発話における引用表現be like の機能について

Since the relatively“new”quotative expression be like was first recognized during the 1980s, it has been used by a great number of English speakers in many English-speaking countries. This expression has a function of an introductory item for reported speech, internal thought, non-speech sound, facial expressions and body language. After doing a brief survey of the state of using it and its cognitive meaning, we will examine how this quotative be like is used in conversation and why a speaker tends to choose this expression to introduce a quotation instead of using the more traditional form as say. The present findings indicate that be like has both of the advantages of direct reported speech and indirect reported speech as far as participants in conversation are concerned