Discourse Markers: An Enunciative Approach

324 Pages·2018·3.78 MB·English

by  Graham Ranger

D i s c o u r s e
M a r k e r s
An Enunciative Approach
G R A H A M R A N G E R
Discourse Markers
“This book is an extremely valuable contribution to the study of discourse mark-
ers from an enunciative perspective. It begins at the beginning, with a thorough,
yet accessible, introduction to the Theory of Enunciative and Predicative
Operations. It then proceeds through a comprehensive review of previous works
to a corpus-based study of discourse markers in English. I highly recommend
this book for any student or advanced researcher looking for a solid, consistent
theoretical model to capture the inherent variability of discourse markers.”
—Guillaume Desagulier, Université Paris Nanterre, France
“This book will most certainly create a greater awareness and appreciation of
Culioli’s Theory of Enunciative and Predicative Operations as a framework for
modeling natural language activity. The advantages of the method are illustrated
by the insightful analysis of the discourse markers ‘anyway’, ‘in fact’ and ‘indeed’
and ‘I think’.”
—Karin Aijmer, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Graham Ranger
Discourse Markers
An Enunciative Approach
Graham Ranger
Département des études du monde anglophone, UFR-ALL
Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse
Avignon, France
ISBN 978-3-319-70904-8 ISBN 978-3-319-70905-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70905-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930133
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Preface
This book is intended for researchers and graduate students in linguistics
but also for anyone interested in linguistic theorisation and / or the for-
mal modelisation of the discursive phenomena of natural language.
Chapter 2 focusses on theorisation. Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 provide an
application of the theory to a number of discourse markers. While Chaps.
3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 frequently cite concepts and issues evoked in Chap. 2,
each chapter can stand alone and be read independently, for those whose
interest points them towards one particular question.
The Theory of Enunciative and Predicative Operations is a well known
and widely respected theory, practised in France and other countries. It
provides a rigorous, comprehensive framework for modelling the dynam-
ics of natural language activity. Many aspects of it can be related to other
major theories of language, including Transformational Grammar,
Generative Semantics, Functional Systemic Linguistics, Cognitive
Grammar or Construction Grammar, among others. Despite these fea-
tures, the theory remains little known in English-speaking linguistic
circles.
With this book I hope to contribute to a greater awareness within
anglophone linguistics of this fascinating approach, with a sustained
application of the theory to the problematics of discourse marking in
general and to a number of discourse markers in particular. One very
v
vi Preface
important difference between the theory and many other approaches is
the idea that pragmatic potentials are in a large measure built into the
semantics of linguistic items – provided one recognises that fully-fledged
meaning emerges only at the end of a complex process of configuration
relative to context and situation.
The presentation of the Theory of Enunciative and Predicative
Operations in the following pages draws heavily upon the writings of
Antoine Culioli and his close collaborators. The presentation of the the-
ory and its application of the theory to specific discourse-marking issues
nonetheless represents a personal reading and interpretation of these texts
and is not intended to provide in any sense a definitive account. Not all
enunciative linguists would necessarily choose to give priority to the same
aspects of the theory as me, nor indeed would all enunciative linguists
agree with my analyses.
If this book encourages the reader to explore the theory further, to
return to the foundational texts and to forge his or her own opinions on
these questions, then it will have fulfilled much of its intended
purpose.
The material for this book has developed over some twenty-five years
of teaching and research. I would like to thank my students at the
Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse, who have, often unwit-
tingly, contributed to the emergence of new problem areas and with these
the development of new ideas. I thank also those colleagues with whom I
have, directly or indirectly, been able to discuss its contents, or who have
contributed by their research to my own reflexion. These include – non-
exhaustively  – Jean Albrespit, Agnès Celle, Hélène Chuquet, Jean
Chuquet, Gilles Col, Lionel Dufaye, Claude Delmas, Guillaume
Desagulier, Catherine Filippi-Deswelle, Yann Fuchs, Lucie Gournay,
Jean-Rémi Lapaire, Jean-Marie Merle, Renaud Méry, Aliyah Morgenstern,
Denis Paillard, Catherine Paulin, Blandine Pennec, Wilfrid Rotgé,
Martine Sekali, Shirley Thomas and Anne Trévise. Thanks also to the
anonymous reviewers of the first drafts of this book, as well as to the
reviewers of the articles which have served over the years as a testing
ground for many of the ideas it contains.
Prefac e vii
Lastly my thanks go to Professor Antoine Culioli, for the inspiration
and enthusiasm of his work, and to his students, whose patience and
enthusiasm have contributed to the propagation of the ideas of this semi-
nal thinker.
Avignon, France Graham Ranger
Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 I ntroduction 1
1.2 Th e Term discourse marker 2
1.3 Th e Multiplicity of Theoretical Approaches 3
1.4 Th e Multicategorial Nature of Discourse Markers 4
1.5 Th e Multifunctional Nature of Discourse Markers 6
1.6 S ummary and Outline of the Book 9
Bibliography 12
2 T he Theory of Enunciative and Predicative Operations 17
2.1 Introduction 17
2.2 Th e Theory of Enunciative and Predicative Operations 19
2.3 Aims of Linguistic Enquiry 19
2.4 Methods of Linguistic Enquiry 24
2.5 Discourse Markers Within the TEPO 37
2.6 Multicategoriality Revisited 38
2.7 Multifunctionality Revisited 42
2.8 The Schematic Form 57
2.9 T owards an Enunciative Definition of the Discourse
Marker Category 64
ix
x Contents
2.10 Chapter Summary 77
Bibliography 86
3 Anyway: Configuration by Target Domain 93
3.1 Introduction 93
3.2 Previous Studies 96
3.3 A Schematic Form for anyway 102
3.4 Regulation of Interpropositional Relations 105
3.5 Corrective Values: Regulation of Operations
of Representation 109
3.6 R egulation of Intratextual and Intersubjective Relations 114
3.7 Summary and Discussion 129
Bibliography 133
4 I ndeed and in fact: The Role of Subjective Positioning 135
4.1 Introduction 135
4.2 Previous Studies 138
4.3 Accounting for Variation in indeed / in fact 143
4.4 Corpus Findings 154
4.5 Further Cases 162
4.6 Concluding Discussion 171
Bibliography 176
5 Y et and still: A Transcategorial Approach to Discourse
Phenomena 179
5.1 Introduction 179
5.2 Previous Studies 182
5.3 Schematic Forms for yet and still 186
5.4 Aspectuo-Modal Values 187
5.5 Quantifying Values 198
5.6 Argumentative Values 203
5.7 Summary 221
Bibliography 223
Conten ts xi
6 Discourse Marker Uses of like: From the Occurrence
to the Type 227
6.1 I ntroduction 227
6.2 Th e Preposition like: Schematic Form and Variations 230
6.3 Th e Discourse Marker like 240
6.4 Q uotative be like 253
6.5 D iscussion and Conclusion 264
Bibliography 272
7 I think: Further Variations in Subjective Endorsement 275
7.1 Introduction 275
7.2 Previous Research 276
7.3 S chematic Form and Parameters for Configuration 281
7.4 C ase Studies of Contextually Situated Values 286
7.5 Concluding Discussion 298
Bibliography 302
8 General Conclusion 305
Index 311