Questions, questions!

Several months ago, while waiting for my morning coffee, I heard a woman nearby say on her phone 

Are you still in bed, are you?

It’s certainly clear, but it’s not a standard question structure. We can easily have

You’re still where? 
You’re still in bed?
Are you still in bed?
You’re still in bed, aren’t you?
You’re not/You aren’t still in bed, are you?

and possibly

You’re still in bed, are you?

but not 

You’re not/You aren’t still in bed, aren’t you?

Are you still in bed, are you? combines two question structures, yes/no and tag (which is a bit confusing, because tag questions also require yes or no for an answer). Yes/no questions are usually used when the speaker doesn’t know the answer, and wants the listener to tell them. Tag questions are usually used when the speaker thinks they know the answer, and want the listener to confirm it. They are complicated by the opposite polarity of the statement part and the tag part and by the upward or downward inflection of the tag part. The woman’s question was the combination of two different structures performing two different questioning functions. 

As an ESL teacher, I have found that second language learners generally struggle with tag questions (probably because there’s a negative in there somewhere), so I tried not to use that structure much. As a legal editor, I have encountered exchanges such as:

Counsel: When you went to the doctor’s that day, you didn’t tell him about the workplace accident, did you?
Claimant: (vehemently) No! [Thinks: “I disagree with your assertion because I did tell him about the accident.”]
Counsel: [Thinks: “He means, ‘No, I didn’t tell him about the accident’.”.]

Compare 

Counsel: When you went to the doctor’s that day, you didn’t tell him about the workplace accident, did you?
Claimant: (flatly) No …

I assume that the person the woman was talking to was still in bed. 

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