Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

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113

).

DISCOURSE MARKERS

106

General characteristics

106a

Discourse markers are words and phrases which function to link segments of the

discourse to one another in ways which reflect choices of monitoring,

organisation and management exercised by the speaker. The most common

discourse markers in everyday informal spoken language are single words such as

anyway

, cos, fine, good, great, like, now, oh, okay, right, so, well, and phrasal and

clausal items such as you know, I mean, as I say, for a start, mind you (

for a more

complete list, 

Û

107–110 below

). 

Phrases as discourse markers

Discourse markers are outside of the clause structure. They serve to indicate

various kinds of relationship between utterances, and simultaneously indicate

social relations regarding power and formality. In the following examples, the first

group show highlighted items used within the clause; the second group show the

same items used as discourse markers:

● In-clause use; non-discourse-marking:

I didn’t really need it but I bought it 

anyway.

(anyway functions as a concessive adjunct meaning ‘despite [not needing it]’)

You know what we need? Another helper.

(You know functions as reporting verb with the clause what we need as its

object)

I bought extra food 

so we’d have enough in case more people turned up.

(so functions as a subordinator introducing an adverbial clause of purpose)

● Discourse-marker use:

[speaker is describing the different types of house in his neighbourhood]

You’ve got high rises, you’ve got terrace houses, 

you know, bungalows on the

edge and everything.

(you know monitors the state of shared knowledge and projects an assumption

that the listener shares the speaker’s perspective on typical kinds of house)

208 | From discourse to social contexts

Cambridge Grammar of English

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[speaker A has been telling a story about a long, difficult drive from England to

Wales; the speakers digress for a while to talk about whether you have to pay to

cross the suspension bridge which links England and Wales]

A: But you only pay one way. 

B: Oh do you? 

A: Yeah you only pay going into Wales. You don’t pay coming out. 

B: Oh. Right. 

A: But er yeah, anyway, we drove in the rain and the dark for eight hours.

(anyway functions to signal a return to the main narrative after a digression)

[speaker A is a financial adviser who is advising B and C on borrowing money

to buy a house; a first-time buyer is a person who has never owned a house

before]

A: You’ve probably got some burning questions to ask me. ‘How much can we

borrow and how much is it gonna cost?’ Am I right? 

B: Yes. 

A: Okay, so, if you just tell me a little bit about yourselves. Are you first-time

buyers? 

B: Yeah. We’re first-time buyers.

(so marks a transition between the opening part of the discussion and the main

business)