Sociophonetic Perspectives on Irish English Discourse-Pragmatic Markers

Abstract

The investigation of the use and functions of pragmatic markers has been a prominent topic in Irish English. Various aspects were considered, including syntactic position and sociolinguistic factors, from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives . This chapter adds another layer to the investigation of discourse markers in Irish English, namely phonetic realisation. Recent scholarship has found that different functions of lexemes can vary in terms of their phonetic realisation. Correlations between pragmatic function and phonetic realisation are thus present in different varieties of English. Most previous studies that investigate this connection between pragmatics and segmental phonetics consider like, which has probably been the most well-studied discourse marker in recent decades. This chapter broadens the scope and provides a phonetic analysis of the pragmatic marker but, which is also used in Irish English . It aims to find out whether correlations between phonetic realisation and pragmatic function that have been reported for like can also be observed for this pragmatic marker. The exploration of this aspect of communication could help us to better understand the grammaticalisation paths of non-lexical elements, and shed new light on the use and function of discourse-pragmatic elements across varieties of English.