Discourse Markers And Beyond

This book explores the use of discourse markers - lexical items where drawing a distinction between propositional and non-propositional, syntactically-semantically integrated and discourse-pragmatic uses is especially relevant. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, descriptive and critical (CDA) perspectives, and manual annotation and automatized analyses, the author argues that Discourse Markers (DMs) cannot be effectively studied in isolation, but must instead be contextualised with reference to other discourse-pragmatic devices and their language and genre backgrounds. This book will be of interest to students and academics working in the fields of DM research and critical discourse studies, and will also appeal to scholars working in areas such as genre studies, second language acquisition (SLA), literary analysis, contemporary cinematography, Tolkien scholarship, and Bible studies.

CONTENTS:01 Introduction02 Modeling Language Change with Constructional Networks03 Cyclic Phenomena in the Evolution of Pragmatic Markers. Examples from Romance04 The Historical Path of eso sí as a Contrastive Connective05 Grammaticalization, Distance, Immediacy and Discourse Traditions: The Case of Portuguese caso06 Paragdimaticalization through Formal Ressemblance: A History of the Reinforcer bien in Spanish Discourse Markers07 New Challenges to the Theory of Grammaticalization. Evidence from the Rise of no obstante, no contrastante and no embargante08 The Evolution of Temporal Adverbs into Consecutive Connectives and the Role of Discourse Traditions: The Case of Italian allora and Spanish entonces09 Different Sensitivity to Variation and Change: Italian Pragmatic Marker dai vs. Discourse Marker allora 010 Insubordination, Abtoenung, and the Next Move in Interaction. Main-Clause-Initial puisque in French011 Paths of Grammaticalization: Beyond the LP/RP Debate 012 On Argumentative Relations in Spanish: Experimental Evidence on the Grammaticalization of Cause-Consequence Discourse Markers 0Index0.

A collection of papers on discourse markers in different languages, presented at the fifth conference of the International Pragmatics Association, Me×ico, in the summer of 1996.

Beyond Grammaticalization and Discourse Markers offers a comprehensive account of the most promising new directions in the field of grammaticalization. From major theoretical issues to hardly addressed experimental questions, this volume explores new ways to expand – or challenge – current ideas on grammaticalization.

While discourse markers have been examined in some detail, little is known about their usage by non-native speakers. This book provides valuable insights into the functions of four discourse markers (so, well, you know and like) in native and non-native English discourse, adding to both discourse marker literature and to studies in the pragmatics of learner language. It presents a thorough analysis on the basis of a substantial parallel corpus of spoken language. In this corpus, American students who are native speakers of English and German non-native speakers of English retell and discuss a silent movie. Each of the main chapters of the book is dedicated to one discourse marker, giving a detailed analysis of the functions this discourse marker fulfills in the corpus and a quantitative comparison between the two speaker groups. The book also develops a two-level model of discourse marker functions comprising a textual and an interactional level.

This book, situated within the framework of Comparative Interactional Linguistics, explores a family of fourteen discourse markers across the languages of Europe and beyond (Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, Polish, Romani, Estonian, Finnish, Upper Saxonian and Standard German, Dutch, Icelandic, and Swedish), arguing that they go back to one, possibly two, particles: NU/NÅ. Each chapter analyzes the use of one of the NU/NÅ family members in a particular language, usually on the basis of conversational data, feeding into a comprehensive chapter on the structure, function, and history of these particles. The approach taken in this volume broadens the functional linguistic concept of ‘structure’ to include the sequential positioning of the particles and their composition, and the concept of ‘function’ to include the conversational actions performed in interaction. Employing conversation analytic methodology thus enables a study of the ways these particles acquire meaning within certain sequential and action environments -- both cross-linguistically and with regard to the grammaticization of the particles. All this sheds light on the borrowing patterns of NU/NÅ across the languages. With contributions by Peter Auer, Galina B. Bolden, Gonen Dori-Hacohen, Andrea Golato, Harrie Mazeland, Auli Hakulinen, Helga Hilmisdóttir, Leelo Keevallik, Hanna Lehti-Eklund, Anna Lindström, Yael Maschler, Yaron Matras, Gertrud Reershemius, Mirja Saari, Lea Sawicki, Marja-Leena Sorjonen, Heidi Vepsäläinen and Matylda Weidner.

Discourse markers - the particles oh, well, now, then, you know and I mean, and the connectives so, because, and, but and or - perform important functions in conversation. Dr Schiffrin's approach is firmly interdisciplinary, within linguistics and sociology, and her rigourous analysis clearly demonstrates that neither the markers, nor the discourse within which they function, can be understood from one point of view alone, but only as an integration of structural, semantic, pragmatic, and social factors. The core of the book is a comparative analysis of markers within conversational discourse collected by Dr Schiffrin during sociolinguistic fieldwork. The study concludes that markers provide contextual coordinates which aid in the production and interpretation of coherent conversation at both local and global levels of organization. It raises a wide range of theoretical and methodological issues important to discourse analysis - including the relationship between meaning and use, the role of qualitative and quantitative analyses - and the insights it offers will be of particular value to readers confronting the very substantial problems presented by the search for a model of discourse which is based on what people actually say, mean, and do with words in everyday social interaction.

This volume provides new insights into the nature of the Early Modern English discourse markers marry, well and why through the analysis of three corpora (A Corpus of English Dialogues, 1560-1760, the Parsed Corpus of Early English Correspondence, and the Penn-Helsinki Parsed Corpus of Early Modern English). By combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches in the study of pragmatic markers, innovative findings are reached about their distribution throughout the period 1500-1760, their attestation in different speech-related text types as well as similarities and differences in their functions. Additionally, this work engages in a sociopragmatic study, based on the sociopragmatically annotated Drama Corpus of almost a quarter of a million words, to enhance our understanding about their use by characters of different social status and gender. This volume therefore constitutes an essential piece of the puzzle in our attempt to gain a full picture of discourse marker use.