THE FUNCTIONING OF REFORMULATION MARKERS IN DISCOURSE

Abstract

The present article deals with the meaning of French markers en fait and en realite as well as their functioning in discourse. The main goal is to analyze the functioning of two non-paraphrastic reformulation markers in French language and to identify the similarities and differences concerning their semantic values and discourse functions. The object of study is the reformulation markers en fait and en realite. The subject of the work. The study focuses on the analysis of marks giving rise to a process of reformulation and distancing from the previous statement. We paid particular attention to the difference in use of these two markers depending on the contextual environment and the intention of the speaker. Research material: this work is based on the text corpus composed of examples taken from literary works and the French press thanks to digital sources such as Frantext and Glossanet. The analysis of the distribution and the functioning of the markers en fait and en realite in various situational contexts, taking into consideration the interactional dimension, allowed us to study the values of each of these markers in a comparative way and to identify their differences and similarities which are not always explicitly visible superficially. During this research we used comparative, descriptive and structural methods. The practical application of the results is possible during the research on functioning of the logical markers in discourse. Conclusions: the two markers under review bring new information but en fait introduce good or appropriate information which does not eliminate what was said before, while en realite refutes the previous statement and itroduces only true information.