Chapter 5. Discourse markers and discourse relations
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Adriana Costăchescu
Abstract
We investigate if and how Discourse Markers (DMs) can be integrated into a dynamic semantic framework (in the SDRT variant, cf. Asher & Lascarides 2003, 2008, 2009) in order to study the relationships between discursive markers and rhetoric relations in a dialogue. We assume that short answers (Schlangen & Lascarides 2003) and DMs have the same basic characteristics: (i) both are semantically under-specified; (ii) in both cases, the receiver adds, by deduction, significant elements, in order to narrow, or even eliminate the semantic under-specification. We illustrate the possibility of integrating the DMs in the SDRT by examining the behaviour of the French DM quoi ‘what’ in a corpus in expressing rhetorical relations, such as:
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Explanation(α, β) (A: – Le curé est arrivé à pied, ou quoi? B: – Il est venu dans la voiture de Mathurin. ‘A : – The priest arrived on foot, or what? B: – He came in Mathurin’s car’)
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Contrast(α, β) (A: – Je vais attendre. B: - Attendre quoi? Ils viennent de sortir. ‘A : I am going to wait. B: – What for? They have just left’);
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Phatic(α, β), when the channel is not functioning (A: -Coco! B (who is hard of hearing): – Quoi? A: (screaming) – Ils te disent au revoir. ‘A: – Coco! B : -What? A: – They are saying ‘good bye’ to you’).
The study of DMs within SDRT tells us a lot about the deductive processes implied by the good functioning the human communication.
Abstract
We investigate if and how Discourse Markers (DMs) can be integrated into a dynamic semantic framework (in the SDRT variant, cf. Asher & Lascarides 2003, 2008, 2009) in order to study the relationships between discursive markers and rhetoric relations in a dialogue. We assume that short answers (Schlangen & Lascarides 2003) and DMs have the same basic characteristics: (i) both are semantically under-specified; (ii) in both cases, the receiver adds, by deduction, significant elements, in order to narrow, or even eliminate the semantic under-specification. We illustrate the possibility of integrating the DMs in the SDRT by examining the behaviour of the French DM quoi ‘what’ in a corpus in expressing rhetorical relations, such as:
-
Explanation(α, β) (A: – Le curé est arrivé à pied, ou quoi? B: – Il est venu dans la voiture de Mathurin. ‘A : – The priest arrived on foot, or what? B: – He came in Mathurin’s car’)
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Contrast(α, β) (A: – Je vais attendre. B: - Attendre quoi? Ils viennent de sortir. ‘A : I am going to wait. B: – What for? They have just left’);
-
Phatic(α, β), when the channel is not functioning (A: -Coco! B (who is hard of hearing): – Quoi? A: (screaming) – Ils te disent au revoir. ‘A: – Coco! B : -What? A: – They are saying ‘good bye’ to you’).
The study of DMs within SDRT tells us a lot about the deductive processes implied by the good functioning the human communication.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
- Introduction. Pragmatic Markers, Discourse Markers and Modal Particles 1
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Part 1. General theoretical questions and quantitative approaches
- Chapter 1. The emergence of Hebrew loydea / loydat (‘I dunno masc/fem ’) from interaction 37
- Chapter 2. Towards a model for discourse marker annotation 71
- Chapter 3. Towards an operational category of discourse markers 99
- Chapter 4. A corpus-based approach to functional markers in Greek 125
- Chapter 5. Discourse markers and discourse relations 151
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Part 2. The status of modal particles
- Chapter 6. Modal particles and Verum focus 171
- Chapter 7. Italian non-canonical negations as modal particles 203
- Chapter 8. A format for the description of German modal particles and their functional equivalents in Croatian and English 229
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Part 3. Language-specific and diachronic studies
- Chapter 9. Vocatives as a source category for pragmatic markers 257
- Chapter 10. Paths of development of English DMs 289
- Chapter 11. Grammaticalization of PMs/DMs/MMs in Japanese 305
- Chapter 12. Dubitative-corrective constructions in Italian 335
- Chapter 13. On the pragmatic expansion of Polish gdzieś tam ‘somewhere (there)/about’ 369
- Chapter 14. A pragmatic approach to Joseph Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary 399
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Part 4. Language contact and variation
- Chapter 15. Italian discourse markers and modal particles in contact 417
- Chapter 16. Functional markers in llanito code-switching 439
- Chapter 17. Just a suggestion 459
- Author index 481
- Language index 487
- Subject index 489
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
- Introduction. Pragmatic Markers, Discourse Markers and Modal Particles 1
-
Part 1. General theoretical questions and quantitative approaches
- Chapter 1. The emergence of Hebrew loydea / loydat (‘I dunno masc/fem ’) from interaction 37
- Chapter 2. Towards a model for discourse marker annotation 71
- Chapter 3. Towards an operational category of discourse markers 99
- Chapter 4. A corpus-based approach to functional markers in Greek 125
- Chapter 5. Discourse markers and discourse relations 151
-
Part 2. The status of modal particles
- Chapter 6. Modal particles and Verum focus 171
- Chapter 7. Italian non-canonical negations as modal particles 203
- Chapter 8. A format for the description of German modal particles and their functional equivalents in Croatian and English 229
-
Part 3. Language-specific and diachronic studies
- Chapter 9. Vocatives as a source category for pragmatic markers 257
- Chapter 10. Paths of development of English DMs 289
- Chapter 11. Grammaticalization of PMs/DMs/MMs in Japanese 305
- Chapter 12. Dubitative-corrective constructions in Italian 335
- Chapter 13. On the pragmatic expansion of Polish gdzieś tam ‘somewhere (there)/about’ 369
- Chapter 14. A pragmatic approach to Joseph Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary 399
-
Part 4. Language contact and variation
- Chapter 15. Italian discourse markers and modal particles in contact 417
- Chapter 16. Functional markers in llanito code-switching 439
- Chapter 17. Just a suggestion 459
- Author index 481
- Language index 487
- Subject index 489
