On discourse particles and their status in the English language

Table of Contents

Introduction ... 1

1) How to call them and where to place them ... 4
1.1) Terminology ... 4
1.1.2) Terminology used for German words like wohl ... 4
1.1.2) Terminology used for English words like actually ... 4
1.2) Classification ... 5
1.2.1) Classification of German modal particles ... 5
1.2.2) Classification of English discourse markers ... 8
1.3) Comparison ...12

2) How to identify them ...15
2.1) Morphologic characteristics ...15
2.1.1) Morphologic features of German modal particles ...15
2.1.2) Morphologic features of English discourse markers ...15
2.2) Semanticpragmatic characteristics ...16
2.2.1) Semanticpragmatic features of German modal particles ...16
2.2.2) Semanticpragmatic functions of German modal particles ...17
2.2.3) Semanticpragmatic features of English discourse markers ...18
2.2.4) Semanticpragmatic functions of English discourse markers ...19
2.2.5) How to account for their multifunctionality ...21
2.3) Syntactic characteristics ...23
2.3.1) Syntactic features of German modal particles ...23
2.3.2) Syntactic features of English discourse markers ...26

3) How to understand them by tracing back their origins ...27
3.1.) Historical development of English discourse markers ...27
3.1.1) Propositional function of actually ...28
3.1.2) Textual function of actually ...29
3.1.3) Interpersonal function of actually ...30
3.2) Historical development of German modal particles ...31
3.3) How can their difference be explained? ...33
3.4) Where are they heading to? ...34

4) Are there also English modal particles and German discourse markers? ...35

Conclusion ...37

Bibliography ...40