Discourse marker

A discourse marker is a word or a phrase that plays a role in managing the flow and structure of discourse. Since their main function is at the level of discourse (sequences of utterances) rather than at the level of utterances or sentences, discourse markers are relatively syntax-independent and usually do not change the truth conditional meaning of the sentence.^[1]Examples of discourse markers include the particles oh, well, now, then, you know, and I mean, and the discourse connectives so, because, and, but, and or.^[2] The term discourse marker was coined by Deborah Schiffrin in her 1988 book Discourse Markers.^[3]^[4]

Definition

In Practical English Usage, Michael Swan defines a discourse markeras "a word or expression which shows the connection between what is being said and the wider context". For him, a discourse marker is something that either connects a sentence to what comes before or after, or indicates a speaker's attitude to what he is saying. He gives three examples: on the other hand; frankly; as a matter of fact.^[5]Ian McCormick's The Art of Connection^[6] outlines nine classes of connectives based on their purpose:

to provide a sense of wheresomething is in relation to something else;
to supply a sense of whensomething is happening;
to compare two ideas and express similarities;
to contrast ideas English provides many examples to signal the notion of difference;
to present additional or supplementaryideas;
to indicate that a point in a discussion has been concededor already taken into account;
to demonstrate a sense of logical sequence;
to offer an illustration or an example;
to deliver a summaryof the ideas discussed.

McCormick points out that "FANBOYS" is mnemonic to recall co-ordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

Usage

English

Common discourse markers used in the English language include "you know", "actually", "basically", "like", "I mean", "okay" and "so". Data shows that discourse markers often come from different word classes, such as adverbs ("well") or prepositional phrases ("in fact"). The process that leads from a free construction to a discourse marker can be traced back through grammaticalisation studies and resources^[7].

Traditionally, some of the words or phrases that were considered discourse markers were treated as "fillers" or "expletives": words or phrases that had no function at all. Now they are assigned functions in different levels of analysis: topic changes, reformulations, discourse planning, stressing, hedging, or backchanneling. Those functions can be classified into three broad groups: (a) relationships among (parts of) utterances; (b) relationships between the speaker and the message, and (c) relationships between speaker and hearer.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Arabic

Discourse markers in Arabic include the adverbials wa-min huna fa ("thus"), al-an-a fa ("now"), ragma haða fa ("despite that") and fi-alwaqi ("as a matter of fact"),^[10] as well as connectives such as wa ("and"), fa ("since", "for", "so", "thus") bal ("rather") and ið ("since").^[11] Connectives and conjunctions have different functions at the discourse level. Additionally, the discourse marker ʕaraft ("you know") is found in different Arabic dialects such as Cairene Egyptian ^[12]. The discourse marker Yaʕni ("I mean") could be categorized according to its functions into five main classes: interpersonal (information about the speaker, situation and the level of politeness), turn management (turn taking, holding, relinquishing holding), repairing (substituting a pause, stalling for time and forewarn upcoming adjustments), monitoring (focus addressees' attention) or organizing (introducing topic shifts, commentary, justification and modification. ^[13] Yaʕni collocates with other discourse markers such as maʕruf ("it is known"), bass ("only"), and fa ("and").^[14]

Other Languages

An example of a discourse marker used to signal the relationship between speaker and hearer is the Yiddish involvement discourse marker nu, also used in Modern Hebrew and other languages, often to convey impatience or to urge the hearer to act (cf. German cognate nun, meaning "now" in the sense of "at the moment being discussed," but contrast Latin etymological cognate nunc, meaning "now" in the sense of "at the moment in which discussion is occurring"; Latin used iam for "at the moment being discussed," and German uses jetzt for "at the moment in which discussion is occurring").^[15]

Another discourse marker that appears in various forms across languages is "look". For instance, the Spanish word mira ("look") can be used at the beginning of a sentence to mark a change in topic. This function is also attested for Italian (guarda), Catalan (mira), Portuguese (olha), Quebec French (regarde) and Romanian (uite)^[16]. In Chinese, the phrase dui bu dui ("correct not correct") is typically used at the end of a sentence to form a tag question, similar to English tag questions such as "isn't it?" or "right?". However, in some contexts dui bu dui is used as a discourse marker, in which case it can appear as a standalone phrase to mark a change of topic or at the beginning or end of a sentence to maintain the attention of the hearer.^[17]

Coordinating Conjunctions as Discourse markers (DMs)

According to Siepmann (2005), coordinating conjunctions are considered discourse markers (DMs) since they tell the reader/listener how to relate the two segments of discourse (sentences or clauses). Languages do not seem to have one-to-one correspondence in terms of conjunctions, especially when the two languages are not genetically related such as English and Arabic (Emara, 2014). Therefore, the functions of these conjunctions differ cross-linguistically; the same DM in two languages might be used for distinct functions based on the context in which that conjunction was used. For example, the coordinating conjunction wa ‘and’ in Arabic have a number of functions that do not correspond to its counterpart in English. The coordinating conjunction wa ‘and’ in Arabic might be used for a number of functions such as (i) an introductory to start a new topic, (ii) as an adverbial meaning while, or (iii) as an adjunct marker to modify an event (Alazzawie, 2014). There are other coordinating conjunctions in Arabic such as θumma 'then' that is used to link two sentences or clauses with no specific interval of time, which is similar two to that of English. However, this DM (θumma) has other functions that does not correspond to that of English as Tahaineh and Tafish (2011) pointed out. i.e., it has other functions such as adversative function and consequential function. In the first case (adversative case), the DM θumma is used to conjoin two clauses or sentences in which the second one is an unexpected result of the first. In the second case (consequential case), the DM θumma is used to link two sentences or clauses in which the second one happened as a consequence of the first one. In both cases, literal translation of the DM from Arabic into English would sound awkward to a native speaker of English, so such functions should be translated based on their pragmatic functions in a sentence (Tahaineh and Tafish, 2011).

^ Carol Lynn, Moder; Aida Martinovic-Zic (2004). Discourse Across Languages and Cultures. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 117. 9027230781.
^ Schiffrin, Deborah (1986), Discourse markers, Studies in interactional sociolinguistics, 5., Cambridge [Cambridgeshire], ISBN 978-0-521-30385-9, OCLC 243527510
^ Schiffrin, Deborah (1988). Discourse Markers. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521357180.
^ Plonsky, Luke (2017). "Obituary: Deborah Schiffrin". Linguist List.
^ Swan, Michael (2005). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. xviii. ISBN 0-19-442098-1.
^ McCormick, Ian. (2013) The Art of Connection: the Social Life of Sentences. Quibble Academic.
^ ^a ^b Brinton, Laurel J. (2010). "Discourse Markers". Historical Pragmatics: 285–314. doi:10.1515/9783110214284.5.285. ISBN 978-3-11-021427-7.
^ Fraser, Bruce (1999). "What are discourse markers?". Journal of Pragmatics. 31 (7): 931–952. doi:10.1016/S0378-2166(98)00101-5.
^ Schiffrin, Deborah (1987). Discourse Markers. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780511611841.
^ Hayes, John; Blau, Joshua (December 1978). "An Adverbial Construction in Hebrew and Arabic: Sentence adverbials in Frontal Position Separated from the Rest of the Sentence". Language. 54 (4): 1014. doi:10.2307/413278. ISSN 0097-8507. JSTOR 413278.
^ Ryding, Karin C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511486975. ISBN 9780511486975.
^ VerfasserIn., Ghobrial, Atef N. Discourse markers in colloquial Cairene Egyptian Arabic : a pragmatic perspective. OCLC 968338989. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Fox Tree, Jean E.; Schrock, Josef C. (June 2002). "Basic meanings of you know and I mean". Journal of Pragmatics. 34 (6): 727–747. doi:10.1016/s0378-2166(02)00027-9. ISSN 0378-2166.
^ Owens, Jonathan; Rockwood, Trent (2008), "Yaʕni: What it (really) means", Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 83–113, doi:10.1075/cilt.301.07owe, ISBN 9789027248176, retrieved 2018-11-28
^ Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2009). Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns. In Journal of Language Contact, Varia 2: 40-67, p. 50.
^ Benjamin, Fagard (2010-10-29). "É vida, olha…: Imperatives as discourse markers and grammaticalization paths in Romance: A diachronic corpus study". Languages in Contrast. 10 (2): 245–267. doi:10.1075/lic.10.2.07fag. ISSN 1387-6759. S2CID 204005463.
^ Chen, Yiya; Weiyun He, Agnes (September 2001). "Dui bu dui as a pragmatic marker: evidence from chinese classrom discourse". Journal of Pragmatics. 33 (9): 1441–1465. doi:10.1016/s0378-2166(00)00084-9. ISSN 0378-2166.

[definition2-1] Carol Lynn, Moder; Aida Martinovic-Zic (2004). Discourse Across Languages and Cultures. John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 117. 9027230781.

[Schiffrin19862-2] Schiffrin, Deborah (1986), Discourse markers, Studies in interactional sociolinguistics, 5., Cambridge [Cambridgeshire], ISBN 978-0-521-30385-9, OCLC 243527510

[3] Schiffrin, Deborah (1988). Discourse Markers. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521357180.

[4] Plonsky, Luke (2017). "Obituary: Deborah Schiffrin". Linguist List.

[Swan2-5] Swan, Michael (2005). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. xviii. ISBN 0-19-442098-1.

[6] McCormick, Ian. (2013) The Art of Connection: the Social Life of Sentences. Quibble Academic.

[:0-7] Brinton, Laurel J. (2010). "Discourse Markers". Historical Pragmatics: 285–314. doi:10.1515/9783110214284.5.285. ISBN 978-3-11-021427-7.

[8] Fraser, Bruce (1999). "What are discourse markers?". Journal of Pragmatics. 31 (7): 931–952. doi:10.1016/S0378-2166(98)00101-5.

[9] Schiffrin, Deborah (1987). Discourse Markers. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780511611841.

[10] Hayes, John; Blau, Joshua (December 1978). "An Adverbial Construction in Hebrew and Arabic: Sentence adverbials in Frontal Position Separated from the Rest of the Sentence". Language. 54 (4): 1014. doi:10.2307/413278. ISSN 0097-8507. JSTOR 413278.

[11] Ryding, Karin C. (2005). A Reference Grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511486975. ISBN 9780511486975.

[12] VerfasserIn., Ghobrial, Atef N. Discourse markers in colloquial Cairene Egyptian Arabic : a pragmatic perspective. OCLC 968338989. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[13] Fox Tree, Jean E.; Schrock, Josef C. (June 2002). "Basic meanings of you know and I mean". Journal of Pragmatics. 34 (6): 727–747. doi:10.1016/s0378-2166(02)00027-9. ISSN 0378-2166.

[14] Owens, Jonathan; Rockwood, Trent (2008), "Yaʕni: What it (really) means", Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 83–113, doi:10.1075/cilt.301.07owe, ISBN 9789027248176, retrieved 2018-11-28

[15] Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2009). Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns. In Journal of Language Contact, Varia 2: 40-67, p. 50.

[16] Benjamin, Fagard (2010-10-29). "É vida, olha…: Imperatives as discourse markers and grammaticalization paths in Romance: A diachronic corpus study". Languages in Contrast. 10 (2): 245–267. doi:10.1075/lic.10.2.07fag. ISSN 1387-6759. S2CID 204005463.

[17] Chen, Yiya; Weiyun He, Agnes (September 2001). "Dui bu dui as a pragmatic marker: evidence from chinese classrom discourse". Journal of Pragmatics. 33 (9): 1441–1465. doi:10.1016/s0378-2166(00)00084-9. ISSN 0378-2166.

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