12 Discourse markers and social variation
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Abstract
This chapter covers the relationship between discourse markers (DMs) and social variation. In sociolinguistics, the study of DMs is situated within the domain of discourse-pragmatic variation and change. The chapter distinguishes between two types of studies devoted to the effect of social factors: 1) how the use of a form in various pragmatic functions is socially constrained, and 2) how the choice of discourse marker forms/variants, which alternate within a specific pragmatic function, is socially constrained. The chapter examines social factors, such as gender, social origin, region, and time, with a particular focus on age and period. The chapter also offers an original analysis of the development of French DM genre in spoken French over 40-year period. This analysis illustrates how social factors, such as age, period, gender, and social origin, play a role in the variation. The results provide evidence that the development and spread of genre as a DM is socially constrained.
Abstract
This chapter covers the relationship between discourse markers (DMs) and social variation. In sociolinguistics, the study of DMs is situated within the domain of discourse-pragmatic variation and change. The chapter distinguishes between two types of studies devoted to the effect of social factors: 1) how the use of a form in various pragmatic functions is socially constrained, and 2) how the choice of discourse marker forms/variants, which alternate within a specific pragmatic function, is socially constrained. The chapter examines social factors, such as gender, social origin, region, and time, with a particular focus on age and period. The chapter also offers an original analysis of the development of French DM genre in spoken French over 40-year period. This analysis illustrates how social factors, such as age, period, gender, and social origin, play a role in the variation. The results provide evidence that the development and spread of genre as a DM is socially constrained.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Manuals of Romance Linguistics V
- Contents VII
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Part I: What are Discourse Markers?
- 1 Discourse markers: What are they and where do they come from? 1
- 2 Discourse markers vs other types of pragmatic markers 29
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Part II: Discourse Markers at Different Levels of Linguistic Description
- 3 The semantics and pragmatics of discourse markers 65
- 4 The grammatical status of discourse markers 97
- 5 Discourse markers and prosody 129
- 6 Discourse markers and discourse/ conversational units 163
- 7 Clusters of discourse markers 193
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Part III: Approaches to the Study of Discourse Markers
- 8 Discourse markers in a contrastive perspective 227
- 9 Discourse markers and quantitative corpus linguistics 257
- 10 Discourse markers and genre 281
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Part IV: Discourse Markers and Interfaces
- 11 Discourse markers and politeness 319
- 12 Discourse markers and social variation 351
- 13 Discourse markers and second language acquisition 377
- 14 Discourse markers and psycholinguistic processing 413
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Part V: Discourse Markers in the Major Romance Languages
- 15 Discourse markers in French 447
- 16 Discourse markers in Italian 479
- 17 Discourse markers in Spanish 509
- 18 Discourse markers in Catalan 539
- 19 Discourse markers in Portuguese 563
- 20 Discourse markers in Romanian 595
- Index 625
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Manuals of Romance Linguistics V
- Contents VII
-
Part I: What are Discourse Markers?
- 1 Discourse markers: What are they and where do they come from? 1
- 2 Discourse markers vs other types of pragmatic markers 29
-
Part II: Discourse Markers at Different Levels of Linguistic Description
- 3 The semantics and pragmatics of discourse markers 65
- 4 The grammatical status of discourse markers 97
- 5 Discourse markers and prosody 129
- 6 Discourse markers and discourse/ conversational units 163
- 7 Clusters of discourse markers 193
-
Part III: Approaches to the Study of Discourse Markers
- 8 Discourse markers in a contrastive perspective 227
- 9 Discourse markers and quantitative corpus linguistics 257
- 10 Discourse markers and genre 281
-
Part IV: Discourse Markers and Interfaces
- 11 Discourse markers and politeness 319
- 12 Discourse markers and social variation 351
- 13 Discourse markers and second language acquisition 377
- 14 Discourse markers and psycholinguistic processing 413
-
Part V: Discourse Markers in the Major Romance Languages
- 15 Discourse markers in French 447
- 16 Discourse markers in Italian 479
- 17 Discourse markers in Spanish 509
- 18 Discourse markers in Catalan 539
- 19 Discourse markers in Portuguese 563
- 20 Discourse markers in Romanian 595
- Index 625
