Datum 05/ conf/ fr 5

Datum 05/ conf/ fr 5

a. Data description Monica

: Thank you. So what does this Bob guy look like? Is he tall? Short?

: Which what?

Monica : You've never met Bob, have you?

Joey

: No, but he's—

Monica

: Oh my god, Joey, for all we know this guy could be horribly—

b. Context of situation

The conversation takes place in a fancy restaurant. Joey asks Monica to accompany him to have a dinner with Angela and Bob. Angela is Joey’s ex girlfriend and Bob is Angela’s new girl friend. Joey says to Monica that he will introduce her to Angela’s brother named Bob. But actually Bob is Angela’s new boyfriend after she breaks up with Joey. Joey and Monica come earlier than Angela. While waiting for them, Monica asks

Joey to give a short explanation about Bob. But from Joey’s answer Monica realizes that Joey lies to her. Therefore she delivers a confrontational tag to Joey.

c. Data interpretation.

The tag employed by Monica is a kind of tag which has confrontational function. The Tag in this exchange functions not to hedge but rather to strengthen the negative force of the utterance in which it occurs. Joey promises Monica to introduce her with Bob. Joey says that Bob is Angela’s brother (Angela is Joey’s ex girlfriend and Bob is Angela’s new boyfriend). Joey asks Monica to have a dinner with Angela and Bob in order to attract Bob’s attention because actually Joey wants to get Angela back. In the restaurant, while waiting for Angela and Bob’s coming, Monica asks Joey about the physical appearance of Bob. She asks whether Bob is tall or short. But Joey answers yep (yes). From that answer, Monica knows that Joey never meets Bob. Therefore she delivers a question tag to show her anger. This tag does not show uncertainty since Monica is sure that Joey never meets Bob.

The confrontational function can also be seen from the way Monica delivers tag question with a serious manner and a flat tone. It shows that Monica is angry with Joey because he lies to her. When he asks Monica to come with him, Joey says that Bob is interesting. But in the restaurant, when Monica asks the physical appearance of Bob, Joey answers yes. Joey’s answer is disappointed Monica. That is why she delivers a tag question in that way to show her quarrel toward Joey.

Here, the kind of tag question is influenced by the relationship between the speakers, the situation when the dialogue occurs. Monica and Joey have made friend since long time ago. Besides they live in the same apartment. Therefore their relationship is very close. Because of that, Monica feels that she does not need any formality in delivering her confrontational tag to Joey. Besides she thinks that she can show her anger toward Joey directly. The social status scale also influences the kind of tag which is used by Monica. Monica feels that she is in a superior position because she is in the right position because of Joey’s lying. She also feels that she is in a higher status than Joey. By this condition she thinks that she has the right to show her anger directly because she knows that Joey will not give any feedback to her. If Joey gives a feedback to her she can simply leave the restaurant and Joey will lose his chance to get Angela back. Joey realizes his weak position as he has lied to Monica so that he does not give any feedback to her. Finally he admits his fault but he also tries to convince Monica that Bob is not so bad.