Insubordination, Abtönung, and the Next Move in Interaction. Main-Clause-Initial puisque in French (original) (raw)

Beyond Grammaticalization and Discourse Markers, 2018

Abstract

Main-clause-initial puisque 'but' (?) is an insubordinated erstwhile causal conjunction. It signals that the information introduced by it should be known to the addressee. By doing so, puisque conveys an act of refutation directed against the immediately preceding utterance. As has been noted in the literature, insubordinated erstwhile conjunctions bear a close functional resemblance to German modal particles in that they integrate speech acts into the common ground — a function which we term abtönung. However, in spite of being eligible for abtönung, main-clause-initial puisque is basically a discourse marker rather than a modal particle; as we will show, its usage depends heavily on the sequential ordering of the discourse, whereas constraints of this kind play no role for modal particles. It has often been assumed that the diachronic mechanism behind insubordination is main-clause-ellipsis. However, based on Ford (1993) and Diessel & Hetterle (2011) we will argue that insubordinated puisque was brought about by a reanalysis in elaborative contexts. In the terms proposed by Detges & Waltereit (2016: 653), main-clause-initial puisque emerged from contexts where it served to negotiate the next move in the joint construction of discourse. It is this function that ultimately makes it a discourse-marker, despite its suitability for abtönung.

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