“All us girls were like euuh!”: Conversational work of be like in New Zealand adolescent talk

The prolific use of vernacular like in the speech of teenagers in New Zealand
(and abroad) has stimulated some debate concerning the efficacy and
desirability of its various forms. Sociolinguists have traced the origin and
development of one form (i.e. be like as a quotative marker), convincingly
demonstrating that it is put to systematic use by speakers. The contribution of
the present study is to examine the deployment of quotative be like as a
meaningful resource during talk in interaction. The data have been taken
from recordings of classroom sexuality-education activities in a Year 12 (age
16) Health programme in New Zealand. Participants deploy be like as a
resource for the management of conversation, using it to frame their
contributions as versions of opinions which are up for analysis. Be like
stimulates collaboration and/or evaluation from the other participants, and
after debate the original version can be modified or retracted without fear of
censure. Concurrently be like enables rapport management, allowing for face
work and the fulfilling of role-based responsibilities while speakers pursue
the transactional goals of a sexuality-focused lesson. It is not clear, from these
data, whether these are the primary interactional functions of be like or merely
two functions amongst many. However, these findings demonstrate that be
like is a means to social and communicative ends for these adolescent speakers
of English, adding to a factual knowledge base about vernacular like which
can critically inform value judgments about its desirability.