The Functions of IMean in Adolescent Spoken Discourse

◆张 莉

(中原工学院外国语学院)

1 Introduction

Discourse markers are such expressions that typically connect two segments of discourse but do not contribute to the meaning of either，such as indicating a change in the direction of the discourse，or signaling the speaker＇s stance towards what has been said.The discourse marker I meanhas received a great deal of attention in recent years.In previous studies，it＇s functions have been accounted especially in comparison with the use of discourse marker you know by Tree and Schrock(2002);Deborah Schiffrin(2007)in her book Discourse Markers etc.

The overall aim of this paper is to answer the question addressed:What are the functions of pragmatic discourse—— I mean in adolescent spoken discourse?

2 The multifunctions of I mean by B.Erman

Pragmatic marker I meanfunctions within the participation framework of talk and puts emphasis on the speaker，concentrating on the explanation of the prior information.Besides，italso has relevance for interaction and information state.Based mainly on B Erman＇s(2001)theory，this part will analyze the multifunctions of I meanin three domains of text-monitors，social monitors and metalinguistic monitors.

Textual monitors include structuring discourse and editing discourse.Structuring discourses help the interpretation of the message in the thematic structure and act as cohesive devices between sets of propositions at the textual level，such as prefacingexplanation of intention guiding listeners＇better and clearer understanding of the prior information，correcting or modifying previous discourse.Working as editing discourse marker，itmarks inserts of parenthetic comments on the assumption that addressee needs to know for the sake of being able to followor transitions between direct and reported speech.Besides，it also plays the role ofstalling time and furthermore for the continuation of the discourse.Repair markers are used when the speaker stops in mid-structure to make a restart.

Social monitors are usually used to fulfill social functions for the sake of politeness.I mean could be usedfor turning-taking and turning-yielding.It is also used for comprehension-securing

As Metalinguistic monitors，Imeancould be used to strengthen the speaker＇s commitment to an individual claim，emphasizing the speaker＇s authority.The speaker could also use it tomakeits message relatively rough but objective.

3 Data and Tool

The data this studyis based on is COLT(Corpus of London Teenager Language).It consistsof the spoken language of 13 to 17-year-old teenagers from different boroughs of London.The tool used to extract data and get statistics is AntConc 3.2.0w.

4 The analysis of the functions of I Meanin COLT

In this part，some statistics based on COLT will be considered in order to show the features of adolescent spoken discourse.

4.1 Positions of I meanin the discourse

Key in"I mean.""I mean?""I mean!""I mean..."and"I mean""?I mean""!Imean""...Imean"respectively the statistics of Imean occurs at the initial of the sentence and in the final of the sentence will be presented by concordance hits.

The statisticsshows that I meanis more often used in the middle of speakingturn discourse which accounts for almost two thirds of the total number.WhileI meanis least used at the final of the speaking-turn discourse which is only 10.9%.

4.2 The functionsofI meanoccurring at the final positionin COLT

Key in"I mean.""I mean?""I mean!""mean..."and the concordance lines with I mean occurring at the final position of the sentenceare extracted.

"You know what I mean”or similar expressionsin COLT are mostly used for the organization of the discourse.

e.g.Think what she＇s gonna say，do you know what I mean?Let＇s do that.

They are also used to securecomprehension.

e.g.A:I mean we should be able to go home.you know what I mean?

B:Yeah

"...I mean"is used for emphasis.

e.g.Can you just imagine it seriously I mean?

"I mean..."is used to indicatepause.

e.g.No because I mean...

4.3 The clusters of I mean most frequently used in COLT

By means of cluster，the structures of I mean most frequently used in COLT come out.

First，but I mean indicates that itoften introduces information different from the previous message prior.Second，You know what I mean plays the functions of thecohesive deviceand securing the comprehension.Third，Imean likecan be used at either the initial or the end，or in the middle of the sentence，expressing ideas in relatively rough but objective way.Fourth，I mean it＇s……indicates that it could function as stance marker，expressing the speaker＇s point of view and the objectives are mostly non-human objects.Fifth，in the structure Imean(，)you know，You know after Imean plays the role of further hesitation marker.Sixth，I mean if can either be used by the speaker to give further information thus to guide listeners to better understand the message or used to seize the turn to talk.Seventh，I mean that is typical in the aspect that"that"here is mostly pronoun referring to the objects，but not the relative pronoun which introduces the attributive clause.

5 Conclusion

The overall aim of this paper was to analyze the multifunctions of pragmatic markerI mean in adolescent spoken talk based on COLT.Itfunctions differently in terms of three domains-textual domain，social domain and metalinguistic domain.Based on COLT，most of its functions are exemplified and supported with statistics，through which the typical features of I meanare presented.In most cases，young speakers using it to get across their message as quickly as possible rather than worrying about its linguistic form.