Cover not available
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
References
Ball, Wilson J
1986  Dictionary of Link Words . London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Butler, Christopher S
1985  Computers in Linguistics . Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
2000 “Corpus Linguistics and the Teaching and Learning of Languages.” In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference of AEDEAN , ed. by Pere Gallardo, and Enric Llurda, 15–27. Lleida: Universitat de Lleida.Google Scholar
2008 “The Subjectivity of Basically in British English”. In Pragmatics and Corpus Linguistics: A Mutualistic Entente , ed. by Jesús Romero-Trillo, 37–63. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Cobuild
2009  Collins Cobuild Advanced Dictionary . Glasgow: Collins and Boston MA: Heinle Cengage Learning.Google Scholar
Davies, Mark
2004  BYU-BNC . (Based on the British National Corpus from Oxford University Press). Available online at [URL].Google Scholar
2008  The Corpus of Contemporary American English: 450 Million Words, 1990–Present . Available online at [URL].Google Scholar
2010  The Corpus of Historical American English: 400 Million Words, 1810–2009 . Available online at [URL].Google Scholar
Gilquin, Gaëtenelle, and Magali Paquot
2007 “Spoken Features in Learner Academic Writing: Identification, Explanation and Solution.” In Proceedings of the Fourth Corpus Linguistics Conference , ed. by Matthew Davies, Paul Rayson, Susan Hunston, and Pernilla Danielsson. University of Birmingham, UK. Available online at: [URL], consulted on 29 September 2012.
Hannay, Mike, and J. Lachlan Mackenzie
2009  Effective Writing in English: A Sourcebook . 2nd edition. Bussum: Coutinho.Google Scholar
Hornby, A. S
2005  Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary . 7th edition. Oxford: Oxford ­University Press.Google Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey N., Marianne Hundt, Christian Mair, and Nicholas Smith
2009  Change in Contemporary English: A Grammatical Study . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
2003 4th edition. Harlow: Pearson.Google Scholar
Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey N. Leech, and Jan Svartvik
1985  A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language . London: Longman.Google Scholar
Rundell, Michael
2007  Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners . 2nd edition . Oxford: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Swan, Michael
2005  Practical English Usage . 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth C
1997 “The Role of the Development of Discourse Markers in a Theory of Grammaticalisation.” Paper presented at ICHL XII, Manchester 2005. [URL]. Consulted on 29 September 2012.
Yeung, Lorrita
2009 “Use and Misuse of ‘Besides’: A Corpus Study Comparing Native Speakers’ and Learners’ English. ” System 37: 330–342. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 3 other publications

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

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.