pi
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Two old friends meet up again
Activity
English has a system of tags which speakers can put at the end of what they say. For example:
You're French, aren'tyovS He's coming tonight, is he?
What do you think these tags are for? Make notes and/or discuss with a partner why you think speakers use tags. Are there other types of tags apart from the two :. types in the examples above?
Speakers and setting
<S01> male (40s) <S 02> male (40s)
Two old friends who haven't seen each other for a few years are 'catching up' with each other. They are in a village pub garden on an exceptionally hot summer's evening, talking about <S 01 >'s children.
Transcript
1 <S0l>
2 <S 02> 3<S0I>
4 <S 02>
5 <S0l>
Are you still playing er
^-Gui-tar
Irish music, yeah
No I don't play very much now, no, not at all
ll thni ipht voi i wprp tni innp +h<=
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m
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w
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country at one point
[laughs] No, I er... we go, we listen to it quite a lot, every time we go to Ireland we erm, you know, sebk out good musicians and er do quite a lot of listening and of course we still buy a lot of recordSi bought a lot of records over the last few years, but erm, there's not actually anybody to play with around here, you know [<S 01 > mm] there's a there's a session every Sunday night in Cambridge in a pub and that's erm about it... do you still listen to Scottish music? Ver... since this pair have arrived [<S 02> mm] very very little, cos you just don't have the time, and with the new house, and with the garden [<S 02> Mm] occasionally I take fits of putting stuff on, not as much as before
They do i s'pose take up a lot of time, don't they, kids?
I-They take up a lot of, I mean, normally, you get, if you're lucky they're all tucked up in bed by eight-thirty [<S 02> mm]... that's if you're lucky, and then er Do they sleep all night without erm waking up, did they wake up last night, they didn't [<S 01 > no] did they, no, [<S 02> no] didn't hear a thing
Jamie normally, you put him in his cot and he's... he's gone [<S 02> mm] he sleeps he's very good at sleeping [<S 02> mm] Thomas is a bit of a pain [<S 02> ah] all sorts of things frighten him, you know [<S 02> yeah] wakes up with nightmares and that [<S 02> does he] yeah some nights we change beds about three or four times,'he comes into our bed arid there's not enough room and so I go into his bed and he comes back in so, to my bed and his bed and chopping and changing
It's extraordinary to think they have bad dreams, well, I suppose they dream of images they've seen during the day,, probably dream of that bloomin' duck or something
Or it just might be a car, noisy car going past the window or
something, wakes them up
Mm... it's going to be hot tonight... in bed, isn't it
Mm
• S.l.;5
Á       46 liYEAl      • i '■ ■
b      47 which hellhad for [dl:]. - diaPLO'maÍ - 48 the IIMAIŇ 'people! a    • 49 HON« -
b     ß<> and i supllposé they're 'doing, the Ásame ones this ayeari '51 and Ehen
you'd'have a awhole eVeňing {llbattiing Óni} I - — ?      52 «4 to 5 sylls» --
b     53 UncSb 5-t js¥ssioNSi • - 55 HseVeral 'sessions■ 56 on *||hominal* agroups
or something! 57 «thcn>> you can a      58 *|j,n]«* ■ >b     57 npick'iip'aii thejXRGONi. 59-and .. '..
a       60 IIYEAI - -     " '
, b      «i and then.sort of llget the 'häng of 'what they're atXlking agouti - 62 III. should Ask him {if there are any llseminars you Aought to go to!} i a     «IIyeai-. -.
b      «4 he llhas a'way of nhaving them at a ihorrible atÍmEi », ■
a       65 iiyea! •
C     66 (- laughs) like llfive fifateeni «7 *(laughs - - )* b      68 *like llfive* fifteen!-$9 when'youllwant.to goiHOMEl C     70 ( _ _ laughs)
b      71 lor iithen '[öe] «he llfound» 'last year! 72 that that llfive fifaTéen one! -73 IIclXshed« 74 with llthey llsome of them 'had phonetics or something ■ a/c  75 «[mhm]» -
b     76 and he llsaid wUlli - 77 llwhat a'bout 'half 'past seven! • a/c  78 ( - laughs)
>b .. 79 llwho cXn't'manage! 80 llhalf'past SEVEN! 81 and Hsomebody 'mumbled aSUPPERI 82 but llthat 'doesn't • wXsHI
a ' 83 lives i • VU^yfr^
c      84 ( - - laughs)--- , ,
b      85 and i llwent to aone of th6sei 86 it Blasted till asbout 'nine riFTEENl . 87 by llwhich 'everybody was 'absolutely *( -i laughs)* :,
a     88 *( • laughs)* - - - flYESl 89 well i Bmay get ASharp reaproof! 90 if i IIstXrt going to these 'things! 91 and said IIWELLi 92 I llcan't 'come 'Monday or atuesday evening! 93 cos - I IIsYngi 94 ( - *-* laughs)
b      95 ^uno quÍteí* 9« «but I mean)) I've dXlways "led! 97 Khat sort of lÍfei
a,c   98 ( - - laugh)--- ,
a      99 llwhat in 'fact did you aDOI 100 if you llhadn't 'done - [a:m] - 'English since - - *Č5-'LEVELI*
128' y^-:ŽM'-'r^iÚl'^
S.1.5
b *!!maths and* physics!
a      l°2 «they're llboth» anAaLYTIC!
b      103 ll[m]!'---104 but I've: liálways believed in 'having a 'sort of you knÓwi
_ _ _ ids Evenings! 106 fór (doing one's ahobbiesi • • a    . 107 iiyesi - 108 iiwell! - i"9 I lllike to .'do 'more than one! - - '10 IIThÍňGI;
«in myHlÍfe»!—-b      112 hi Afind 'this 'group's 'pretty adZdi'cated! l>3 and they sort of 1,'work all
*'day* .      '":    [.":■■'':" - •
a      114 *!iYl5si* . . >b      Il3'arid'work all. AŽveningi'"5 «well» III can't stXnd'that! ..:
' ? i«6|i[m)i---
•b.     I'.7 and llHart you've 'got to 'stand up ton i'8 «iihXven't youi»
a' •    l'9 IIYŽS!   I2" I've BgXtHERED,-THAT!  121 ALIlREADY! .   I22 *( '. laughs)*
. ?,,/    123 *( • laughs)*
b;    • 124 he's Hal ways Bl've never 'had I .adon't sup'pose ayOu've had any ■ trouble 'Jane «have you))!
c   • <25 jwell anÓi - 126. well phis 'manner aPapŽaled to me! • ." a" l27ll[m]!
b    •  128 Byes!  1» *«|I . i|I»s> ;■•
C-     '30 *I can lísce that* 'if you ad)dn'ti •   '31 **«[s] • get eon wilh ita»** •:b132 **«yes» HqÚÍteb '33Isome.people!**■ !34 [sm] IIBcryl• *mXrtin {for "'■
INSTANCE!} i*.
C     '35 *I should [think you "either 'love him or* AhXte **him«** b      '36. **it** II{WORRIED her} aTJsRRIBLY!. 137 -+ because + ;■ ;C;.   Í38-^ÍyŽs«+.; '. . ':/■;}■
> b      137 she used to ilcome in 'late in the MORNING! 139 and he'd say good
iXfter'noon l i4° IIbÉryl! - ,41 which Pused to 'make her Atcrribly     ■" ..worried! 142 and if you're ígóiňg to'come *in* l^TE! . a    ..!43:*;IYÍsi* 144 i yes i -      !i«1syll good evening -l-syll syll»i 146 «5 to 6 ■        sylls»+ •'..'••■<.■      -VV ■'        ;: -ři-^
b   . I47 +«llevery 'couple of months 2 syllsi»+ I48 [s] he fused to «say to . aGrXce.actually!')■■■ 149 [a:m] -.IIYOU know.GRÍcE! -'50 *(---phone rings)* . Bit    i?i .A<(»r.SYLL! •   '52 85 to 6 sylIs.;jÍLL!»*. ; a .•■   153 [a: 9:]
b       154 and he ii {used to sXy to her!}; 'where háve you been {if she was a llfew ":. minutes lXteiJ a
9 Corpus (29