While discourse markers have been examined in some detail, little is known about their usage by non-native speakers. This book provides valuable insights into the functions of four discourse markers (so, well, you know and like) in native and non-native English discourse, adding to both discourse marker literature and to studies in the pragmatics of learner language. It presents a thorough analysis on the basis of a substantial parallel corpus of spoken language. In this corpus, American students who are native speakers of English and German non-native speakers of English retell and discuss a silent movie. Each of the main chapters of the book is dedicated to one discourse marker, giving a detailed analysis of the functions this discourse marker fulfills in the corpus and a quantitative comparison between the two speaker groups. The book also develops a two-level model of discourse marker functions comprising a textual and an interactional level.

Table of contents

Acknowledgements ix

List of tables xi

List of figures xiii–xv

Abbreviations xvii–xviii

1. Introdution 1–59

2. So 61–100

3. Well 101–146

4. You know 147–196 5. Like 197–239

6. Conclusion 241–252

Notes 253–254

References 255–269

Appendices 271–281

Indexes 283–290