information which (s)he should have access to. DQs are used for requests for confirmation, other-repair initiations, and also initiations of the pre-second insert expansion. Some DQs contain inference markers and particles and adverbs which indicate different degree of certainty. We argue that in addition to the epistemic status of interactants, the previous context is crucial to for treating the declarative as a question. As a result, we propose a three-dimensional framework for declaratives, jah and vä questions. We show that questions differ in three scales: certainty – uncertainty, neutrality – affectivity and expectations for confirmation – non-confirmation as response. In all three scales, declarative questions are in between tag questions. If the questions occur in the same circumstances and implement the same social action, then declarative question is pragmatically unmarked format of the "knowing" stance questions. • Declarative is pragmatically unmarked form of the knowing stance questions. • Declarative, vä and jah 'yes' questions are used mostly as B-event questions. • All three variants are used to ask for confirmation and to initiate other-repair. • Vä questions highlight uncertainty and disbelief. • Jah questions express high expectations for confirmation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation focuses on how the tag questions are distributed in PRESEEASeville corpus (high and low sociolects) from a sociolinguistic point of view. These mechanisms allow the speaker to make sure that the contact with the interlocutor remains open and, at the same time, to show agreement, to confirm following or knowledge of what it is being reported. The results showed that the most employed form in Seville was ¿no?, along with other units which were halfused such as ¿eh?, ¿sabes?, ¿entiendes? and ¿vale?, or on a low frequency like ¿de acuerdo?, ¿um?, ¿verdad?, ¿ves?, ¿comprendes? and ¿me explico? The sociolinguistic analysis brought to light the influence that the educational level and age factors had over the distribution of these markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper investigates interviewer effects on speakers' use of full, reduced or coalesced variants of negative tags, e.g. it's a nice day , isn't it/int it/innit ? Using a corpus of North East English containing interviews with a range of participants and interviewers, I examine whether speakers use more phonetically-reduced variants when interviewed by someone who is more familiar to them and speaks a variety of English more similar to their own. Quantitative variationist analysis reveals that these interviewer effects do have an impact on the variation and apply in addition to linguistic and social constraints. When speakers use more full variants, this is characteristic of either a more careful speech style or, in some contexts, so-called "foreigner-directed speech", both of which typically have less lenition and contraction than the vernacular. The findings of this study emphasise that through proper consideration of the effects that interviewers have on the data they collect, we can gain a more comprehensive, reliable interpretation of linguistic variation. Highlights • The phonetic reduction of negative tags is subject to interviewer effects. • Speakers tend to use more reduced tags with an interviewer who speaks their dialect. • Speakers tend to use more reduced tags with an interviewer who is more familiar. • Negative tags are sociolinguistic markers, varying socially and stylistically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates whether textual enhancement had any effects on grammar learning (tag questions) and reading comprehension, and whether the types of tag question contributed to the benefits of textual enhancement. The study employed a pretest–posttest design with three treatment sessions. The target forms were English tag questions, which were grouped into three types: auxiliary (AUX), do-support (DO), and modal (MODAL). Participants were 69 Japanese high school students, who were assigned into three experimental groups (n = 52) and a control group (n = 17). The control group received unenhanced passages, whereas three experimental groups received passages, each of which included one of the target forms visually manipulated. To examine the effects of textual enhancement, the participants performed a multiple-choice grammar task consisting of 18 items. Reading comprehension was assessed using a 10-item multiple-choice test based on information from the passage. The results showed (1) that the effectiveness of textual enhancement on learning the target forms appeared in one enhanced group (Group 3) but it did not appear in the other two groups; (2) that textual enhancement did not detract from reading comprehension; and (3) that enhancing specific types of the target forms seemed to facilitate Group 3's learning, but did not have any effects for the other groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the comparison between two main models that have been developed within Systemic-Functional Linguistics to analyse the functions of utterances in dialogue. Topics include the speech functions of the English clause are coded by mood, polarity and modality; mentions the subset of tag questions (TQs) used to elicit knowledge or action; and also mentions data-based studies of TQs have noted that types of responses are indicative of the interactional meanings of TQs.

The present study examined whether young children show any particular bias in response to tag questions. In addition, the study investigated the effects of age and object familiarity on children’s accuracy of responses. A total of 137 3-6-year-old children were asked a set of 32 tag questions pertaining to the properties and functions of both familiar and unfamiliar objects. The results of the study showed that children display a strong yes bias in response to tag questions; however, children’s bias lessened as their age increased. In addition, children’s bias was more pronounced when answering questions about familiar objects. The findings suggest that tag questions carry suggestibility load and may mislead young children’s responses. The implications of study for forensic investigations and developmental studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the use of question tags in Trinidadian English. Using a variationist pragmatics approach and spoken material from the Trinidad and Tobago component of the International Corpus of English, we describe the distribution and pragmatic functions of variant and invariant tags across four text types. Variant question tags are rare in Trinidadian English, but a range of invariant question tags is present in the corpus. Tags serve a number of pragmatic functions, and can serve multiple functions simultaneously. Text type is a strong factor influencing the frequency of tag forms and functions, with tags associated with the local creole mainly found in informal text types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the use of tag questions in Italian conversation. We propose a classification of their discourse functions, and provide an account of their syntactic and discourse contexts. The data used are recordings of conversation in several settings: experimental game settings, a reality TV show, and TV and radio talk shows, for a total of 60.4 h. The analysis uncovered seven main functions, some of which do not conform to existing classifications in the literature. We explore the relationship between these functions and the conversational settings in which they are used, their placement within the utterance, and their relationship with asymmetries in participants’ leadership roles in specific settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Changing English' is a new feature in ELT journal which aims to illustrate the diversity of English in the world today and to ask whether, and how, ELT practitioners might accommodate such variation. Focusing on a particular language issue in each article, the series will explore how English varies between places and spaces, over time, and between groups of speakers, and will reflect upon the possible implications of this for ELT practitioners. The feature is edited by David Baker; David also provides our first article, which discusses 'tag questions' in English and in ELT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study, situated in the area of variational pragmatics, contrasts tag question (TQ) use in Ireland and Great Britain using spoken data from the Irish and British components of the International Corpus of English (ICE). Analysis is on the formal and functional level and also investigates formfunctional relationships. Findings reveal many similarities in the use of TQs across the varieties. They also point, however, to a lower use of TQs in Irish English and in a range of variety-preferential features on both the formal and functional levels. The paper shows how an in-depth analysis of form-function relations together with a fine-tuned investigation of sub-functions gives an insight into formal preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Unified functional framework for the tag question paradigm across languages. • Function-to-form correlations for eight types of invariable tag questions. • Grammatical, contextual and sociolinguistic information in English and Portuguese. • Multi-feature prediction models for invariable tags in English and Portuguese. • Formal and functional frequency counts for invariable tags in English and Portuguese. While research has mostly focused on the pragmatics of variable tag questions, fewer studies have explored invariable tags, either for their own sake or in contrast with other tag types within and across languages. It will be argued that invariable tag questions are as much part of the tag question system as variable tag questions, and that a unified functional model needs to consider both types in order to compare function-to-form mappings and reveal language variation, as well as the factors motivating their use. This study proposes one such model comprising eight functional types of tag questions, i.e., informational , affective , challenging , hortatory , facilitative , focusing , phatic and regulatory , in relation to four clusters of grammatical, dialogic, generic and sociolinguistic features. Based on the analysis of 539 invariable tag questions in British English and European Portuguese, results show that the constructions are more frequent and functionally varied in Portuguese (N = 397 vs. 142). In addition, based on statistical analyses, corresponding multi-feature prediction models are obtained for the proposed functional types of invariable tag questions in the two languages under inspection, thereby uncovering novel contributions to the pragmatics of invariable tag questions within the tag question paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In several (colloquial) varieties of English around the world, the tag question is reduced to a single generalized invariant tag ‘isn't it?’. This is used irrespective of the general structure and semantic content of the matrix or main, superordinate clause that embeds it. Linguists started debating seriously on the actual use of tag questions in English since the early 1960s and 70s. The debates then were particularly focused on the use of tags on (elliptical) imperatives, with many concluding that the auxiliary in the imperative main clause is an elliptical will that serves as the source of input for the tag that is appended (Katz & Postal, 1964; Postal, 1966). Arbini (1969) discussed the putative parallel between tag imperatives and tag questions, and other early discussions on tags include Bolinger (1967), Huddleston (1970), and Klima (1964). The present discussion looks to a different direction. As already implied, it focuses on the emergence of isn't it? as a generalized invariant tag. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Highlights: [•] The paper argues that sentential negativity is a graded notion. [•] The argument is based on a new experimental tool to diagnose negativity. [•] This experimental tool involves the formation of tag questions. [•] Both semantic and syntactic factors influence the negativity of a sentence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] A typology of all speech functions that tag questions can realize in English dialogue. [•] Based on conversation analysis features correlated with formal features. [•] Conversation analysis of A-/B-/AB-events, adjacency, position in turns, and responses. [•] First usage-based description of TQ speech functions incorporating systematic analysis of intonation and polarity patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a new categorization of confirmation-seeking question tags, based on how the use of such tags is restricted in relation to the preceding clause, the anchor. The focus is on a category labelled grammatically-dependent question tags (GDQTs). Earlier research has claimed that almost only English has such question tags, but this article presents and compares data on GDQTs from more than ten languages, and suggests a hierarchy for features of grammatical dependence in question tags: polarity < tense [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the effects of tag questions, hedges, and argument quality on receivers’ perceptions of a speaker, perceptions of message quality, cognitive responses, and attitude change. The results showed that tag questions and argument quality directly affected speaker and message quality perceptions and cognitive responses. They also interacted to directly affect perceptions of the speaker’s power and credibility. Mediational analyses also showed that tag questions and argument quality had indirect effects on attitude change. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the cognitive processing of and research on linguistic markers of powerlessness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we consider a collection of conversational practices that arise when a professional is faced with extended resistance to their offered advice. Our data is comprised of telephone calls to a UK child protection helpline. The practices we identify occur repeatedly across our corpus of advice resistance sequences and involve (1) the repackaging of resisted advice in more idiomatic form; (2) the combination of that advice with a tag question that treats the client as able to confirm the reformulated version despite their prior resistance to it; and (3) the dampening of the response requirement by continuing past the tag question, which would normally constitute a transition place for the advice recipient. We also discuss the tension between the contrasting projects of callers and call takers, which can lead to both delivery of advice and the resistance of that advice. In doing this we highlight the way in which advice may function as an element of broader institutional practices. In specifying these practices we draw upon analytic tools employed by conversation analysts, including various features of sequence organization (Schegloff 2007) and turn design (Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1974). The analysis is intended to contribute to three main areas of research: to the applied topic of managing advice resistance, to the growing literature on understanding institutional practices, and to broader concerns in conversation analytic and discursive psychological literature. These concerns include the status of the “psychological” in interaction and the specification of actions across turns and sequences of talk. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article illustrates how the notions of style and indexicality can illuminate understanding of the social meaning of a specific linguistic variable, the tag question. Drawing on conversational speech and ethnographic data from a community of high school girls in northwest England, it quantitatively and qualitatively examines the discourse, grammatical, and phonological design of tag questions in this community. Members of four social groups are shown to use tag questions to similar effect, as a means of conducing particular points of view. However, these groups also exhibit striking differences in the stylistic composition of tags, distinctions that indexically construct stances and personas, which may in turn come to represent group identity. These data suggest that the social meaning of tag questions can be best ascertained by examining their internal composition and by situating them in their broader discursive and social stylistic contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study charts the early history of canonical tag questions in English (e.g., It is cold, isn't it?) focusing on the sixteenth century and using drama texts as a source. By means of semi-automated retrieval from computerized sources, 136 instances were collected. They were then analyzed in context to ascertain polarity, choice of operator and subject, meter and authorship, and especially pragmatic functions. Even at this early stage, tag questions had functions beyond asking for confirmation, such as expressing speaker attitude, challenging an interlocutor, or issuing directives. Cautious comparisons are made with Present-day English conversational use. The importance of modal verbs and do-support for the emergence of canonical tag questions is discussed, but it is argued that the rise of not as the sole sentence negator in English is the most important single factor in the emergence of canonical tag questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Research in impression formation and persuasion has considered use of tag questions as part of a powerless speech style. However, little research has examined how contextual factors, such as characteristics of the communicator, moderates whether tag questions act “powerless”. The present study manipulated source credibility, tag question use, and argument quality. When the source was low in credibility, tag question use decreased persuasion and biased message processing relative to a control message. However, when the source was credible, tag questions increased message processing in a relatively objective manner. Therefore, it appears that tag questions can have different effects on information processing, depending on who uses the tag questions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This large-scale corpus study charts differences between British English and American English as regards the use of "canonical" tag questions such as "It's raining, isn't it?, It's not raining, is it?," or "It's raining, is it?" Several thousand instances of question tags were extracted from the British National Corpus and the Longman Spoken American Corpus, yielding nine times as many tag questions in colloquial British English as in colloquial American English (but also important register differences in British English). Polarity types and operators in tags also differ in the two varieties. Preliminary results concerning pragmatic functions point to a higher use of "facilitating" tags involving interlocutors in conversation in American English. Speaker age is important in both varieties, with older speakers using more canonical tag questions than younger speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the development of some features of morphosyntactic ability, specifically the acquisition of auxiliaries and use of agreement marking, along with sentence processing capacity. We used a conceptually simple task called the Tags Question Task, which is a method for evaluating a number of language processes in the production of a commonly used, familiar linguistic device. We compared the performance of children with early focal lesions (N=21), children with specific-language impairment (N=24), and typically developing children (N=24) matched in age and nonverbal ability; additional analyses involved comparisons of children matched on performance level. The data converge to support a “delayed” development of language behavior in our clinical groups, as overall patterns of performance and age-related changes on individual tag features and tag questions were strikingly similar in all three groups across a number of methods of comparison. Implications for theories of the development of brain–language relationships as they pertain to early focal brain damage, specific-language impairment, and the language acquisition process in typically developing children are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]