Tag questions as intersubjective stance markers

Abstract

In this paper we analyse tag questions yes? and no? as Intersubjective Stance markers in casual conversation. We consider that the elements studied can have different functions in discourse, and can contribute to the adoption of a certain intersubjective stance, according to the speaker's communicative needs. The theoretical framework adopted for the research is appraisal theory. We carry out a qualitative analysis of the corpus with the purpose of classifying the confirming tags occurring in the corpus, establishing whether they contribute to the adoption of a particular Intersubjective Stance, finding similarities and differences in the way these questions function in the different generic fragments embedded in the conversations.