Discussion article: Pragmatic markers, interjections and discourse

Abstract

This article addresses a range of issues centering on pragmatic markers, interjections and the analysis of discourse in relation to three contributions in this volume of the journal. After an initial clarification of terminology in the area of pragmatic markers in general and discourse markers more specifically, I introduce an Interactional Sociolinguistic perspective on pragmatic markers by contrast with the Adaptive Management in Discourse approach of Romero. Then I take up the matter of written versus spoken data with relation to the articles by Fernández-Villanueva and Matamala. I go on to focus on interjections and their distribution, in particular the discourse marker functions of oh in English with relation to the article by Matamala. Finally, I broaden the discussion to a general consideration of interjections as pragmatic markers.