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Pragmatic Markers and Peripheries
Edited by Daniël Van Olmen and Jolanta Šinkūnienė
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 325] 2021
► pp. 143–170

Chapter 5
Verb-based discourse markers in Italian

Guarda, vedi, guarda te, vedi te

ORCID logo | Ghent University

This research deals with verb-based discourse markers in the regional Italian of Veneto: guarda (te) ‘look you’, vedi (te) ‘see you’. We show that these markers differ in terms of functions and syntactic features. We argue that the functions differ depending on the discourse markers’ syntactic position: some functions can be realized only in the left periphery, while others can be realized in both peripheries. When in the left periphery, the discourse markers express the speaker’s attitude, have their own illocutionary force and are much more independent from the preceding linguistic context. Conversely, the discourse markers that can be realized in both peripheries seem to have a reinforcement and interactional role, being strictly dependent on the dialogical context.

Keywords: Italian, discourse markers, left periphery, right periphery
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2. Guarda, vedi, guarda te, vedi te
    • 2.1Method of data collection
      • 2.1.1Stimuli
      • 2.1.2Participants
      • 2.1.3Results
      • 2.1.4Procedure
      • 2.1.5English translations
    • 2.2The data: interpretation and syntactic distribution
      • 2.2.1Surprise
      • 2.2.2Warning
      • 2.2.3Phatic functions: To initiate and close the turn
      • 2.2.4Adversative
      • 2.2.5Obviousness
    • 2.3Interim summary
  • 3.Discourse markers and the peripheries
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 13 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.325.05bad
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