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Studies at the Grammar-Discourse Interface: Discourse markers and discourse-related grammatical phenomena
Edited by Alexander Haselow and Sylvie Hancil
[Studies in Language Companion Series 219] 2021
► pp. 23–56

Chapter 1
On the rise of discourse markers

| University of Cologne
| University of Graz
| Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf
| Sun Yat-sen University

Discourse markers exhibit a range of grammatical properties that set them apart from many other lexical and grammatical forms. A number of hypotheses have been proposed to account for these properties. Most commonly, such accounts have drawn on grammaticalization theory, less commonly also on the notion of pragmaticalization. As argued in this paper, however, the rise of discourse markers cannot be described exhaustively in terms of parameters of grammaticalization or pragmaticalization. Looking at the rise of two English and one French discourse marker, the paper argues that this development is also shaped by a general strategy of discourse processing called cooptation, which accounts for properties of discourse markers that are beyond the scope of grammaticalization theory. Thus, discourse markers are described best as grammaticalized (paren)theticals.

Keywords: cooptation, decategorialization, discourse grammar, discourse marker, grammaticalization, thetical
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The present paper
    • 1.2Discourse marker, grammaticalization, and cooptation
    • 1.3Conclusions
  • 2.The marker I admit
    • 2.1Introduction
    • 2.2Reconstruction
    • 2.3Cooptation
  • 3.The marker if you will
    • 3.1Grammaticalization
    • 3.2On constituent anchored if you will
  • 4.The French marker alors
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Problems
    • 5.2Instantaneous vs. gradual change
    • 5.3Alternative views
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 3 June 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.219.01hei
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