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

ORGANISING THE DISCOURSE 

90

Spoken language often looks chaotic and unorganised, as many of the examples

above might suggest. However, speakers do need to organise their discourse. They

need to preface what they are going to say, and to reflect back upon what they

have said. They also need to mark the openings and closings of topics and of

whole conversations. 

Specific words and structures are often used to mark boundaries in

conversation between one topic, one stage or phase of the conversation, or one bit

of business and the next: for example, items such as anyway, right, okay, you see, 

I mean

, mind you, well, so, now. These items are called discourse markers.

Discourse markers help with the planning and organisation of speech.

Structurally, discourse markers function outside the boundaries of the clause.

Brief examples are given here;

for more detailed treatment, 

Û

108

.

It is their function as organisers of larger stretches of spoken language that

qualifies words or phrases or other structures for classification as discourse

markers. For example, anyway may be used as an adjunct within the clause, but

can also function as a discourse marker indicating some sort of shift in the

direction of the conversation:

I shouldn’t be jealous but I am 

anyway. 

(adjunct modifying the second main clause)

A: Sorry. You know what I mean. Sounds like you’re gonna post it or something.

B: No.

A: Oh dear. Anyway, I’ll have to go cos I’ve got to ring Bob. 

B: Right.

(discourse marker, signalling a desire to close the conversation)

174 | Introduction to grammar and spoken English

Cambridge Grammar of English

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Similarly, right can be an adjective or adverb, but as a discourse marker it often

signals that a speaker is ready to move on to the next phase of business:

Right, we’d better try to phone and see what they have to report.

For further discussion of discourse organisation, 

Û

123–139 Grammar across

turns and sentences and 242–249 Adverbs and adverb phrases

A–Z

17 Anyway; 52 Mean; 54 Now; 57 Oh; 58 Okay/OK; 68 Really; 

69 Right, rightly; 71 So; 76 Well