Adiscourse marker is aword or aphrase that plays a role in managing the flow and structure ofdiscourse. 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 relativelysyntax-independent and usually do not change thetruth conditional meaning of the sentence.[1] They can also indicate what a speaker is doing on a variety of different planes.[2] Examples of discourse markers include theparticlesoh,well,now,then,you know, andI mean, and the discourse connectivesso,because,and,but, andor.[3] The termdiscourse marker was popularized byDeborah Schiffrin in her 1987 bookDiscourse Markers.[4]
Common discourse markers used in theEnglish language includeyou know,actually,basically,like,I mean,okay andso. Discourse markers come from varied word classes, such asadverbs (well) orprepositional phrases (in fact). The process that leads from a free construction to a discourse marker can be traced back throughgrammaticalization studies and resources.[citation needed] Discourse markers can be seen as a “joint product” of grammaticalization and cooption, explaining both their grammatical behavior and theirmetatextual properties.[5]
Traditionally, some of the words or phrases that were considered discourse markers were treated asfillers orexpletives: 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, orbackchanneling.
Yael Maschler divided discourse markers into four broad categories:interpersonal,referential, structural, andcognitive.[6]
In her book on discourse analysis,Barbara Johnstone called discourse markers that are used by speakers to take the floor (likeso) "boundarymarking uses" of the word. This use of discourse markers is present and important in both monologue and dialogue situations.[2]
Another example of an interpersonal discourse marker is theYiddish markernu, also used inModern Hebrew and other languages, often to convey impatience or to urge the listener to act (cf.German cognatenun, meaning 'now' in the sense of 'at the moment being discussed', but contrastLatin etymological cognatenunc, meaning 'now' in the sense of 'at the moment in which discussion is occurring'; Latin usediam for 'at the moment being discussed' (and many other meanings) and German usesjetzt for 'at the moment in which discussion is occurring').[7] The French phraseà propos can indicate 'a smooth or a more abrupt discourse shift.'[5]
