Cover not available
Part of
Pragmatic Markers and Peripheries
Edited by Daniël Van Olmen and Jolanta Šinkūnienė
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 325] 2021
► pp. 229–250

Chapter 8
Žinai ‘you know’ in Lithuanian discourse

Distributional features and functional profile

ORCID logo | Vilnius University
This corpus-based study focuses on the frequency, distribution patterns and functional profile of the pragmatic marker žinai ‘you know’ in Lithuanian spoken discourse and fiction. The data for the study comes from interviews, spontaneous private conversations and a parallel corpus of English and Lithuanian fiction texts. The results show that žinai ‘you know’ can occupy clause initial, medial and final positions, in which it can perform various functions. They range from textual (indicating a word search or hesitation, sustaining the flow of discourse, offering a clarification, introducing information or arguments) to interpersonal (making reference to common knowledge and seeking understanding or agreement from the addressee).
Keywords: žinai ‘you know’, pragmatic marker, syntactic position, functional profile, Lithuanian, (inter)subjectivity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data and methods
  • 3.Results and discussion
    • 3.1Frequency and semantic distribution
    • 3.2Functional profile of žinai
      • 3.2.1Hesitation and word search
      • 3.2.2Sustaining discourse
      • 3.2.3Clarification or reformulation
      • 3.2.4Introducing an argument / new information
      • 3.2.5Seeking understanding / agreement
    • 3.3Functional distribution of žinai in different types of discourse
  • 4.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Data sources
  • References
Published online: 13 October 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.325.08sin
References (51)
Data sources
Interview database Vilnius Speaking (compiled by the Department of Sociolinguistics of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language), [URL]
The Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian (compiled at Vytautas Magnus University), [URL]
ParaCorpEN→LT→EN Bidirectional Parallel Corpus of English and Lithuanian (Šolienė 2013)Google Scholar
References
Aijmer, Karin. 2013. Understanding Pragmatic Markers: A Variational Pragmatic Approach. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Aijmer, Karin, Ad Foolen, and Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen. 2006. “Pragmatic Markers in Translation: A Methodological Proposal.” In Approaches to Discourse Particles, ed. by Kerstin Fischer, 101–114. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Aijmer, Karin, and Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen. 2006. “Introduction.” In Pragmatic Markers in Contrast, ed. by Karin Aijmer, and Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen, 1–10. Amsterdam: Elsevier. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Akelaitis, Gintautas. 1992. Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos įterptiniai vienetai: semantika, struktūra, paskirtis diskurse [Parentheticals in the contemporary Lithuanian language: Semantics, structure and functions in discourse]. Humanitarinių mokslų daktaro disertacija [PhD dissertation]. Vilnius: Vilnius University.Google Scholar
Ambrazas, Vytautas (ed.). 1997. Lithuanian Grammar. Vilnius: Baltos lankos.Google Scholar
Beeching, Kate. 2016. Pragmatic Markers in British English: Meaning in Social Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bielinskienė, Agnė. 2010. Sujungiamojo ryšio semantika, pragmatika ir vartosenos ypatumai [Semantics, pragmatics and peculiarities of usage of coordination]. Humanitarinių mokslų daktaro disertacija [PhD dissertation]. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University.Google Scholar
Brinton, Laurel. 2008. The Comment Clause in English: Syntactic Origins and Pragmatic Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Buysse, Lieven. 2017. “The Pragmatic Marker You Know in Learner Englishes.” Journal of Pragmatics 121: 40–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cuenca, Maria-Josep. 2008. “Pragmatic Markers in Contrast: The Case of Well .” Journal of Pragmatics 40: 1373–1391. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Česnulienė, Vida. 2012. Gramatinė ir leksinė gramatinė kohezija mokslinio ir publicistinio stiliaus tekstuose [Grammatical and lexico-grammatical cohesion in scientific and publicistic texts]. Humanitarinių mokslų daktaro disertacija [PhD dissertation]. Vilnius: Lietuvos edukologijos universitetas.Google Scholar
Degand, Liesbeth. 2014. “‘So Very Fast Then’ Discourse Markers at Left and Right Periphery in Spoken French.” In Discourse Functions at the Left and Right Periphery: Crosslinguistic Investigations of Language Use and Language Change, ed. by Kate Beeching, and Ulrich Detges, 151–178. Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Degand, Liesbeth, and Benjamin Fagard. 2011. “ Alors between Discourse and Grammar: The Role of Syntactic Position.” Functions of Language 18: 29–56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Erman, Britt. 1987. Pragmatic Expressions in English: A Study of You Know, You See and I Mean in Face-to-face Conversation. Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell International.Google Scholar
. 2001. “Pragmatic Markers Revisited with a Focus on You Know in Adult and Adolescent Talk.” Journal of Pragmatics 33 (9): 1337–1359. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Feng, Guangwu. 2008. “Pragmatic Markers in Chinese.” Journal of Pragmatics 40: 1687–1718. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fetzer, Anita. 2007. “Reformulation and Common Ground.” In Lexical Markers of Common Grounds, ed. by Anita Fetzer, and Kerstin Fischer, 159–181. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Fitzmaurice, Susan. 2004. “Subjectivity, Intersubjectivity and the Historical Construction of Interlocutor Stance: From Stance Markers to Discourse Markers.” Discourse Studies 6 (4): 427–448. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fox Tree, Jean E., and Josef C. Schrock. 2002. “Basic Meanings of You Know and I Mean .” Journal of Pragmatics 34: 727–747. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fraser, Bruce. 1990. “An Approach to Discourse Markers.” Journal of Pragmatics 14 (3): 383–398. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
González, Montserrat. 2004. Pragmatic Markers in Oral Narrative: The Case of English and Catalan. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hellermann, John, and Andrea Vergun. 2007. “Language Which Is not Taught: The Discourse Marker Use of Beginning Adult Learners of English.” Journal of Pragmatics 39: 157–179. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
House, Juliane. 2009. “Subjectivity in English as Lingua Franca Discourse: The Case of You Know .” Intercultural Pragmatics 6 (2): 171–193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jasionytė-Mikučionienė, Erika. 2016. “Imperatyvinės kilmės diskurso markeriai lietuvių kalboje: Klausyk ir žiūrėk atvejis [Imperatives as discourse markers in Lithuanian: The case of klausyk ‘listen’ and žiūrėk ‘look’].” Kalbotyra 68: 23–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2019. “Subordinating Conjunctions as Discourse Markers in Lithuanian.” Corpus Pragmatics 3 (4): 285–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jucker, Andreas H. 2015. “Pragmatics of Fiction: Literary Uses of Uh and Um .” Journal of Pragmatics 86: 63–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė, Laura. 2017. “Grammatically Coded Corpus of Spoken Lithuanian: Methodology and Development.” International Journal of Cognitive and Language Sciences 11 (4): 853–857.Google Scholar
Laserna, Charlyn M., Yi-Tai Seih, and James W. Pennebaker. 2014. “ Um … Who Like Says You Know: Filler Word Use as a Function of Age, Gender, and Personality.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology 33 (3): 328–338. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lee, Hikyoung. 2003. “Discourse-marker Use in Native and Non-native English Speakers.” In Discourse across Languages and Cultures, ed. by Carol Lynn Moder, and Aida Martinovic-Zic, 117–127. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Müller, Simone. 2005. Discourse Markers in Native and Non-native English Discourse. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Östman, Jan-Ola. 1981. You Know: A Discourse Functional Approach. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Redeker, Gisela. 2006. “Discourse Markers as Attentional Cues at Discourse Transitions.” In Approaches to Discourse Particles, ed. by Kerstin Fischer, 339–358. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Romero Trillo, Jesús. 1997. “Your Attention, Please: Pragmatic Mechanisms to Obtain the Addressee’s Attention in English and Spanish Conversations.” Journal of Pragmatics 28 (2): 205–221. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ruskan, Anna. 2019. “Functional Variation of Discourse Particles in Lithuanian: A Look at Clause Peripheries.” Corpus Pragmatics 3: 303–325. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sawicky, Lea. 2012. “Responsive Discourse Particles in Lithuanian Dialog.” Baltic Linguistics 3: 151–175. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schiffrin, Deborah. 1987. Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schleef, Erik. 2004. “Gender, Power, Discipline, and Context: On the Sociolinguistic Variation of Okay, Right, Like, and You Know in English Academic Discourse.” Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual symposium about Language and Society – Austin, April 16–18, 2004. Texas Linguistic Forum 48: 177–186.Google Scholar
Stenström, Anna-Brita. 2014. Teenage Talk: From General Characteristics to the Use of Pragmatic Markers in a Contrastive Perspective. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Šolienė, Audronė. 2013. Episteminio modalumo ekvivalentiškumo parametrai anglų ir lietuvių kalbose [Realisations of epistemic modality in English and Lithuanian: Parameters of equivalence]. Humanitarinių mokslų daktaro disertacija [PhD dissertation]. Vilnius: Vilnius University.Google Scholar
Šolienė, Audronė. 2020. “Lithuanian Discourse Markers Na and Nu: A Glimpse at Lithuanian-English Parallel Corpus Data.” In Translating and Comparing Languages: Corpus-based Insights: Selected Proceedings of the Fifth Using Corpora in Contrastive and Translation Studies Conference, ed. by Sylviane Granger, and Marie-Aude Lefer, 237–255. Louvain-la-Neuve: Presses universitaires de Louvain.Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. 2010. “Revisiting Subjectification and Intersubjectification.” In Subjectification, Intersubjectification and Grammaticalization, ed. by Kristin Davidse, Lieven Vandelanotte, and Hubert Cuyckens, 29–70. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
. 2014. “Intersubjectification and Clause Periphery.” In Intersubjectivity and Intersubjectification in Grammar and Discourse: Theoretical and Descriptive Advances, ed. by Lieselotte Brems, Lobke Gesquière, and Freek Van de Velde, 7–27. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Usonienė, Aurelija. 2012. “Komplementiniai predikatai ir jų multifunkcionalumas: lietuvių kalbos tekstynais paremtas tyrimas [Complement-taking predicates and their multifunctionality in Lithuanian: A corpus-based study].” Darbai ir Dienos 58: 223–233.Google Scholar
. 2013. “On the Morphosyntactic Status of Complement-taking Predicate Clauses in Lithuanian.” Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 45 (1): 73–99. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2016. Reikšmės pasaulis: tekstynais paremti semantiniai kalbų tyrimai [The world of meaning: Corpus-based semantic studies]. Vilnius: Akademinė leidyba.Google Scholar
. 2013. “The Imperative of Say as a Pragmatic Marker in English and Dutch.” Journal of Germanic Linguistics 25 (3): 247–287. DOI logoGoogle Scholar