Resources for negotiation in conversation: tag cuestions in Chilean Spanish

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to present the results of an investigation about functioning of tag questions in oral corpus of Chilean Spanish from a systemic-functional language perspective. The categories of interpersonal analysis are derived from the semantic-discursive and lexical-grammatical strata. In the meaning stratum, the speech function and the semiotic commodity have been considered, while in the coding stratum, the clause modes and the location of the tag question in the clause have been considered. It is concluded that the tag question is a productive resource for the expression of interpersonal meanings in all speech functions. It is mostly integrated in moves that fulfill the role of "give", while the main subject of negotiation is 'information'. Within the mood system, they are mostly integrated in final position of declarative clauses and to a lesser extent in imperative and interrogative clauses.