Discourse variation,grammaticalisation and stuff like that1

General extenders (such as and stuff) are analysed here in the speech of adolescents from three English towns. There were no consistent patterns of gender or social class variation in their use, but a clear social class difference in the use of certain forms, with and that favoured by the working‐class speakers and and stuff and and things preferred by the middle‐class adolescents. The most frequent forms were analysed in terms of phonetic reduction, decategorisation, semantic change and pragmatic shift, changes that together make up the process of grammaticalisation. And that and and everything were the most grammaticalised, followed by or something, with and stuff and and things lagging behind. The multifunctionality of the general extenders caused problems for a rigorous analysis of their pragmatic functions. The paper argues that we must consider their functions within the local contexts in which they occur, to take account of their interaction with other linguistic forms. It is also important to avoid generalising about their functions and, instead, to prioritise the fact that as pragmatic particles they are multifunctional. In this data the general extenders had functions in every communicative domain, often simultaneously. The implications for the quantitative analysis of discourse forms are also considered.