Like, what is the meaning of "like"?
Position | Language |
Muffy Siegel, professor of linguistics, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa., has cracked a 20-year-old code, and, in doing so, has defined a word that will begin to translate the foreign language teens use. Siegel has, like, defined the word "like."
"`Like' has no part of speech, nor does it have any grammatical purpose in a sentence" she points out. "Yet, it has developed meaning and purpose. And it has nothing to do with a lack of intelligence in the speaker." Siegel's study of "like," which involved hours of actually trying to understand what teenagers were saying, focused on how they use the word as a filler in conversations. Scholars have looked into other uses for "like," from qualifying the strength of a direct statement to the beatnik, "Like, wow, man" to its replacement of the word "said" in sentences such as "She was like, `Get out of here.'"
"It can also imply upcoming exaggeration or uncertainty" notes Siegel, "or be used during discussions on material the speaker might feel insecure about. It's more than just a way to hesitate when you speak, like `um' or `ah'. It implies to the listener, particularly listeners within your circle, that what you are about to say might not be as clear and specific as possible. `Like' has an important effect on meaning. For instance, `like six' doesn't mean the same as `six' or even `about six.'"
It was Siegers daughter, then 13, who introduced the word into her grammar, and thus sparked curiosity about the unorthodox way it seemed to communicate so much. Her daughter defines it as "like, no part of speech. What I'm about to say is the best way I can come up with to word what I want to say, but I'm not really sure it's exactly right."
In her study, Siegel had a student interview 23 fellow honors students from a suburban Philadelphia high school who were...
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