Discourse marker

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In linguistics, a discourse marker is a word or phrase that is relatively syntax-independent, does not have a particular grammatical function, does not change the meaning of the utterance, and has a somewhat empty meaning.^[1] Examples of discourse markers include the particles "oh", "well", "now", "then", "you know", and "I mean", and the connectives "so", "because", "and", "but", and "or".^[2]

Traditionally, some of the words or phrases that were considered discourse markers were treated as "fillers" or "expletives": 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, or backchanneling. Those functions can be classified into three broad groups: (a) relationships among (parts of) utterances; (b) relationships between the speaker and the message, and (c) relationships between speaker and hearer. An example of the latter is the involvement discourse marker nu, used in Modern Hebrew, Yiddish and other languages, often to convey impatience or to urge the hearer to act.^[3]

Data over time show that discourse markers often come from different word classes, such as adverbs ("well") or prepositional phrases ("in fact"). The process that leads from a free construction to a discourse marker can be traced back through grammaticalisation studies and resources.^{[citation needed]}

Common discourse markers used in the English language include "you know", "actually", "basically", "like", "I mean", and "okay".

See also

• Discourse connective
• Discourse particle
• Filler
• Speech disfluency
• Tag question

Notes

1. ^ Carol Lynn, Moder; Aida Martinovic-Zic (2004). Discourse Across Languages and Cultures. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 117. 9027230781. 
2. ^ Schiffrin, Deborah (1988). Discourse Markers. Cambridge University Press. 0521357187. 
3. ^ Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2009). Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns. In Journal of Language Contact, Varia 2: 40-67, p. 50.