The Semantics of French Discourse Particles 'quoi' and 'ben'

Author(s)
Waters, Sophia
Publication Date
2010
Abstract
Discourse particles are strewn throughout natural spoken discourse, revealing the speakers' attitude towards what they are saying and guiding the interlocutors' interpretation of that utterance. The majority of works in the area of the French discourse particles 'quoi' and 'ben' provide detailed analyses and place their primary focus on usage. Problems arise, however, when word usage is discussed without a systematic approach to semantics. The present study applies the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) method of description to these particles, proposing definitive explications that can be substituted into naturally occurring examples of quoi and ben without causing any semantic loss. Explications, framed in the culture-neutral terms of the NSM, capture the subtleties of meaning conveyed by each discourse particle. They are presented in parallel English and French versions and are tested against a corpus of spoken French.
Citation
Selected Papers from the 2009 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society, p. 1-25
ISBN
9780980281538
0980281539
Link
Language
en
Publisher
Australian Linguistic Society (ALS)
Title
The Semantics of French Discourse Particles 'quoi' and 'ben'
Type of document
Conference Publication
Entity Type
Publication

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