<i>SORT OF</i> IN NEW ZEALAND WOMEN'S AND MEN'S SPEECH

Abstract

Sort of is a syntactically flexible pragmatic particle serving a variety of functions in conversation. At a general level sort of functions as a device facilitating the smooth flow of the discourse, providing the speaker with verbal planning time. At a more specific level it serves both as an imprecision or approximation signal (epistemic modal meaning) and as an informality and solidarity marker (affective meaning). Differences in the distribution of sort of in different corpuses relate most obviously to the context and type of discourse in which participants are engaged. There were few differences between New Zealand women's and men's speech in the total proportions of sort of used, though in semi‐formal contexts it was addressed more often to women than to men.