You Know as a Stance Marker of Engagement

Abstract

Functional linguistics has explored the question of how communicative functions are reflected in the use of language. In this line of research, the present study attempts to characterize you know, which has been treated as a discourse marker, by investigating its communicative functions in conversation in terms of stance-taking and engagement from the perspectives of discourse-pragmatic, interactional linguistics and systemic functional linguistics. This research starts with the assumption that conversation is basically a joint activity between speaker and hearer in attaining equilibrium in the sharedness of information about states or events being talked about. Based on this assumption, this study examines English conversations, claiming that you know is a speaker-oriented stance marker which is closely related to speaker’s attitude in dealing with knowledge or information states of the objects or events being discussed. Second, this research shows that interactional functions of you know can be summarized as in the following: (i) seeking confirmation, (ii) getting attention, (iii) stalling for word search, (iv) indicating repair, and (v) providing additional information. In sum, this research shows that the functions of you know can better be characterized in interactional contexts in terms of stance- taking and engagement in the process of sharing information.