Deconstructing variation in pragmatic function: a transdisciplinary case study

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• dc.contributor.author Wiltschko, Martina
• dc.contributor.author Denis, Derek
• dc.contributor.author D’Arcy, Alexandra
• dc.date.accessioned 2022-10-18T05:53:14Z
• dc.date.available 2022-10-18T05:53:14Z
• dc.date.issued 2018
• dc.description.abstract Despite recent advances (e.g. Cheshire 2007; Pichler 2010; Denis 2015), discourse-pragmatic variables continue to challenge variationist theory and methods. An overarching dilemma concerns multifunctionality, raising difficulties for semantic equivalency and the circumscription of the variable context. In this article we present a case study to illustrate that deconstructing a discourse-pragmatic marker into its composite parts reveals clear criteria for disambiguating its principal function and its contextually derived functions. The discussion centres on the pragmatic marker eh in Canadian English. We illustrate that its multifunctionality is derivable from four parts: principal function, syntactic context, prosodic context, and discourse context. Our deconstruction uses a two-pronged methodology, drawing on storyboard elicitation and sociolinguistic interview data, which mutually reinforce our theoretical arguments. Under this transdisciplinary lens, the exponents of form and function become predictable, constrainable, and systematically derivable for probabilistic modelling within and across speech communities.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Wiltschko M, Denis D, D’Arcy A. Deconstructing variation in pragmatic function: a transdisciplinary case study. Language in Society. 2018;47(4):569-99. DOI: 10.1017/S004740451800057X
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S004740451800057X
• dc.identifier.issn 0047-4045
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/54451
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher Cambridge University Press
• dc.relation.ispartof Language in Society. 2018;47(4):569-99
• dc.rights © Cambridge University Press 2018. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• dc.subject.keyword Confirmationals
• dc.subject.keyword Multifunctionality
• dc.subject.keyword Pragmatic markers
• dc.subject.keyword Speech acts
• dc.title Deconstructing variation in pragmatic function: a transdisciplinary case study
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion