Declarative constant polarity tag questions: A data-driven analysis of their form, meaning and attitudinal uses

This paper is concerned with declarative constant polarity tag questions (henceforth DCPTQs). The form of a DCPTQ consists of a declarative host clause followed by a tag with the same polarity, as illustrated by the following example: He's fully fit, is he?. I will argue that DCPTQs as a subtype of constant polarity tag questions (henceforth CPTQs) are not an erratic exception to the system of reverse polarity tag questions, e.g. She's pretty, isn’t she?, but are part of the tag question system. In this paper, I will focus on DCPTQs with positive polarity and discuss their form, semantics and main types of contextual uses. For their meaning, I will begin with McGregor's interpersonal characterization of the general function of CPTQs viz. modalizing the proposition in the host clause and soliciting response. I will then show that the DCPTQ also fulfils more specific functions and is able to express a number of attitudes towards the proposition and the interlocutor. These attitudes link up with different distributional patterns of personal pronouns and auxiliaries in the tag, with specific particles, different intonation contours in the DCPTQ, and with varying responses to the tag question.