Speakers: Courtney, female, 17, Jamaican; Aimee, female, 19, Jamaican
Background
Courtney and Aimee are two girls whose families are from Jamaica. Courtney is 17 and Aimee is 19. Both live in inner London. In this short extract Courtney tells a short narrative about how she met her current boyfriend. Both girls think it is a funny story. Although short, the extract illustrates several typical aspects of narrative structure. It also shows how friends collaborate in making sure that the listener understands the point of the story. Courtney uses two features (preposition absence and a bare infinitive after TRY) that are recent developments in spoken English.
Resources
Transcript
Discussion points
Audio: You can download the sound clip using the embedded player below. The download button is in the top right of the player window.
Linguistics Research Digest links
“Help!” and infinitive markers