Re: CHAT: ...y'know

Kristian Jensen wrote:
>
> Speaking of discourse markers, I was watching TV the other day and
> this American on TV habitually kept on using "y'know" here and there
> in a sentence. That made me wonder, what purpose does this repeated
> use of "y'know" have? Is it some kind of particle or marker?
Well, it's basically, like, a space filler, y'know?  Basically, what I'm
tryin' to say is it, like, has no actual meaning, y'know?  It can also,
like, be used to, like, seek the other person's, like, approval or
whatever, y'know?  Sometimes it, like, has a meaning, when, like, you
say it at the end of your bit, like:

"... it's just gotten me really stressed, y'know?"
"Yeah, I can understand"

There you'd be saying "do you understand/symapthize/agree?" depending on
context.

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