Chapter 1. Challenges in the contrastive study of discourse markers
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Karin Aijmer
Abstract
I argue that the position of the discourse markers in the utterance should be part of the contrastive analysis on the basis of a corpus case study of then and its Swedish cognate då. The focus for the contrastive analysis has been on then which has been studied both in the left and the right periphery while då has been investigated only in its use in the right periphery. English and Swedish then/då seem to have partly overlapping polysemies reflecting the fact that they are not completely grammaticalized. However, when we take the position of then/då into account there are differences between them reflecting both the uncertain distinction between their uses as discourse marker or modal particle and that languages prefer different strategies.
Abstract
I argue that the position of the discourse markers in the utterance should be part of the contrastive analysis on the basis of a corpus case study of then and its Swedish cognate då. The focus for the contrastive analysis has been on then which has been studied both in the left and the right periphery while då has been investigated only in its use in the right periphery. English and Swedish then/då seem to have partly overlapping polysemies reflecting the fact that they are not completely grammaticalized. However, when we take the position of then/då into account there are differences between them reflecting both the uncertain distinction between their uses as discourse marker or modal particle and that languages prefer different strategies.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Corpus-based studies
- Chapter 1. Challenges in the contrastive study of discourse markers 17
- Chapter 2. Local vs. global scope of discourse markers 43
- Chapter 3. Prosodic versatility, hierarchical rank and pragmatic function in conversational markers 61
- Chapter 4. A preliminary typology of interactional figures based on a tool for visualizing conversational structure 93
- Chapter 5. Causal relations between discourse and grammar 131
- Chapter 6. A corpus-based comparative study of concessive connectives in English, German and Spanish 151
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Part II. Experiment-based studies
- Chapter 7. Processing patterns of focusing in Spanish 195
- Chapter 8. Expectation changes over time 229
- Chapter 9. Processing implicit and explicit causality in Spanish 253
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Part III. Combined approaches
- Chapter 10. Subjectivity and Causality in discourse and cognition 273
- Chapter 11. Subjectivity of English connectives 299
- Index 319
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Corpus-based studies
- Chapter 1. Challenges in the contrastive study of discourse markers 17
- Chapter 2. Local vs. global scope of discourse markers 43
- Chapter 3. Prosodic versatility, hierarchical rank and pragmatic function in conversational markers 61
- Chapter 4. A preliminary typology of interactional figures based on a tool for visualizing conversational structure 93
- Chapter 5. Causal relations between discourse and grammar 131
- Chapter 6. A corpus-based comparative study of concessive connectives in English, German and Spanish 151
-
Part II. Experiment-based studies
- Chapter 7. Processing patterns of focusing in Spanish 195
- Chapter 8. Expectation changes over time 229
- Chapter 9. Processing implicit and explicit causality in Spanish 253
-
Part III. Combined approaches
- Chapter 10. Subjectivity and Causality in discourse and cognition 273
- Chapter 11. Subjectivity of English connectives 299
- Index 319
