À propos de la genèse diachronique des combinaisons de marqueurs. L'exemple de bon ben et enfin bref

Abstract

This article analyzes the diachronic rise of complex discourse markers, that is, markers consisting of more than one word. First, a taxonomy of four types of complex markers is proposed. Two of these types lend themselves to a specific diachronic analysis. Second, two complex French markers are analyzed in detail: bon ben and enfin bref. The diachronic rise of these two markers confirm the hypothesis that complex markers arise in a process of "over-use" of a given sequence of source words. These sequences are over-used in response to a functional need for these particular combinations of words in structuring discourse and interactions, regardless of whether the combinations of words are syntactic phrases or just a series of adjacent markers in discourse.