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Volume 26, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1566-5852
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9854
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Abstract

The development of the pragmatic marker in Irish English is of relatively recent date. From an original adverb of manner there developed a pragmatic meaning when the element shifted to the right periphery (or became exposed there through deletion of an element to the right of it). A transition period occurred during which varying interpretations of were possible, facilitating the rise of as a pragmatic marker. Later it appeared in the prosodically more prominent left periphery where can only have a pragmatic interpretation. The main theoretical insight of this study is that the discourse function arose from the ambiguous interpretation of unqualified . Importantly, a prosodic distinction arose between the two functions of with the discourse use showing considerably less stress on the final syllable [–weɪ] than the syntactic use.

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2024-12-20
2026-07-14

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Anyway in Irish English
Journal of Historical Pragmatics 26, 288 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.24007.hic
/content/journals/10.1075/jhp.24007.hic
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): forced topic shift; hedging device; left and right periphery; pragmaticisation; speaker stance; variational pragmatics

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