A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE ...

In (8a), Debby makes the statement that some people talk to a friend or neighbor before
seeing a doctor, to which Henry seeks to validate that statement by an experience of a
friend of his. In (8c) he says sometimes it works, and then proceeds to give his
justification for his statement in (8d-g). As Schiffrin explains, because operates locally
by linking Henry’s statement sometimes it works in (8c) with Henry’s opening of a
justification because there’s this guy Louie Gelman in (8d). But then because operates
globally by linking sometimes it works with Henry’s narrative of his friend’s experience
in (8f-j). It is in the manner that markers may work on both local and global levels of
discourse.
The second aspect of multifunctionality is the ability of markers to connect
utterances on either a single plane or across different planes simultaneously. This
multifunctionality is demonstrated below with the markers because and but.
(9) Multifunctionality of discourse markers (from Schiffrin 2001:57)
a) On a single plane
Yeh, let’s get back, because she’ll never get home.
b) On multiple planes simultaneously
Jack: [The rabbis preach, [“Don’t intermarry”
Freda: [But I did- [But I did say those intermarriages that
we have in this country are healthy.
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