Discourse Markers

Routes for development in the pragmaticalization of SORRY as a formulaic marker

by Clara Molina

Published in RAEI 24 (191-212)

JUST revisited: Panchronic and contrastive insights

by Clara Molina

Published in IJES 12-1 (17-36) Co-authored with Manuela Romano

Connecteurs et analyses de corpus: de l'analyse manuelle à l'analyse automatisée

by Liesbeth Degand

Toward automatic determination of the semantics of connectives in large newspaper corpora

by Liesbeth Degand

Bestgen, Yves; Degand, Liesbeth; Spooren, W (2006). Toward automatic determination of the semantics of connectives in large newspaper corpora. In : Discourse Processes : a multidisciplinary journal (2006), p. 175-193. doi: 10.1207/s15326950dp4102_4.

We explored the possibility of using automatic techniques to analyze the use of backward
causal connectives in... more We explored the possibility of using automatic techniques to analyze the use of backward
causal connectives in large Dutch newspaper corpora. With the help of 2 techniques,
Latent Semantic Analysis and Thematic Text Analysis, the contexts of more
than 14,000 connectives were studied. The method of analysis is described. We
found that differences that have been suggested in the literature via hand-based analyses
between these types of connectives (e.g., on dimensions such as subjectivity,
change in perspective, and factuality of the connected segments) also appear in our
corpus of 16.5 million words.

Causal connectives or causal prepositions? Discursive constraints* 1

by Liesbeth Degand

Degand, Liesbeth (2000). Causal connectives or causal prepositions? Discursive constraints. In : Journal of Pragmatics (2000), p. 687-707. doi: 10.1016/S0378-2166(99)00066-1.

The impact of connectives and anaphoric expressions on expository discourse comprehension

by Liesbeth Degand

Degand, Liesbeth; Lefèvre, Nathalie; Bestgen, Yves (1999). The impact of connectives and anaphoric expressions on expository discourse comprehension. In : Document Design : journal of research and problem solving in organizational communication (1999), p. 39-51.

This study focuses on the impact of linguistic markers of coherence on the comprehension of expository discourse. The... more This study focuses on the impact of linguistic markers of coherence on the comprehension of expository discourse. The impact of such markers on comprehension (i.e. off-line) is a highly controversial topic in current studies, especially for connectives for which a facilitating as well as an interfering role has been demonstrated. As a matter of fact, it seems that connectives facilitate the comprehension process in that they improve the reading process, but that they do not increase comprehension of the text. It might even be possible that they ease the reading task in such a way that they provide the reader with the “impression” of having understood the text instead of a real understanding.
The objective of the experiment was to test this far reaching hypothesis for the use of connectives in expository texts. We wanted to determine the impact of causal connectives such as because (‘parce que’) and so (‘donc’) on comprehension and on the feeling of understanding, contrasting it with the impact of anaphoric expressions. Contrary to previous results, our experiment shows that the presence of connectives actually improved comprehension while it did not have an impact on the feeling of understanding.

The impact of connectives and anaphoric expressions on expository discourse comprehension

by Liesbeth Degand

Degand, Liesbeth; Lefèvre, Nathalie; Bestgen, Yves (1999). The impact of connectives and anaphoric expressions on expository discourse comprehension. In : Document Design : journal of research and problem solving in organizational communication (1999), p. 39-51.

This study focuses on the impact of linguistic markers of coherence on the comprehension of expository discourse. The... more This study focuses on the impact of linguistic markers of coherence on the comprehension of expository discourse. The impact of such markers on comprehension (i.e. off-line) is a highly controversial topic in current studies, especially for connectives for which a facilitating as well as an interfering role has been demonstrated. As a matter of fact, it seems that connectives facilitate the comprehension process in that they improve the reading process, but that they do not increase comprehension of the text. It might even be possible that they ease the reading task in such a way that they provide the reader with the “impression” of having understood the text instead of a real understanding.
The objective of the experiment was to test this far reaching hypothesis for the use of connectives in expository texts. We wanted to determine the impact of causal connectives such as because (‘parce que’) and so (‘donc’) on comprehension and on the feeling of understanding, contrasting it with the impact of anaphoric expressions. Contrary to previous results, our experiment shows that the presence of connectives actually improved comprehension while it did not have an impact on the feeling of understanding.

Competing connectives in the causal domain: French car and parce que.

by Liesbeth Degand

Degand, Liesbeth; Fagard, Benjamin (2012). Competing connectives in the causal domain: French car and parce que. In : Journal of Pragmatics (2012), p. 154-168. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2011.12.009.

In Modern French, parce que “because” seems to be replacing car “because, for”. This is not a new phenomenon: the... more In Modern French, parce que “because” seems to be replacing car “because, for”. This is not a new phenomenon: the competition between these two causal conjunctions (among others) started out almost a thousand years ago. Our corpus data show that parce que only recently gained the upper hand, but only in Spoken French, while Written French still allows the use of car on a par with parce que.

We investigate here this double evolution – the dying out of car and development of parce que – with a corpus study including a written diachronic corpus (from Preclassical to Contemporary French) and modern spoken data. Our aim is to see when and how parce que came to the fore, and to study the role of grammaticalization and subjectification in this process.

Scaling causal relations and connectives in terms of speaker involvement

by Liesbeth Degand

Pander Maat, Henk & Degand, Liesbeth (2001). Scaling causal relations and connectives in terms of Speaker Involvement, Cognitive Linguistics 12 (3), 211-245.

This article presents a scalar approach to the semantics and distribution of
causal connectives in Dutch and... more This article presents a scalar approach to the semantics and distribution of
causal connectives in Dutch and French. The proposed scale is called the
speaker-involvement scale, and is de®ned in terms of the degree of implicit
involvement of the speaker in the construction of the causal relation. First,
a number of causal coherence relations identi®ed in the literature are
reanalyzed in terms of increasing speaker involvement, yielding the following
order: nonvolitional, volitional, causal epistemic, noncausal epistemic,
speech-act relations.
Subsequently, a number of frequent causal connectives in Dutch and French
are investigated in terms of speaker involvement. Initially, we examine the
distribution of these connectives in terms of the ®ve relational interpretations.
These distributions are taken as ®rst indications of the speaker-involvement
levels encoded by the di€erent connectives. The speaker-involvement pro®les
thus developed are further supported by observations regarding the semantic
e€ects of substituting a connective with a di€erent speaker-involvement
level. It is found that connectives are not necessarily tied to the expression
of a particular coherence relation. The relative independence pertaining
between connective meanings and categories of relational interpretation
yields expressive possibilities for speakers who want to introduce assumptions
to, or remove them from, the interpretation of a certain relation.
Finally, more ®ne-grained di€erences in speaker involvement were
revealed by analyzing the utterance containing the connective for linguistic
features having to do with subjectivity. One of the results of this kind of
analysis is that, in all relations, high speaker-involvement connectives more
often accompany segments with a ®rst-person protagonist than do other
connectives.

From Prepositional Phrase to Hesitation Marker: The Semantic and Pragmatic Evolution of French

by Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen

The Semantic Status of Discourse Markers* 1

by Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen

La Polysémie De L'Adverbe Déjà

by Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen

A Comparative Study of the Semantics and Pragmatics of Enfin and Finalement, In Synchrony and Diachrony

by Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen

Iraq, y cosas así: los apéndices conversacionales en español coloquial

by Johan Gille

Published in Moderna Språk, 100, pp. 157-166

Los niveles del diálogo y los apéndices conversacionales

by Johan Gille

2006. Co-authored with Cilla Häggkvist. Published in Falk, J., J. Gille & F. Bermúdez Wachtmeister (eds.), Discurso, interacción e identidad. Stockholm: Stockholm university, pp. 65-80.

Apéndices generalizadores introducidos por o

by Johan Gille

2010. Co-authored with Cilla Häggkvist. Published in Oralia. Análisis del discurso oral, vol. 13, pp. 127-144.

Discourse Markers ‘well’ and ‘oh’.

by kent lee

Grammaticalisation of discourse marking elements in relative clauses

by Rachel Hendery

Chapter 7 in Grammatical Change: Theory and Description (2010)

La Polysémie De L'Adverbe Toujours

by Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen

Alors and Donc In Spoken French: A Reanalysis* 1

by Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen