Prace komisji nauk.pdf - Instytut Filologii Angielskiej Uniwersytetu ...

aforementioned conclusions could have been caused by the research subjects
being too diverse, i.e., belonging to various age and social groups, and also by
the fact that the studies were conducted in different context and settings.
It was not until 1984 when Janet Holmes accounted for the contextual
divergence of tag questions in gendered speech by distinguishing the two
functions they may serve (this was further developed in 1995). Depending on
the person the tag is oriented towards, it is possible to discern modal and
affective tags. The former, also known as epistemic tags (Holmes 1995: 80),
concentrate on the addresser and highlight the speaker’s uncertainty and express
the need for information and confirmation of the knowledge, such as:
husband and wife at a dinner table
John: Fay Weldon’s lecture is at eight, isn’t it?
Pam: Yeah.
John: That’s good/it was just that Max seemed to think it started at
7.30 (Holmes 1998: 466, emphasis mine)
Affective tags, conversely, are described as addressee-oriented and focus
on the emotions of the listeners. Janet Holmes (1984a: 153-154, 1984b: 54)
subdivides this group of tags into facilitative and softening, and later (1995: 80-
81) distinguishes the challenging tags.
Facilitative tags serve a function of an invitation, which ought to
encourage the interactant to participate in the encounter. Moreover, they express
solidarity and cause the listener to become an active member of the interaction,
for example:
to a guest at a dinner party
You’ve got a new job Tom, haven’t you?
Mrs Short: Here’s a pretty one, what’s this one called, Simon?
Simon: mm/erm [3 sec pause]
Mrs Short: See its tail / look at its tail // it’s a fantail, isn’t it?
Simon: mm a fantail.
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