On the Pragmatic and Social Functions of Discourse Markers Now and Then

石秀玲

【Abstract】This paper aims to explore the discoursal， pragmatic and social functions of discourse markers now and then by analyzing their uses in Pride and Prejudice based on the knowledge of discourse analysis. It is found that discourse markers serve as： 1）contextual coordinators to present the semantic relationship of preceding utterances and following talks； 2）indicators of topic-shift， turn-taking； 3）mitigators of offence which can reduce the face-threatening activities； 4）linguistic parameters to identify the social power of the given character.

【Key words】discourse marker； contextual-coordinator； pragmatic function； power

1. Introduction

The expressions like oh， well， then， and， but， so， ok， I mean， you know， are grouped together functionally and are usually considered to “contribute to the interpretation of an utterance rather than to its propositional content” （Fraser， 1999， p.948）. Used as the contextual clues to the manifestation and interpretation of the speakers communicative intentions， discourse markers drew scholars attention in early 1970s， such as Halliday and Hasan （1976）， van Dijk （1979）， Schifrin （1987； 2001）， Fraser （1996）， Blakemore （1992； 2002）， Brinton （1996）， Jucker & Ziv （1998）and so on. Scholars centered on the linguistic properties and pragmatic functions of discourse markers as a whole or as individual markers in different languages based on the conversations in daily life and novels. The conversations between the characters in the novels can be treated as naturally occurring conversations for the reason that literary dialogue could be read as condensed forms of naturally occurring talk； and literary authors should be regarded as fellow researchers into the basic structures of verbal interaction （as cited in van Dijk， 1985， p.202）. The present study aims to explore the pragmatic functions and social functions of discourse markers now and then in Pride and Prejudice which is rich in characters and conversations.

2. The Pragmatic and Social Functions of Now and Then

The functions of now and then as discourse markers are influenced by its basic deictic meaning of “at the present time” and “at that time” respectively. Now is frequently used to mark the progression of interaction by attracting communicators attention to the upcoming idea， the new topic and the next speaker and then refers to “prior discourse time to establish succession between events as well as succession between other units of talks such as ideas， topics， and actions” （Shiffrin， 1987， p. 250）.

2.1 The Discoursal function

Discoursal function usually involves various semantic relationships between the upcoming utterances and the prior talks. In this sense， the use of now is inherently epistemic， involving comparison based on what they are now， as well as making use of assumptions that are already accessible. Consider the following examples：

（1）“Pray， my dear aunt…Last Christmas you were afraid of his marrying me， because it would be imprudent； and now， because he is trying to get a girl with only ten thousand pounds， you want to find out that he is mercenary.” （p. 178）

In Example （1）， Elizabeth explicitly introduces the contrasting ideas， that is， Wickhams discretion and avarice， and then she continues her comparison with the second subtopic prefigured by now. Now in （1）serves as a contextual coordinator to help the hearer understand the implicit information. The employment of now in comparisons can be explored from another perspective.

（2）“When I do myself the honor of speaking to you next on this subject I shall hope to receive a more favorable answer than you have now given me” （p. 124）.

（3）After listening one morning to their effusions on this subject， Mr. Bennet coolly observed， “From all that I can collect by your manner of talking， you must be two of the silliest girls in the country. I have suspected it some time， but I am now convinced” （p. 32）.

（4） “Very well. We now come to the point. Your mother insists upon your accepting it. Is not it so， Mrs. Bennet？” （p. 128）

When used in the comparisons， now in Example （2）clarifies the relationship between the event time of the proposition and speaking time， i.e. the time of its utterance. Now in Example （3）marks both the event time of the proposition and the discourse time established with the utterance going， that is， the correspondence of event time and discourse time. The time relationship marked by now in （4）is internal to the discourse world. Used as a marker of time， now displays a continuum of time relationships， ranging from the physical world， the correspondence of event time and discourse time， to the discourse world. Temporarily successive events in real world usually coincide with successive topics in discourse world. Similar to now， then can signal various kinds of semantic relationship， such as the cause-effect relationship.

（5）“How many letters you must have occasion to write in the course of the year！ Letters of business too！ How odious I should think them！”

“It is fortunate， then， that they fall to my lot instead of to yours.” （p. 53）

In （5）， then is used to mark the reason for “It is fortunate” and then here is to encode procedural constraints on the inferential phase of comprehension. The hearer is required to give full consideration to the implicit communicative intention of the speaker. Another common usage of then is for conclusive statement. For example，

（6）“She has one only daughter， the heiress of Rosings， and of very extensive property.”

“Ah！” cried Mrs. Bennet， shaking her head， “then she is better off than many girls. And what sort of young lady is she？ Is she handsome？” （p. 76）

In （6）， when Mr. Collins finishes his compliments for Lady Catharine and her daughter， Mrs. Bennet concludes that the young lady possess more than other girls and shows great interest to know more. Then draws the hearers attention to the speakers following utterance and explains why the speaker utters it.

2.2 Pragmatic Function

Conversation system is essentially a set of conventions for getting turns， keeping them， or giving them away. Any possible change of turn point is called a Transition Relevance Place， or TRP （Yule， 2002， p. 72）. It is found that now frequently occurs at transition relevance places and is used by the speaker to get the floor， hold the floor， or relinquish the floor. Turn-taking may be the most obvious example to show the orientation of the utterances， such as the following examples.

（7）“Now I have got some news for you，” said Lydia， as they sat down to table...Lydia laughed， and said， “Aye， that is just like your formality and ...Well， but now for my news…”

In （7）， Lydia uses the first now to bid for the floor and draw her two sisters attention on what she is about to say， whereas， she employs the second now prefacing “for my news”， to hold the floor and control the topic development of the talk.

Mitigation is defined not as a particular type of speech act， but the modification of a speech act： the reduction of certain unwelcome effects that a speech act has on the hearer （Fraser， 1980， p. 341）. Discourse markers， as face-threatening mitigators， are conducive to create a congenial atmosphere for interpersonal communication. Consider the following example.

（8）“Elizabeth， you are not serious now.”`

“I beg your pardon， I will try again…”

“As I did the other day，” said Elizabeth， with a conscious smile； “very true，. … But really， and upon my honour， I will try to do what I think to be wisest； and now， I hope you are satisfied.”

In the implicit comparison， Mrs. Gardiner complains that Elizabeth is not talking seriously with now referring to what Elizabeth has said right now. Realizing her aunts intention， she begins with “I beg your pardon and I will try again…” and after a long， serious and exhaustive explanation， she ends the conversation with “Now， I hope you are satisfied”， which is responsive and reactive to her aunts request. In this case， Elizabeth uses now to indicate that she has adjusted the old background assumptions， established mutual cognitive environment and therefore mitigated the discrepancy between her aunt and her.

Then usually indicates temporal succession of utterances， actions， in particular a request from the hearer. Look at the following examples.

（9）“Then，” observed Elizabeth， “you must comprehend a great deal in your idea of an accomplished women.”—“Yes； I do comprehend a great deal in it.” （p. 43）

In （9）， Elizabeth infers that Darcy is critical to such kind of women and makes the assumption prefaced by then and Darcy catches her intention and gives his approval， as the pattern shows.

Such request for confirmation hinges upon the receipt of information elicited by the hearer and suggests that the speaker first brings prior information into his contextual assumptions， makes a transition to a more active participant role， and then performs an action based on that information. In respect to Relevance Theory， then in the above cases is used as a prompter， indicating that a response is required.

2. 3 Social Function

Then can be applied by the speaker to take the turn of speaking， as in the following example.

（10）“How nicely we are crammed in！” cried Lydia. “…Well， now let us be quite comfortable... and then Dear me！ …and then， what do you think we did？ ...Lord！ How I laughed！ And so did Mrs. Forster... And that made the men suspect something， and then they soon found out what was the matter. “Oh！ Mary，” said she， “… And then when we came away it was such fun！ ... And then we were so merry all the way home！...” （pp. 252-253）

In the case of （10）， Lydia employs a lot of discourse markers， such as well， now and so on， to suggest that her expectation to provide the hearer with some new information or something important. After that， five successive uses of and then shows her intention to sustain the floor of talking without breaking-ins. Lydia strategically uses then as a courtesy signal to prelude her following utterances and prevent others interruption， which reflects that Lydia is a nobody in the society and she has to use DMs to hold the turn of speaking. Sometimes the hearer may deliberately ignore such uses of discourse markers and threaten the faces of the speaker as example （11）shows.

（11）“You have no regard， then， for the honor and credit of my nephew...” “Lady Catherine， I have nothing farther to say. You know my sentiments.” “You are then resolved to have him？” …“I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner…” “It is well. You refuse， then， to oblige me. You refuse to obey the claims of duty...” （pp. 400-401）

In （11）， the first use of then not only suggests her complicated feeling， with shock and anger mixed， but also shows her effort to maintain her ladyship. To her disappointment， Elizabeth responds with “I have nothing to say”， simply disregarding her so-called ladyship and social power. The second then illustrates Lady Catharines doubts for Elizabeths refusal for cooperation. Though it is unbelievable that Elizabeth dares to ignore her supreme ladyship， she expects Elizabeths interruption and acceptance for her previous advice to save her own “face” with three uses of then， but fails completely.

3. Conclusion

Serving as contextual coordinators， discourse markers locally can be used to present the semantic relationship of upcoming utterances and prior talks. Globally， they can be employed as the indicators of topic-shift， turn-taking and mitigators of offense. Now marks the speakers progression by displaying the attention to what is coming next， while then creates a bridge to the preceding utterances from either the speaker or from the hearer， which results from their different semantic representations， i.e. the proximal quality of now， “at the present time” and distal quality of then， “at that time.” The employment of discourse markers is character-related. The social power of the speaker is the possible motivation for the employment of discourse markers， which suggests that the use of DMs can be influenced by certain social parameters and helps to identify social variables in turn.

References：

[1]Blakemore，D.（1996）.Are apposition markers discourse markers？ Journal of Pragmatics，32，325-347.

[2]Blakemore，D.（2002）.Relevance and linguistic meaning： The semantics and pragmatics of discourse markers.Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.

[3]Brinton，L.J.（1996）.Pragmatic markers in English： Grammaticalization and discourse functions.Berlin： Mouton de Gruyter.

校级项目：本文受浙江越秀外国学院校级课题“基于语料库的《傲慢与偏见》中话语标记功能研究”（项目编号：N201330）资助。