Bahi-as-a -Discourse -Marker-in-Daily -Libyan-Arabic

Khadeja 1Florida International UniversityCollege of Arts and SciencesDepartment of EnglishThe Uses of ‘bahi’ as a Discourse Marker in the Daily Libyan Arabic ConversationKhadeja M. Ahmed

Khadeja 2I. Introduction:When generally looking at discourse markers, one can define them as linguistic formsused to express ideas or convey pragmatic messages at a particular situation. They are there fora purpose and without them, many pragmatic instances that help people understand what ismeant in such a particular way and interpret the different utterances in a dialogue, will bemissing. Discourse markers, referred to as “DM” are generally defined as brief and frequentlinguistic expressions by which speakers deliver or receive a pragmatic message in the dialogue.(Popescu-Belis & Zufferey, 2011).The use of discourse markers has a lot to do with use of language based on context. Onecan use the same marker in different contexts conveying different meanings. They aremonitored by various factors and are used for a reason that is already perceived by both thespeaker and the hearer in different contexts.Additionally, discourse markers can be utilized and interpreted contextually, but notnecessarily literally. Another important factor that monitors their use is the culture or theenvironment in which they are employed to serve a sociolinguistic function. Moreover, asubconscious agreement from the interlocutors about the way the discourse marker is used isanother important aspect.“Discourse markers are conjectured to give the hearer information about the discoursestructure, and so aid the hearer in understanding how the new speech or text relates to what waspreviously said and for resolving anaphoric references” (Hirschberg and Litman, 1993).However, In Libyan Arabic; a dialect of Arabic, discourse markers also play a major rolein the perception and interpretation of everyday speech. The dialect is so rich with variouslinguistic markers that function pragmatically. Speakers of Libyan get the advantage of using

Khadeja 3discourse markers based on social aspects where culture and environment play an important rolein perceiving the meaning. In this paper, the focus will be on one discourse marker known as‘bahi’ pronounced as /bɑahi/ as a marker that carries various meanings and functions accordingto the context in which it is used. In general, discourse markers are given particularcharacteristics to help identify them in a better way. Schourup (1999) lists some salient featurescharacterizing discourse markers and their functions such as connectivity, optionality, non-truthconditionality, weak clause association, initiality, orality, and multi-categorality.As for ‘bahi’, speakers can play with the word to give various meanings such asagreement, disagreement, warning, expectation more, request for continuance, showingadmiration, blaming, and ending arguments. Also, ‘bahi’ plays a significant role in combiningwhat the speaker as well as the hearer think about each other’s statements. That is, it is servingas a tool that reflects speakers’ ideas and what opinions or reactions they may have towardssomething. Miri Hussein (1997) argued that discourse markers can help manifesting theconnection between ideas and their organization in speech.The motivation behind this study is to reveal how rich and vibrant the Libyan dialect iswith many linguistic markers that can take various roles in discourse based on speakers’ notionsand society’s approval of any newly invented use for any specific word.One clear thing about the word ‘bahi’ is that when it was first used, it did not have thedifferent contextual linguistic meanings that it has today. However, the number of usesincreased as the speakers demanded more uses. The interesting thing about this is the waypeople can manipulate the language in order to deliver different messages by using one word.This paper investigates the various uses of ‘bahi’ as an important discourse marker thattakes place in the daily speech of Libyan people in different situations and social levels.

Khadeja 4‘bahi’ is a multi-functional discourse marker that conveys different meanings. As statedby Lewis, 2006, there are three aspects suggested with reference to the relation between eachmarker’s various meanings and the semantic values that are represented in the lexicon; thehomonymy aspect, the pragmatic aspect, and the polysemy aspect. This applies to ‘bahi’ as welland will be reflected in the data analyzed below.In this paper, the uses of ‘bahi’ will be analyzed based on two types of collected data;videos recorded at The Faculty of Arts, Sebha University, Libya 2008, showing pairs ofstudents sharing a discussion over a task given to them and using ‘bahi’ as a linguistic marker.The other is a collection of written Libyan conversations made over the phone and in person.Each data will be transcribed in the form of extracts followed by analysis of how ‘bahi’was utilized within the context and if there are any other related phenomena associated with‘bahi’.II.Data Analysis:Part I. Video Recorded Data:The data collected was recorded at the faculty of Arts, Sebha University, 2008 in aworkshop under the supervision of the International Association of Pragmatics. Studentscontributing in this data were a mix of undergraduates pursuing their BA in English Language.Each pair of students was given a random set of story sequences to rearrange and talk about asthey work. For the purpose of this paper, only the utterances where ‘bahi’ was used are the onesrelevant to the study, and hence were shared here. The three following extracts written in Arabicwith translation reflect various contextual meanings of the word:Extract 1. (First line in Arabic is the actual utterance, the second, in English, is the meaning)هذه الأولى،‏ اول وحدة،‏ التانية..أهي ا .aThe first one, First one, the second. Here it is

Khadeja 5باهى .bBahi…third, this (agreement)لا .aNo‏...التالتة..هذ هآهى .bHere it isاستنى هما مع بعض .aWait they are togetherهما مختلفين،‏ أهى،‏ البيضاء مع الرمادية والصفراء مع الرمادية..أهيا .bThey are different, Here it is, white and grey and yellow and grey, here it isلا،‏ هنا .ab. No, hereايه .aYesلا،‏ البيضاء مع .bNo white with ..ايه .aYeahلا ، لا .bNo, noهذه هنا .aThis is hereباهى...بعدين؟ .bBahi…then..(Waiting for response)Analysis:As noted above, two uses of ‘bahi’ were used; from the first one, we can infer that‘bahi’ indicated agreement; the agreement of the hearer to what the speaker said without any

Khadeja 6type of objection so that the speaker can either switch to another step or let the hearer do that.Alternatively, in the second use, ‘bahi’ was used in a different context and hence gave adifferent meaning. When the hearer said ‘bahi’ here, she took what the speaker has already saidinto a consideration but still the information was not enough for her, that is why she said ‘bahi’meaning ‘then….?’ asking the speaker indirectly to add more information as needed. So the twofunctions above reflect how ‘bahi’ was used but in two different contexts giving two differentmeanings. It is by the help of discourse markers that speakers can interpret utterances and usethem for many purposes such as politeness, disagreement, and gap filling in a coherent way.(Brennan & Williams, 1995).Extract 2.شوفى اول وحدة هذه ، وبعدين القى عصا باه ى؟ .aLook, this is the first one, and then he found a stick, bahi?حطى الصورة اهيا .bPut this pictureلا ، هذه نفسها ، هده القاها طايحة آه ، صح باهى .aNo, this is the same; he found it thrown (the stick) aha, right bahiباهى ، بعد تكسرت العصا وهنا بيقفز معناها هذه قبل ، ريتى ؟ معناها هذه قبل .bBahi.., after the stick was broken, here he wanted to jump; which means this one isbefore that one, see? It means this one is first.Analysis:As noted above, ‘bahi’ first was used to express the speaker’s doubt if the hearerunderstood or not; that is why she says ‘bahi?’ with a rising tone but in a polite formal mannerexpecting the hearer to reply in return saying ‘bahi’ with a falling tone to assure the speaker’sdoubt. However, in the second situation, ‘bahi’ was used by the speaker to state her initialagreement with her own choice before getting the reaction of the hearer; she says ‘bahi’ so that

Khadeja 7the hearer infers that the speaker is already convinced with her choice. Finally, ‘bahi’ was usedbased on a previous agreement between the two speakers, by then one speaker will say ‘bahi’which means ‘accordingly’ or ‘based on that’, then a consequence of all what took place willcome out. That is, the speaker above repeats the previously observed note in the story and uses‘bahi’ as a marker of reference to that and employs that in her findings about what is going tohappen next. Accordingly, the marker was used each time in a way that is relevant to the context.Hussein (2007) refers to relevance as an approach that connects thoughts and intentions ratherthan the expressed linguistic forms.Extract 3ايه الأولى كان ماشى وبعدين هذه .aYes at first he was walking, then thisباهى ، اوكى ، b.Bahi! (Ok!)كلهن ماشى .aHe is going in all of themايه ، حتى هذا دايرينه هذا ماشى هكى ، انقولوا باهى متلاَ‏ لما بينط وهذا امولى هكى ، ترا هديكا ، ترا هديكا ؟ .bYes, even this, they made him go this way, ‘bahi’ (in case) for example we can say thatwhen he tries to jump and in this one he is coming back , show me that one , show methat one.Analysis:In the conversation above, ‘bahi’ was first used giving the meaning of ‘ok!’ or ‘fine!’;giving the impression that initially, the hearer doesn’t mind what she heard but still she is fullyconvinced of her own opinion which may cause the speakers to go through further discussionuntil one of them is convinced by the other. The second use of ‘bahi’ was used as ‘in case of, thatis, in case something happened, then a consequent event is expected to happen too. In other

Khadeja 8words, something will not happen unless a particular other thing happened. The first use isrelated to initiality characteristic of discourse marker introducing the meaning they mark. Thelatter use is related to the connectivity characteristic by which the marker indicates theconnectivity between the discourse components. The two above characteristics were amongst thediscourse markers characteristics listed by Schourup (1999).Part II. Conversations:Another important factor that serves as a basis for using ‘bahi’ as a marker to convey aspecific message is the age difference between the interlocutors. In other words, ‘bahi’s use maybe used by a speaker with an attribute of authority when addressing anther speaker who isyounger. The following conversations were collected through recording and writing. The figuresof the dialogue were selected based on age difference; two sisters with different age range of 25-30. The dialogues below will reflect how the use of ‘bahi’ can be employed to show thisdifference in reference to responsibility, power, and age hierarchy.Dialogue I. ((a) The younger sister, (b) the older sister)باهى من الوجوه الجديدة؟ .aBahi, (so) any new faces?لا .bNoه...ياہلل مش مشكلة .aBah.. (Never mind) no problemباهى الشغل منتظم؟Bahi (then) work is going well?ايه منتظم .bYes, it is going wellباهى باه .aBahi, bah* (great)

Khadeja 9Analysis:‘bahi’ was first used as ‘so' that is, as a transition from a previous point to a new one. Thesecond use of ‘bahi’ was the result of knowing that there is nothing impressive or interesting toknow, therefore, ‘bahi’ here comes as ‘never mind’ followed by ‘no problem’. The last use of‘bahi’ above expresses admiration of the hearer of something she heard and liked and said with arising tone ‘bahi, bah’. The second ‘bah’ was said with the deletion of the last vowel /i/ and thatis because it was said in a fast causal speech.Dialogue II. ((a) The younger sister, (b) the older sister)تمشى معايا للسوق؟ .aWould you like to go shopping with me tonight?لالا مشغولة .bNo, no, I’m busyباهى،‏ باه .aBahi, bah (Blaming)مشغولة .bI’m really busy and I don’t have time for that, sorry!بكل وما عنديش وقت،‏ معليشباهى،‏ شن رايك نمشوا غدوة؟ .aBahi, (then) how about tomorrow?بصراحة ، هالأسبوع كله ما نقدر...لو الأسبوع الجاى ممكن .bFrankly, this week, I can’t, next week I might be able toباهى باهى،‏ خلاص مانبيش نمشى ، غيرت رأي .aBahi, bahi (forget about it)…..I changed my mind, I don’t want to go at all!Analysis:In this dialogue, ‘bahi’ was first used as an expression for blaming. That is, the speaker didn’texpect the hearer to refuse her request and thus blamed her saying ‘bahi bah’ with a change inher voice. However, in the second utterance, the speaker reschedules a time that might work for

Khadeja 10the hearer, but again the hearer apologizes and give her reason for refusing and offer asuggestion to postpone going shopping to next week which doesn’t receive a positive reactionfrom the speaker and hence the speaker says ‘bahi bah’ with anger stating that she is notinterested in going at all and that is where she said ‘I changed my mind, I don’t want to go at all’.Dialogue III.خيرك ما اتردى على التليفون؟ قلقت عليك .aWhy didn’t answer my call? I was so worried about you!الموسيقى كانت عالية وما سمعت الرنة .bThe music was so loud in the car that I couldn’t hear the phone ringing.با .aBah bah! (Warning) So you turn up the music so high! I told many times not to dothat while driving! So shall I take the keys from you now??هى باه..صار اتعلى فى المسجلة ؟ وكم مرة قتلك انى ما اتعليش الصوت واجد..يعنى توا انقول احسن؟؟لالا،‏ المرة الجاية مش حنعليها خلاص .bNo, next time I will not turn it this loud at all, I promise!كان عاودتيها معناها مافيش سواقة..باهى؟ .aIf you did it again, then no driving! Bahi? (Understand?)باهى باهى .bBahi , bahi, (Ok)Analysis:As noted above, ‘bahi’ was first used to express a warning tone from the speaker to the hearerafter she gave an unserious response while the speaker was so concerned. As the speaker wasolder in age, she simply used this type of ‘bahi’ sending a warning to the hearer who will easilyperceive it. The second use of ‘bahi’ above serves as an expression by which the speaker isseeking the hearer’s understanding for what she has requested in the form of instruction to theyounger sister and after that the hearer replies back and say ‘bahi bahi’ twice assuring thespeaker that she understood that and she will not repeat what she has done before in order not toget her older sister angry with her.

Khadeja 11III.ObservationsFrom all of the above, it is quite obvious that ‘bahi’ can be used in different situations accordingto the speakers’ intentions to deliver certain messages that are expected to be perceived by thehearer. In the future, ‘bahi’ may develop other contextual meanings assigned the way in whichspeakers want it to be used. Again, the role that ‘bahi’ as a discourse marker plays is so helpfulthat it saves a lot of effort for the speakers in perceiving the meaning without having to say it inliteral longer words. ‘bahi’ as a discourse marker is functioning in the same way other discoursemarkers are. Discourse markers help speakers to interpret one utterance based on the informationgained from a prior utterance which is referred to as “local coherence” where linguistic andstructural function of discourse markers is to enhance the coherence of discourse. Schiffrin,(1987). On a sociolinguistic basis, ‘bahi’ use will continue to be used based on speakers’ choiceand perception of social norms such as that of age difference as noted in the data where olderspeakers use ‘bah’ form perspectives that are different from a speaker who is younger which isbasically based on the higher social status elderly or those older in age retain the advantage of‘bahi’ as well as other sociolinguistic phenomena. Also, ‘bahi’ is assigned different rolesaccording to speakers’ social perception in general.IV.ConclusionAs mentioned above, ‘bahi’ may take other roles and as a result indicate further variousmeanings in the future based on the high frequency in which it is used now and the speakers’agreement on any use in the sociolinguistic context. As for this paper, it is worth mentioning thatthe videos data collected were not solely recorded to investigate ‘bahi’ but ‘bahi’ was among thelinguistic forms that were observed in the Libyan speech and was chosen as one of the topics thatare worth to be studied. Accordingly, further work on the uses of ‘bahi’ in wider contexts and

Khadeja 12with larger amount of data can manifest the other important functions that ‘bahi’ is serving nowand the benefit speakers can gain form the word when it comes to delivering or perceiving apragmatic message. Additionally, it can show the other possible uses the word can have. Also, anoteworthy factor in analyzing the uses of the word is by collecting large amount of notes anddata on how the word is naturally used between interlocutors either by making interviews,watching how speakers use it in the different situations on a daily basis where the focus is ‘bahi’only.

Khadeja 13ReferencesBrennan, S.E., & Williams, W. (1995) “The feeling of another’s knowing: prosody and filledpauses as cues to listeners about the metacognitive states of speakers.” Journal ofmemory and Language 34: 383-398Hirschberg, Julia and Diane L. (1993). Empirical studies on the disambiguation of cue phrases.Computational Linguistics 19: 501–30Hussein, M. (1997). Two accounts of discourse markers in English. University of Damascus,Syria.Schiffrin, D. (1987). Discourse markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Schourup, L. 1999. Discourse Markers. Lingua 107: 227-265.Lewis, D. 2006. Discourse markers in English: a discourse-pragmatic view. In: Kerstin FischerApproaches to Discourse Particles. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Popescu-Belis A. & Zufferey S. (2011) - Automatic Identification of Discourse Markers inMultiparty Dialogues: An In-Depth Study of Like and Well. Computer Speech andLanguage. 25: 499-518.