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Part of
The Functional Perspective on Language and Discourse: Applications and implications
Edited by María de los Ángeles Gómez González, Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, Francisco Gonzálvez-García and Angela Downing
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 247] 2014
► pp. 223–242

Besides as a connective

| VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
ORCID logo | VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This chapter throws new light upon besides as a connective in contemporary English. Using examples extracted from corpora, we consider how to reconcile the notions of “tangentiality” and “decisiveness” found in existing descriptions of its function. After an assessment of the only previous publication fully devoted to besides, Yeung (2009), we identify two major uses, which we label objective and (inter)subjective. The objective use is connected to finality, with besides marking the last argument in a chain, while the (inter)subjective use invokes a more (inter)personal viewpoint that trumps the preceding arguments. We also show that such uses were absent in the 19th century. This allows the conclusion that besides developed its distinctive characteristics in relatively recent times, predominantly in dialogue.
Published online: 16 May 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.247.12han
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Iza Erviti, Aneider
2017. An exploratory study of complementary contrastive discourse constructions in English. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics 30:1 ► pp. 210 ff. DOI logo
Iza Erviti, Aneider
2021. Complementary Contrastive Constructions. In Discourse Constructions in English [Yearbook of Corpus Linguistics and Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 75 ff. DOI logo
Iza Erviti, Aneider
2021. From Discourse Markers to Construction Grammar(s) in Discourse. In Discourse Constructions in English [Yearbook of Corpus Linguistics and Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 7 ff. DOI logo

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