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Part of
Pragmatic Markers and Peripheries
Edited by Daniël Van Olmen and Jolanta Šinkūnienė
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 325] 2021
► pp. 19–48

Chapter 1
Discourse markers at the peripheries of syntax, intonation and turns

Towards a cognitive-functional unit of segmentation

ORCID logo | Université catholique de Louvain
ORCID logo | Université catholique de Louvain

In this study, we analyze to what extent the type of unit influences the position and function of discourse markers (DMs). By comparing DM use across peripheries and across units, we aim to identify which linguistic level (syntax, intonation, turns) is most functionally and cognitively motivated. Our corpus-based analysis reveals that clauses best account for the systematic variation of DMs: initial uses are dedicated to marking discourse relations, medial uses express the speaker’s subjectivity and final uses call out to the addressee. The distribution of DMs in turns is fairly similar but this interactional unit is not fine-grained enough. Intonational peripheries, in turn, seem to perform other functions that are not reflected in a systematic variation of DM uses.

Keywords: discourse markers, segmentation, function, position, French
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Discourse markers and peripheries
    • 2.1Functions of discourse markers (beyond peripheries)
    • 2.2Division of labor between peripheries (beyond discourse markers)
    • 2.3Peripheries of what?
  • 3.Data and method
    • 3.1The LOCAS-F corpus
    • 3.2Segmentation in LOCAS-F
    • 3.3Discourse marker annotation
  • 4.Analyses and results
    • 4.1Syntactic level – DMs at clause peripheries
    • 4.2Prosodic level – DMs at intonation peripheries
    • 4.3Interactional level – DMs at turn peripheries
    • 4.4Towards a process-based unit
      • 4.4.1DMs as boundary markers
      • 4.4.2Beyond the functional asymmetry
  • 5.Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 13 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.325.01deg
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