Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Vol. 36:2 (2021) ► pp.264–297

The discourse marker ale in Bislama oral narratives

| Aristotle University of Thessaloniki , Greece
| James Cook University , Australia

This study takes us to the South Pacific and concentrates on Bislama, one of the dialects of Melanesian pidgin (Siegel 2008: 4) and one of the official languages of Vanuatu. We take a discourse analysis perspective to map out the functions of ale, a conspicuous discourse marker in conversations and narratives. Using Labov & Waletzky (1967) model, we analyze the use of ale in narratives from the book Big Wok: Storian blong Wol Wo Tu long Vanuatu (Lindstrom & Gwero 1998) and determine that ale is a discourse marker which indicates temporal sequence and consequence, frames speech reports and closes a digression. We conclude our study by considering a possible historical development of ale. We map out how French allez could have become Bislama ale using imposition and functional transfer (Siegel 2008; Winford 2013a) of vernacular discourse markers (such as go in Nguna).

Keywords: Bislama, Vanuatu, discourse marker, narrative analysis, functional transfer, imposition
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Discourse markers: A roadmap
  • 2.Data and methods
    • 2.1The corpus, the cohort
    • 2.2The method
    • 2.3Bislama in a nutshell
  • 3. Ale in spoken Bislama
    • 3.1Prosodic properties of ale
    • 3.2Functions of the connective ale
    • 3.3More than a simple connective
      • 3.3.1Framing ale
      • 3.3.2Resumptive ale
    • 3.4Interim summary
  • 4. Allez! and Ale
    • 4.1 Allez!
    • 4.2 Ale as ‘encouragement to act’
    • 4.3From allez to ale
    • 4.4Imposition
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 14 January 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.00076.alv
References
Athanasiadou, Angeliki & René Dirven
1997 Conditionality, hypotheticality, counterfactuality. In Angeliki Athanasiadou & René Dirven (eds.), On conditionals again, 61–96. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bange, Pierre
1989 Constitution of relationships as a factor in interactive coherence. In Wolfgang Heydrich, Fritz Neubauer, János S. Petöfi & Emel Sözer (eds.), Connexity and coherence: Analysis of text and discourse, 305–323. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blakemore, Diane
2002 Relevance and linguistic meaning: The semantics and pragmatics of discourse markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boersma, Paul & David Weenink
2019 Praat: Doing phonetics by computer. Computer program, version 6.0.46. [URL], accessed 2019-1-3.
Bolden, Galina
2009 Implementing incipient actions: The discourse marker ‘so’ in English conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 41(5). 974–998. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bollée, Annegret
1977 Le créole français des Seychelles: Esquisse d’une grammaire, textes, vocabulaire. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bourdin, Philippe
2008 On the grammaticalization of ‘come’ and ‘go’ into markers of textual connectivity. In María José López-Couso & Elena Seoane (eds.), Rethinking grammaticalization: New perspectives, 37–60. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brinton, Laurel J.
1996 Pragmatic markers in English: Grammaticalization and discourse functions. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bruyn, Adrienne
2009 Grammaticalization in creoles: Ordinary and not-so-ordinary cases. Studies in Language 33(2). 312–337. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bybee, Joan & Paul J. Hopper
2001 Frequency and the emergence of linguistic structure. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chafe, Wallace
1986 Beyond bartlett: Narratives and remembering. Poetics 15(1–2). 139–151. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1994 Discourse, consciousness and time. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Clift, Rebecca & Elizabeth Holt
2007 Introduction. In Elizabeth Holt & Rebecca Clift (eds.), Reporting talk: Reported speech in interaction, 1–15. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Coetsem, Frans van
1988 Loan word phonology and the two transfer types in language contact. Dordrecht: Foris. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Couper-Kuhlen, Εlizabeth & Margret Selting
2018 Interactional linguistics: Studying language in social interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Crible, Ludivine & Elena Sanz Pascual
2020 Combinations of discourse markers with repairs and repetitions in English, French and Spanish. Journal of Pragmatics 1561. 54–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Crowley, Terry
1989 ‘Say, c’est, and subordinate constructions in Melanesian Pidgin’. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 4(2). 185–210. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1990 Beach-la-mar to Bislama: The emergence of a national language of Vanuatu. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
2004 Bislama Reference Grammar. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
Dancygier, Barbara & Eve Sweetser
1997  Then in conditional constructions. Cognitive Linguistics 8(2). 109–136. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
De Fina, Anna & Alexandra Georgakopoulou
2011 Analyzing narrative: Discourse and sociolinguistic perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Escure, Geneviève
1993 Focus, topic particles and discourse markers in the Belizean Creole continuum. In Francis Byrne & Donald Winford (eds.), Focus and grammatical relations in creole languages: Papers from the University of Chicago Conference on focus and grammatical relations in creole languages, 233–247. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ferrara, Kathleen W.
1997 Form and function of the discourse marker anyway: Implications for discourse analysis. Linguistics 35(2). 343–378. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fischer, Kerstin
(ed.) 2006a Approaches to discourse particles. Amsterdam: Elsevier. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006b Frames, constructions, and invariant meanings: Τhe functional polysemy of discourse particles. In Kerstin Fischer (ed.), Approaches to discourse particles, 427–447. Amsterdam: Elsevier. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fraser, Bruce
1999 What are discourse markers? Journal of Pragmatics 31(7). 931–952. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gardner, Rod
2001 When listeners talk: Response tokens and listener stance. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Georger, Fabrice
2011 Créole et français à La Réunion: une cohabitation complexe. Ph.D. Thesis: Université de la Réunion.
Goffman, Erving
1981 Forms of talk. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
González, Montserrat
2004 Pragmatic markers in oral narrative: The case of English and Catalan. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, Charles
1986 Audience diversity, participation and interpretation. Text 6(3). 283–316.Google Scholar
Goss, Emily & Joseph Salmons
2000 The evolution of a bilingual discourse marking system: Modal particles and English markers in German-American dialects. International Journal of Bilingualism 4(4). 469–484. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guérin, Valérie
2006 Documentation of Mavea. Endangered Languages Archive. [URL]
Guerin, Valerie & Angeliki Alvanoudi
2022 The role of ale in Mavea narratives. Oceanic Linguistics 61(1).Google Scholar
Günthner, Susanne
2000 From concessive connector to discourse marker: The use of ‘obwohl’ in everyday German interaction. In Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen & Bernd Kortmann (eds.), Cause, condition, concession, contrast, 439–468. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. & Ruqaiya Hasan
1976 Cohesion in English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Heine, Bernd & Tania Kuteva
2002 World lexicon of grammaticalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2003 On contact-induced grammaticalization. Studies in Language 27(3). 529–572. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Henri, Agnès
2011 Le sungwadia. Éléments de description d’une langue du Vanuatu. Louvain: Peeters.Google Scholar
Heritage, John & Marja-Leena Sorjonen
(eds.) 2018 Between turn and sequence: Turn-Initial particles across languages. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holm, Johh
2000 An introduction to pidgins and creoles. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jefferson, Gail
2004 Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In Gene H. Lerner (ed.), Conversation analysis: Studies from the first generation, 13–31. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara
2016 Oral versions of personal experience: Labovian narrative analysis and its uptake. Journal of Sociolinguistics 20(4). 542–560. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jucker, Andreas H. & Yael Ziv
(eds.) 1998 Discourse markers: Descriptions and theory. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Labov, William
1972 Language in the inner city. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
1981 Speech actions and reactions in personal narrative. In Deborah Tannen (ed.), Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1981, 219–247. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
1997 Some further steps in narrative analysis. Journal of Narrative and Life History 7(1–4). 395–415. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Labov, William & Joshua Waletzky
1967 Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience. In June Helm (ed.), Essays on the verbal and visual arts: Proceedings of the 1966 annual spring meeting of the American Ethnological Society, 12–44. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Lefebvre, Claire
2004 Issues in the study of pidgin and creole languages. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lenk, Uta
1998 Marking discourse coherence: Functions of discourse markers in spoken English. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Lerner, Gene H.
1992 Assisted storytelling: Deploying shared knowledge as a practical matter. Qualitative Sociology 15(3). 247–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Levinson, Stephen C.
2000 Presumptive meanings: The theory of generalized conversational implicature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lindenfeld, Jacqueline
1990 Speech and sociability at French urban marketplaces. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lindstrom, Lamont
2011 Big Wok: The Vanuatu Cultural Centre’s World War Two Ethnohistory Project. In John Taylor & Nick Thieberger (eds.), Working together in Vanuatu: Research histories, collaborations, projects and reflections, 43–57. ANU Press [URL]. DOI logo
Lindstrom, Lamont & James Gwero
(eds.) 1998 Big Wok: Storian blong Wol Wo Tu long Vanuatu. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific; Christchurch: Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury.Google Scholar
Maschler, Yael
1994 Metalanguaging and discourse markers in bilingual conversation. Language in Society 23(3). 325–366. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Metalanguage in interaction: Hebrew discourse markers. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meyerhoff, Miriam
2000 Constraints on null subjects in Bislama (Vanuatu): Social and linguistic factors. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar
2002a Formal and cultural constraints on optional objects in Bislama. Language Variation and Change 14(3). 323–346. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2002b All the same? The emergence of complementizers in Bislama. In Tom Güldemann & Manfred von Roncador (eds.), Reported discourse: A meeting ground for different linguistic domains, 341–362. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Migge, Bettina
2020 Broadening creole studies: From grammar towards discourse. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 35(1). 160–177. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mühleisen, Susanne
2011 Forms of address and ambiguity in Caribbean English-lexicon Creoles: Strategic interactions in a postcolonial setting. Journal of Pragmatics 43(6). 1460–1471. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norrick, Νeal R.
1998 Retelling stories in spontaneous conversation. Discourse Processes 25(1). 75–97. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norrick, Neal R.
2000 Conversational narrative: Storytelling in everyday talk. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norrick, Νeal R.
2001 Discourse markers in oral narrative. Journal of Pragmatics 331. 849–878. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Norrick, Neal R.
2009 Interjections as pragmatic markers. Journal of Pragmatics 41(5). 866–891. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Plag, Ingo
2002 On the role of grammaticalization in creolization. In Glenn G. Gilbert (ed.), Pidgin and creole linguistics in the twenty-first century, 229–246. New York: Lang.Google Scholar
Sacks, Harvey
1974 An analysis of the course of a joke’s telling. In Rirchard Bauman & Joel Sherzer (eds.), Explorations in the ethnography of speaking, 337–353. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sankoff, Gillian & Penelope Brown
1976 The origins of syntax in discourse: A case study of Tok Pisin relatives. Language 52(3). 631–666. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sankoff, Gillian & Suzanne Laberge
1974 On the acquisition of native speakers by a language. In David De Camp & Ian F. Hancock (eds.), Pidgins and Creoles: Current trends and prospects, 73–84. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Schiffrin, Deborah
1987 Discourse markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schifrin, Deborah
1992 Anaphoric then: aspectual, textual, and epistemic meaning. Linguistics 301. 753–792. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schourup, Lawrence
1999 Discourse markers. Lingua 107(3–4). 227–265. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schütz, Albert J.
1969a Nguna texts. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
1969b Nguna grammar. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publication. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
Sebba, Mark
1997 Contact languages: Pidgins and creoles. New York: St Martin’s Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sidnell, Jack
2001 Conversational turn-taking in a Caribbean English Creole. Journal of Pragmatics 33(8). 1263–1290. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Siegel, Jeff
2008 The emergence of pidgin and creole languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sierra Soriano, Ascensión
2006 Interjections issues d’un verbe de mouvement: étude comparée français-espagnol. Langages 1611. 73–90. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Smith, Geoff P.
2002 Growing up with Tok Pisin: Contact, creolization, and change in Papua New Guinea’s national language. London: Battlebridge Publications.Google Scholar
Snow, Peter
2003 Talking with tourists in a Panamanian Creole village: An emerging site of production. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 18(2). 299–309. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2005 The use of ‘bad’ language as a politeness strategy in a Panamanian Creole village. In Susanne Mühleisen & Bettina Migge (eds.), Politeness and face in Caribbean Creoles, 23–43. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spears, Arthur K.
1993 Foregrounding and backgrounding in Haitian Creole discourse. In Francis Byrne & Donald Winford (eds.), Focus and grammatical relations in Creole languages: Papers from the University of Chicago Conference on focus and grammatical relations in creole languages, 249–265. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spears, Arthur & Donald Winford
(eds.) 1997 The structure and status of pidgins and creoles. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tryon, Darrel T. & Jean-Michel Charpentier
2004 Pacific pidgins and creoles: Origins, growth and development. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ward, Nigel
2004 Pragmatic functions of prosodic features in non-lexical utterances. Speech Prosody 41. 325–328.Google Scholar
Winford, Donald
2008 Processes of creole formation and related contact-induced language change. Journal of Language Contact 2(1). 124–145. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013a Substrate influence and universals in the emergence of contact Englishes: Re-evaluating the evidence. In Daniel Schreier & Marianne Hundt (eds.), English as a contact language, 222–241. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
2013b On the unity of contact phenomena: The case for imposition. In Carole de Féral (ed.), In and out of Africa: Languages in question. In honour of Robert Nicolaï, 43–71. Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar