Quotative be like in Trinidadian English

Deuber, Dagmar; Hänsel, Eva Canan; Westphal, Michael

Abstract

This paper studies the sociolinguistics of quotative be like in Trinidad and its relation to Trinidadian English Creole (TrinEC). Corpus evidence shows a significant association of be like use and young age as well as female gender, in line with global trends. Questionnaire data reveal that it does not detract from the perception of a speaker as educated and of high social status as long as utterances are grammatically standardized English (StE). TrinEC grammar triggers contrasting perceptions but the data also point to traditional social prejudice against TrinEC being transcended. This ties in with the finding that be like users tend not actually to be averse to using TrinEC. Overall the sociolinguistics of be like in Trinidad is shaped by global trends as well as the local sociolinguistic configuration.