`Also' as a Discourse Marker: Its Use in Disjunctive and Disaffiliative Environments

Abstract

The aim of this article is to demonstrate the intricate operation of the adverb `also' in actual interaction at a level of detail that dictionary definitions have failed to capture. Using primarily a conversation analytic framework in examining two data corpora, which include a series of graduate seminar discussions and television roundtable discussions, I argue that the semantic features of `also' are strategically deployed to accomplish complex interactional goals in a disjunctive or disaffiliative environment. In a disjunctive environment, `also' can be invoked to legitimize one's speaking rights - to get the floor. In a disaffiliative environment, `also' can be mobilized to either soften or strengthen a disaffiliative action in subsequent talk. These practices of `also' are accounted for in part by the tensions between coherence and continuation (Linell, 1998; Tracy and Moran, 1983), and in part by the institutional contexts of news media (Dickerson, 2001; Greatbatch, 1992) and graduate seminar (Waring, 2001, 2002 a, b).

The Use of Discourse Markers in Academic Writing by In-Service Primary School Teachers of English

“…DMs are deemed to be a complex phenomenon (Aijmer 2019, Fraser 2015, Povolná 2016), since there are multiple defi nitions of what a DM is and, correspondingly, diff erent approaches to its analysis (Aijmer 2002, Bell 1998, Cuenca and Marín 2009, Waring 2003, as well as diverse functions that DMs perform in oral and written discourse (Rhee 2014, 1). e present study follows the defi nition of DMs proposed by Fraser (2015), who argues that a DM is a lexical expression, drawn from one of three classes (Contrastive DMs, Elaborative DMs, and Implicative DMs), which typically occurs in S2 sentence-initial position in a S1-S2 combination, and which provides no semantic content value but rather signals a semantic relationship between the two sentences.…”

“…In the analytic explanatory essay in linguistics (excerpt 9) as well as in the analytic explanatory essay in children's literature (excerpt 10), the participants deploy the elaborative DM also in order to provide their essays with the additive characteristics in the sense postulated by Waring (2003), where the meaning of addition is coupled with that of exemplifi cation and explanation. e participants' use of the elaborative DM also in (9) and (10) seems to facilitate their strategy of presenting a piece of analysis that is supported by relevant examples and further specifi cation of the analysis.…”

Reopening Russian Conversations: The Discourse Particle -to and the Negotiation of Interpersonal Accountability in Closings

“…Discourse markers have been of substantial interest to researchers studying situated language use because of their role in demarcating discourse connections as well as their potential for indexing social relationships (see, e.g., Aijmer, 2002;Fraser, 1999;Jucker & Ziv, 1998;Lenk, 1998;Schiffrin, 1987). For example, in many languages, discourse markers have been found to index alignment and disalignment between interlocutors (e.g., Greasley, 1994;Jucker & Smith, 1998;Morita, 2005;Park, 1998;Waring, 2003;Wu, 2003) and be involved in building a variety of social and situational identities (e.g., Bolden, 2006;Fuller, 2003;Heingartner, 1996;Kleiner, 1998;Maschler, 2003;Stenström, 1998).…”

Doing disaffiliation with now-prefaced utterances

“…The past two decades have witnessed a burgeoning body of research on discourse markers (e.g., Antaki, 2002;Bolden, 2006;Clift, 2001;Condon, 2001;Gardner, 1997Gardner, , 2007Heritage, 1984;Hutchby, 2001;Jefferson, 1985Jefferson, , 1993Raymond, 2004;Schourup, 2001;Stivers, 2004;Tree and Schrock, 2002;Tyler, 1992;Waring, 2003). Despite the substantial number of empirical endeavors, there seems to be a lack of agreement on how discourse markers may be defined (Schiffrin, 2001).…”

“…Despite the substantial number of empirical endeavors, there seems to be a lack of agreement on how discourse markers may be defined (Schiffrin, 2001). Waring (2003) uses ''discourse marker'' as a cover term for ''those words or expressions that rise above their semantic/referential meanings to take on complex interactional duties' ' (p. 416). Bolden (2006) calls discourse markers the ''little words that matter'' (p. 661).…”