About the Book
Discourse particles, discourse markers and pragmatic markers refer to phenomena that linguists have begun to probe only since the mid-1980s. Long-ignored in traditional linguistics and textbook grammars, and still relegated to marginal status in South Slavic, these linguistic phenomena have emerged as invaluable devices for cutting-edge theories of the semantics/pragmatics interface. This book, which is a pioneering study in such linguistic phenomena in South Slavic languages, is also among the first of its kind for a related group of languages. It builds on the recent findings of some of the most influential linguistically-oriented theories, such as Relevance Theory, Argumentation Theory and coherence-based approaches to explain the meaning and use of certain discourse/pragmatic particles/markers in Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian and Slovene. These particles/markers are part of the contemporary and historical lexicons of the South Slavic languages, varying across regions and time, but also differing in origin. This book, which draws from naturally occurring data, written media and constructed examples, aims at a wider audience including scholars working in semantics/pragmatics and Slavic languages, and applied specialists interested in this area of research. The authors hope that this book will be conceived as a starting point for a structured inquiry into the flourishing field of discourse particles in South Slavic.
Table of Contents:
1. Preface; 2. Acknowledgement and dedication; 3. 1. South Slavic discourse particles: Introduction (by Miskovic-Lukovic, Mirjana); 4. 2. Ama, a Bulgarian adversative connective (by Fielder, Grace E.); 5. 3. Kamo, an attitudinal pragmatic marker of Macedonian (by Sevigny, Alexandre); 6. 4. Markers of conceptual adjustment: Serbian bas and kao (by Miskovic-Lukovic, Mirjana); 7. 5. The Bosnian discourse particle ono (by Premilovac, Aida); 8. 6. Reformulating and concluding: The pragmatics of the Croatian discourse marker dakle (by Dedaic, Mirjana N.); 9. 7. Pa, a modifier of connectives: An argumentative analysis (by Zagar, Igor Z.); 10. Note on contributors; 11. Index
Review :
The articles in this collection represent path-breaking studies in Slavic linguistics and in pragmatics. South Slavic discourse particles are arguably the most intractable elements for both analysis and translation, and the studies in this volume greatly advance our understanding of these vital phenomena.
South Slavic Discourse Particles offers an impressive empirical coverage of South Slavic discourse markers, and lays down the foundations for future work in this area. The book is a great resource for Slavists, for linguists working within the relevance theory framework, and for cognitive linguists more generally.
A most interesting volume which – by offering in-depth analyses of discourse particles from a group of languages that so far have hardly been studied from this point of view – constitutes a very welcome contribution to current knowledge of the role that such particles play in communication.
The book is a valuable contribution to the phenomenon of particles in the South Slavic languages and a good starting point to further definitions of the phenomena in this field. All the articles are backed with sufficient material analysed for the purpose. Once again the value of the particle as a contextually bound word is pointed out. Besides the good study within the theoretic frame the authors are adopting, on one hand the relevance theoretic approach, on the other argumentative within the Ducrot's principle of polyphony, the impact is seen beyond the theory in question. [...] Hopefully the book will yield to encourage further particle research within the scope of pragmatics of those languages.
The volume is a valuable reference for anyone studying discourse markers, especially those in South Slavic languages.
The collection of studies in South Slavic discourse particles based on authoritative data is not only a very valuable contribution to Slavic Linguistics but also to the field of particle analysis and pragmatics as a whole. If it is true that discourse particles are procedural in nature guiding the interpretation process then it can be expected that markers with similar procedural functions will be found in diverse languages of the world.
Moreover, by choosing mainly two pragmatic models, the Relevance Theory of Sperber and Wilson and Ducrot and Anscrombre’s Theory of Argumentation and Topoi, the authors pay attention to various aspects of particle analysis (cognitive, communicative and argumentative) in a very successful way. It becomes more and more apparent that a single aspect for the analysis of particles and a single scope of application only covers part of the communicator’s intention of the communicator. In fact the authors have shown that not only the scope of utterance but also the level of discourse is indeed important to recognise in particle analysis. This collection provides also insight into the historical development of the particles from conceptual phenomena to procedural particles in a remarkable way. Moreover, every paper pays attention to clarity, detail and richness of data display. This is a work no linguist interested in discourse particles and pragmatics should ignore.
This well-conceived and highly informative volume should be of particular interest to specialists in both discourse analysis and Slavic linguistics. Many readers will also benefit from the short survey of the sociolinguistic situation of the South Slavic languages which the book includes.
The book South Slavic Discourse Particles, as a pioneering collection of studies on discourse particles in South Slavic languages, represents a significant contribution in terms of centering the attention to a topic which seems to be marginal in the traditional study of South Slavic philology. [...] There are many reasons why the book South Slavic Discourse Particles represents a significant contribution to studying discourse markers. Not only does it include a detailed introductory chapter which tackles the burning issues regarding terminology, as well as other disputable issues related to this relatively new linguistic area, but it also presents articles which deal with particular discourse markers in respective languages and clearly indicate that the South Slavic languages abound these means of communication. [...] The book South Slavic Discourse Particles highlights the importance and the potential of the area it deals with, and lays a firm foundation for further research in the field of South Slavic philology.
The studies in this volume provide fruitful extensions to our knowledge on the numerous functions of discourse particles with respect to text, discourse, argumentation and cognitive context. The volume thus contributes to our understanding of the challenges for theory development in the field.
The volume is a valuable reference for anyone studying discourse markers, especially those in South Slavic languages. Some contributors approached their essay through a systematic theory-supported analysis, while others are more theoretical and argumentative, hence presupposing that the reader has some theoretical knowledge. Therefore, the target audience is graduate students and researchers who may use the book as a tool to identify possible implications for further research and challenges for carrying out new studies.
This much needed book in the field of discourse analysis comprises the results of research on discourse particles, which has been increasingly interesting for linguists in the past few decades. The reason for choosing South Slavic languages as the sources of material and field of investigation rests in their abundance of discourse particles. [...] This book, whose contributions follow the dialectal continuum of South Slavic languages from South to North, thus covering an impressive number of languages, is an extremely valuable resource for everyone interested in discourse particles as it provides authoritative data on the semantic and pragmatic aspects of a number of discourse particles.
The South Slavic languages haven't always commanded the attention from linguists in general that they deserve. Moreover, discourse elements constitute a neglected topic within these languages. This well-conceived collection of interesting studies therefore enriches at once these two important areas of scholarly concern.
This is a fascinating collection of studies about current spoken usage in each of the modern South Slavic languages. The level of theoretical discussion is sophisticated, yet all of the articles are accessible to anyone interested in language. Non-specialists will be particularly intrigued to see the ways in which these small but ubiquitous particles form a systematic part of the speech code of Bulgarians, Macedonians, Bosnians, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
