ABSTRACT
As Cheshire (1987, 1999, 2005) has noted repeatedly, the suggestion that syntactic variables tend to have fixed social meanings is based on a limited analysis of a limited set of variables. These variables typically exist at the morphological end of the morphosyntactic continuum. However, recent interest in the syntax-pragmatics interface is transforming what it means to talk about the social meanings of syntax. This chapter adds to this emerging field of research with an empirical analysis of a more ‘purely’ syntactic phenomenon, right dislocation (RD). An analysis of the pragmatic function of RD, its distribution by social group, subject type and verb processes, suggests that the precise grammatical environment is central to RD’s social meaning – such that certain conditions (e.g., the pronoun type of the tag) attenuate or intensify the levels of face threat and subsequent social meanings it can communicate. Consequently, in addition to exploring Cheshire’s (2005:99) claim that one factor affecting the use of syntactic variation “is quite simply, what speakers choose to talk about”, the analysis also demonstrates that syntactic variables are able to carry quite nuanced social meanings. Furthermore, it argues that this social meaning is located at the intersection of pragmatic function, social distribution, and grammatical formulation.
