다중담화표지 ‘you know I mean’의 기능에 대한 고찰

Abstract

Discourse markers are typically viewed as terms that signal the relationship between two consecutive sentences in English. While the study of individual discourse markers has garnered significant attention, research on combined discourse markers remains limited. This study investigates the meanings and functions of the combined discourse marker ‘you know I mean’ in spoken English, utilizing the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). Analysis reveals that ‘you know I mean’ serves ten distinct functions: explanation, elaboration, seeking agreement, contrast, giving examples, emphasis, indicating shared knowledge, hesitation, topic shift, and summarization. The findings demonstrate that ‘you know I mean’ can perform the same functions as ‘you know’ and ‘I mean,’ while also presenting unique meanings and functions.