Abstract
Although numerous studies have concentrated on individual discourse markers (henceforth, DMs) or their classes, little attention has been paid to their combinations, especially from a cross-linguistic perspective. Most of the studies are based on the English language data, whereas the combinatory potential of DMs in other languages remains largely unexplored. The present corpus-based study focuses on combinations of contrastive discourse markers (henceforth, CDMs) in English and Lithuanian by adopting Fraser’s (2013) approach to DMs. The aim of the study is to investigate the combinatory potential of CDMs in English and Lithuanian academic discourse, spoken discourse and fiction. The study presents a list of CDM combinations used in English and Lithuanian and investigates their semantic-pragmatic profile.
Highlights
Discourse markers (DMs) have been under linguistic scrutiny for more than three decades
This paper aims at investigating the combinatory potential of contrastive DMs (CDMs) in English and Lithuanian, paying special attention to their semantic-pragmatic profile across discourse types
Lithuanian CDMs have been found to dominate in spoken discourse
Summary
Discourse markers (DMs) have been under linguistic scrutiny for more than three decades. Fraser (2009, 297), on the other hand, regards DMs as a purely linguistic phenomenon, as the scholar defines DMs as lexical expressions, such as but, so and in addition that signal specific semantic relationship between discourse segments. Contrastive studies have focused on the textual and interactional functions of individual English and Lithuanian DMs in spoken discourse (Masaitienė 2003) and in fiction (Buitkienė 2011). A number of studies have examined the semantic-pragmatic profile of DMs and the correlation between their functions and syntactic status in both English and Lithuanian, the combinatory potential of DMs has been scarcely explored, especially from a cross-linguistic respective. This paper aims at investigating the combinatory potential of contrastive DMs (CDMs) in English and Lithuanian, paying special attention to their semantic-pragmatic profile across discourse types. The study largely draws on the definition of DMs proposed by Fraser (1996; 1999; 2009), considered as one of the most comprehensive accounts of DMs, later adopted by Aijmer (2007) and Heine (2013)
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