The Rise of Discourse Markers

Discourse markers constitute an important part of linguistic communication, and research on this phenomenon has been a thriving field of study over the past three decades. However, a problem that has plagued this research is that these markers exhibit a number of structural characteristics that are hard to interpret based on existing methodologies, such as grammaticalization. This study argues that it is possible to explain such characteristics in a meaningful way. It presents a cross-linguistic survey of the development of discourse markers, their important role in communication, and their relation to the wider context of sociocultural behaviour, with the goal of explaining their similarities and differences across a typologically wide range of languages. By giving a clear definition of discourse markers, it aims to provide a guide for future research, making it essential reading for students and researchers in linguistics, and anyone interested in exploring this fascinating linguistic phenomenon.

1. The development of discourse markers: an introduction; 2. Concepts of analysis; 3. English discourse markers; 4. French discourse markers; 5. Japanese discourse markers; 6. Korean discourse markers; 7. Discourse markers in language contact; 8. Discussion; 9. Conclusions.

Bernd Heine is Emeritus Professor at the Institute of African Studies and Egyptology, University of Cologne. His main research areas are grammaticalization theory, endangered languages in Africa, and discourse grammar. His publications include more than 40 books and over 200 articles.
Gunther Kaltenböck is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Graz in Austria. His main research interests are cognitive-functional grammar, corpus linguistics, language variation and change.
Tania Kuteva is Professor of English Linguistics at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, and Professorial Research Associate of SOAS, University of London. Her main interests include grammaticalization, linguistic typology, language evolution, and discourse grammar.
Haiping Long is Professor at the English Department, School of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen University. His research interests include grammaticalization, linguistic typology, historical linguistics, and discourse grammar.