Quotative marking in modern English is a highly dynamic domain which has been undergoing
progressive expansion with newcomer variants notably quotative be like entering the scene
and restructuring the entire system. Given that this feature is being put foward by the younger
generation in native-speaker communities the crucial question is How do younger speakers
living in different parts of the non-Anglophone world appropriate this feature in their L2
English? This volume tackles this question by exploring the sociolinguistic mechanisms guiding
the adoption of the newcomer be like by young adults speaking English as a second and as a
foreign language. In so doing it also explores the role of sociolinguistic salience and
language attitudes in the process of adaptation of global linguistic innovations.
