Well but that’s the effect of it: The use of well as a discourse particle in talk shows
Autor:
Lam, Phoenix
Aufsatztitel:
Well but that’s the effect of it: The use of well as a discourse particle in talk shows
Jahrgang:
30
Heft:
01 (2006)
Seiten:
99-108
Abstract:
Discourse
particles have been a topic of interest in the research community for
decades. Despite the vast number of scholarly outputs dedicated to this
area, it appears that little has been done on the use of discourse
particles by non-native speakers. This paper attempts to address this
largely neglected issue by examining the use of well as a discourse
particle by Hong Kong Chinese speakers of English in a series of a TV
current affairs talk show. Results show that contrary to the prevalent
view in the Hong Kong educational setting that discourse particles are a
sign of dysfluent speech, the discourse particle well in the data
fulfils a wide range of functions which are crucial for participants to
sail through different situations. This raises the question whether the
status of discourse particles in second language learning, if they have
any, should be re-assessed.