Discourse Markers

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, 1987 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 364 pages
Discourse markers - the particles oh, well, now, then, you know and I mean, and the connectives so, because, and, but and or - perform important functions in conversation. Dr Schiffrin's approach is firmly interdisciplinary, within linguistics and sociology, and her rigourous analysis clearly demonstrates that neither the markers, nor the discourse within which they function, can be understood from one point of view alone, but only as an integration of structural, semantic, pragmatic, and social factors. The core of the book is a comparative analysis of markers within conversational discourse collected by Dr Schiffrin during sociolinguistic fieldwork. The study concludes that markers provide contextual coordinates which aid in the production and interpretation of coherent conversation at both local and global levels of organization. It raises a wide range of theoretical and methodological issues important to discourse analysis - including the relationship between meaning and use, the role of qualitative and quantitative analyses - and the insights it offers will be of particular value to readers confronting the very substantial problems presented by the search for a model of discourse which is based on what people actually say, mean, and do with words in everyday social interaction.
 

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Contents

Background What is discourse?
1
Prelude to analysis Definitions and data
31
Questions Why analyze discourse markers?
49
Oh Marker of information management
73
Well Marker of response
102
Discourse connectives and but or
128
So and because Markers of cause and result
191
Temporal adverbs now and then
228
Information and participation yknow and I mean
267
Discourse markers Contextual coordinates of talk
312
Notes
331
References
342
Author index
357
Subject index
361
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