Internal variety in the use of Slovene general extenders in different spoken discourse settings

Abstract

In the present paper, we investigate a group of markers in spoken interaction, commonly termed general extenders (GEs). We compare their usage in different discourse settings within the reference speech corpus of the Slovene language GOS. The results show that there is a high variability of GE form, but that most forms are rarely used. GEs are generally less frequent in public and formal settings, such as classes and radio and television informative broadcasts, and more frequent in private settings. Substantial differences are found not only between the two groups of GEs, adjunctive and disjunctive, but also between particular GE expressions. We argue that mere qualitative analysis of pragmatic expressions such as GEs is not sufficient for reliable conclusions, and that quantitative corpus analysis can provide additional insights into GE functions, especially considering the differences between the two groups of GEs, adjunctives and disjunctives, and between particular GE expressions.