The Syntax and Semantics of Discourse Markers

179 Pages·2010·1.35 MB·English

by  Miriam Urgelles-Coll

The Syntax and Semantics of
Discourse Markers
Continuum Studies in Theoretical Linguistics
Edited by Siobhan Chapman, Reader and Chair of the English Language
Group, University of Liverpool, UK
Continuum Studies in Theoretical Linguistics publishes work at the
forefront of present-day developments in the fi eld. The series is open to
studies from all branches of theoretical linguistics and to the full range
of theoretical frameworks. Titles in the series present original research
that makes a new and signifi cant contribution and are aimed primarily
at scholars in the fi eld, but are clear and accessible, making them useful
also to students, to new researchers and to scholars in related disciplines.
Other titles in the series:
Agreement Relations Unifi ed, Hamid Ouali
Grammar of Spoken English Discourse, Gerard O’Grady
Neural Network Model of Lexical Organisation, Michael Fortescue
The Syntax and Semantics of
Discourse Markers
Continuum Studies in Theoretical Linguistics
Miriam Urgelles-Coll
Continuum International Publishing Group
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© Miriam Urgelles-Coll 2010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any
information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the
publishers.
Miriam Urgelles-Coll has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-4411-9550-0 (hardcover)
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Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Background 7
2.1 Adverbs 7
2.2 Discourse Markers 23
2.3 Anyway 41
2.4 Discussion 63
3 HPSG and SDRT 64
3.1 HPSG: A System of Signs 64
3.2 Minimal Recursion Semantics 71
3.3 Discourse Representation Theory 75
3.4 Segmented Discourse Representation Theory 78
3.5 Alternative Formal Discourse Models 92
3.6 Conclusion 102
4 Anyway: An Informal Analysis 103
4.1 Introduction 103
4.2 Discourse Continuity vs. Discourse Discontinuity 105
4.3 Ambiguity vs. Vagueness 109
4.4 The Syntax of Anyway 110
4.5 The Semantics of Anyway 117
4.6 Co-occurrence with Other Adverbs 121
4.7 The Meaning of Any and Way 125
4.8 Synonyms 131
4.9 Conclusion 142
5 Anyway: A Formal Analysis 143
5.1 Anyway: Formal Lexical Entry 143
5.2 Adverbial Examples 147
5.3 Discourse Marker Examples 154
5.4 Conclusion 158
Notes 161
Bibliography 164
Index 169
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Chapter 1
Introduction
In this book, we will attempt to provide a syntactic and semantic formal
analysis of discourse markers. In particular, we will focus on anyway and its
functions. Discourse markers generally belong to the word class of adverbs.
In Chapter 2, we will observe that the adverb category is varied in meaning,
and that there have been various attempts to classify different adverbs in
different categories in regards to meaning. Authors have then related dif-
ferent meanings to different syntactic behavior. It seems that meaning
affects where an adverb appears in a sentence, which other adverbs it can
co-occur with, etc. In the case of anyway, it appears to have a general com-
mon meaning, however, it occupies different positions in the sentence, and
due to this different occurrence it has a different effect in discourse. When
it appears in initial sentence position, its function is to close a topic or
digression. On the other hand, when it appears at the end of the sentence,
it has different adverbial meanings that connect the utterance it appears
in with a previous utterance. In Chapter 2, we will also review types of
classifi cations of adverbs in order to test which categories can co-occur
with anyway. The conclusions of these possible co-occurrences will be drawn
in Chapter 4.
Anyway shares certain prototypical characteristics associated to discourse
markers. (We will review relevant literature on discourse markers in
Chapter 2.) Syntactically, it is integrated with the rest of the sentence; and
it can be omitted without affecting the grammaticality of the sentence.
Semantically, it does not affect the truth-conditions of the proposition it
appears in.
In regards to anyway, nearly all literature distinguishes between a dis-
course marker use and an adverbial or propositional meaning use. The
number of functions and meanings anyway has is problematic.
The fi rst set of examples here illustrates the dismissive aspect that anyway
brings to discourse.
2 The Syntax and Semantics of Discourse Markers
(1) And we were coming in around the back side. The little trail that goes
up there was around the back side of the two camps. Anyway, he got
up there kind of between where our cabins were and all at once he
yelled ‘Get back! Get back.’ (Ferrara [1997, 362])
(2) I was in the fi fth grade, or sixth grade, or something; and I was a
Brownie. I was a Brownie at the time so I must have been like in the fi fth
grade. No. I was a girl scout. I can’t remember what I was now. Anyway,
we went camping in February and it was cold. (Ferrara [1997, 362])
(3) His dad walked in. His dad said we screwed up, and that we just
lost our motor cycles. And Gardland starts crying. I could only think
what I would say to my parents. I should say that I lost my motorcycle,
it got confi scated. Anyway, we’re sitting there and I think that the
other guy agrees with Gardland’s dad. I think they were screwing us.
Anyway, they told us they would confi scate the bikes if we got caught
again. And they gave us our motorcycles back. (Ferrara [1997, 362])
(4) So the next day when I walked in; they didn’t realize that I was the
same person.
And so I started speaking to them. They had spent the whole day with
me the day before; and I walk in the next day; and they didn’t know
who I was ((laugh)) Anyway, they razzed me all week long about my
Texas clothes. (Ferrara [1997, 362])
(5) They got up early. That’s rare for them. Anyway, they left at noon.
(Ferrara [1997, 355])
(6) a. Joseph: And I jumped out of bed. I was stark naked. I yelled at
the top of my voice. And he fell out the window. And Edwina was
jumping and kicking. She thought I’d gone nuts.
b. Don: ((laugh))
c. Joseph: Anyway, by that time it was almost daybreak. He’d chosen
an odd hour for his illegal entry. So I said ‘I’ve killed a man.’
(Ferrara [1997, 363])
(7) a. Nader: We were going through customs. And some agents asked
our nationality, because they saw our passports. They asked if
we were Iranian. My mum and dad said ‘yes.’ I didn’t answer cause
I was a little kid.
b. Javier: How old were you?
c. Nader: I was eight. Anyway, they took us to their offi ce. (Ferrara
[1997, 364])
From all these examples, we can see that anyway dismisses a particular
issue under discussion in order to introduce a new topic, or return to a
Introduction 3
previous topic. As can be observed, this happens both in monologue and
dialogue. In (1), the speaker fi nishes a digression on a background descrip-
tion of the scenery. This digression is marked by the use of anyway. The
following utterance is therefore considered the main story. The example in
(3) is very similar in the sense that the inability to recollect the activity and
age of the speaker is considered a digression by the same speaker when
she uses anyway to continue retelling her story.
In example (4), the speaker is telling a story when he expresses an
opinion in regards to that story (i.e., I think they were screwing us), this is
regarded as a digression when the speaker utters anyway right after it, and
he returns to the main topic of the story. The dismissed comment in (5) is
the laughter that the story generates. This occurs in (6) as well. Finally, in
(7), the dismissed comment, or aside to the story is the question asked
by one of the participants in regards to the age of teller of the story when
the events occurred.
The function of anyway appearing at the start of an utterance is clear.
However, the largest discrepancies occur when anyway is used as an
adverbial, that is, when anyway is used at the end of a sentence. There seems
to be four different uses: question dismissive, dismissive, contrastive, and
modifi cative.
A question dismissive anyway is used in questions, that is, when anyway
appears in a wh-interrogative, and it is isolated from the rest of the
text. That is, this type of anyway does not seem to be connected to any
previous piece of discourse. The role of anyway in this case is to bring
importance to the topic of the question. Examples of anyway as a question
dismissive are:
(8) How is Kim anyway? (Owen [1985, 84])
(9) How’s Des anyway? (Owen [1985, 84])
(10) How did he get them anyway? (Lenk [1998, 56])
(11) Who owns the water anyway? (www.texaspolicy.com/tppnrchive.
a
php?cid=1217534170Accessed /07/26/09)
(12) What is emo anyway? (http://roomfullofshadows.blogspot.com/
Accessed /07/26/09)
The fi rst three examples were uttered in an ongoing conversation, and
the aim of these questions was to shift the topic. That is, to stop the issue
under discussion up to that point, and change it to the topic of the question
in itself. On the other hand, the last two examples were titles of blogs
and/or web pages, therefore starting a topic after other issues had been
discussed previously.