Pragmatic markers and interpersonal alignment in contemporary British: A corpus-assisted study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12928/eltej.v9i2.16516Keywords:
Corpus pragmatics, Discourse markers, Interactional pragmatics, Interpersonal alignment, Pragmatic markersAbstract
Pragmatic markers are small conversational forms, but they carry substantial interactional weight in spoken English. They organize discourse and shape interpersonal meaning. This study examines the functions of you know, I mean, well, like, so, and I think and their contribution to interpersonal alignment in contemporary British conversation. Adopting a corpus-assisted qualitative design, the study analyses approximately 50,000 words from around 40–50 Spoken BNC2014 extracts involving adult speakers. Extracts were selected based on the six markers and surrounding turns for contextual analysis. AntConc was used for corpus retrieval and frequency analysis, while NVivo 12 supported qualitative coding. Each occurrence was examined in context, and lexical or grammatical uses were excluded, leaving 812 eligible tokens. Like was the most frequent marker (218; 26.8%), followed by well (176; 21.7%), you know (147; 18.1%), I mean (112; 13.8%), so (94; 11.6%), and I think (65; 8.0%). The findings show four interconnected functions: constructing shared knowledge, facilitating reformulation and repair, managing turns and sequences, and expressing stance and mitigation. You know invited listener recognition; I mean clarified prior talk; well and so managed responses and progression; and like and I think made meanings more approximate and negotiable. Alignment interpretations were grounded in surrounding sequences and interlocutors’ responses rather than in the markers alone. The findings indicate that pragmatic markers support interpretive coordination, relational sensitivity, and conversational continuity. The study contributes to corpus-assisted and interactional pragmatics and offers implications for learners’ pragmatic competence.
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