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Analysing Discourse Markers in Spoken Corpora: Actually as a Case Study

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Corpora and Discourse Studies

Part of the book series: Palgrave Advances in Language and Linguistics ((PADLL))

Abstract

We cannot discuss spoken language without taking into account discourse markers.1 Discourse markers are lexical items such as well, I think, you mean, actually of course, so, in fact. Moder and Martinovic-Zic (2004: 117) describe them as being largely syntax-independent and their use does not change the truth-conditional meaning of a sentence, while Swan (2005: xviii) writes that they show a connection between what is said and the wider context. Below is an example showing the context in which several discourse markers (underlined) have been used:

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© 2015 Karin Aijmer

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Aijmer, K. (2015). Analysing Discourse Markers in Spoken Corpora: Actually as a Case Study. In: Baker, P., McEnery, T. (eds) Corpora and Discourse Studies. Palgrave Advances in Language and Linguistics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137431738_5

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