Access to the WSJ article is by subscription only, so I couldn't read
it. I just don't have time to look at the Star article.

Does either article refer to the discourse function of 'like' as an
introducer of new information? If you listen carefully, when only one
'like' appears in a sentence, it often precedes the new information in
the sentence.  "My Mom has, like, a million pairs of shoes." I'm pretty
sure I've heard about research on this, but I haven't seen it directly.
I'll post a query to FUNKNET.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics 
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •      Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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