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A repost of my question：）

I am a Chinese student who studies linguistics. My BA thesis is about the usage of "be like"(non-finite form of "be") followed by a meme. E.g., enter image description here

such "be like" structure is used commonly between Chinese young people, too. I have seen some relevant discussions in this website, and I know the "be" here has something to do with AAE (American African English). But I wonder how does this usage become popular——I mean, the invibrant "be like" is used before a meme, while finite "is/was like" and so on are more commonly used as quotative markers. Or, can "be like" replace "is/was" like in spoken English? Does that happen in daily conversation? I am searching for papers about it, only to find them scarce. I will be delightful if you can give me some help.

Laurel
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Chessa
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    I’m voting to close this question because this is a specific question about [elu.se] –  Jan 08 '24 at 10:09
  • So sorry for that. I haven't found the way to delete it. I posted it as a guest. Give me some time:) – Chessa Jan 08 '24 at 10:16
  • Hi I finally log in but I posted the both questions as a guest (cuz my gmail was somehow blocked). Although I sign up and log in now I cannot delete any one. So sorry for that. But can any one tell me how to decide whether a question should be posted here or in the English Language& Usage page? I will pay attention to that later. I cannot comment in that page now as it needs 50 reputation I dont know what is that. – Chessa Jan 08 '24 at 15:28
  • Black English is called AAVE. African-American Vernacular English [quotation marks] Please give us some examples of what you actually mean. To be and to be like [something] are not the same thing. – Lambie Jan 08 '24 at 16:05
  • Welcome to the site! Users can't migrate questions from one site to another, but moderators can, so that's what I'm going to do now. I think you'll get better results on the English site. – Draconis Jan 08 '24 at 17:03
  • Please merge your accounts. – Laurel Jan 08 '24 at 17:08

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