Abstract
Descriptions of spoken language based on corpora have sensitised us to
the role that small words play in communication in that they are polyfunctional,
laden with interpersonal meaning and contextually bound. It can certainly be
argued that their general ubiquity in corpus frequency lists is a testament to their inherent multifunctionality. These small items have been shown to be essential to, and sometimes emblematic of, the pragmatic systems of different varieties of English. Now, like so many other pragmatic markers, has been shown to exceed its more generally observed temporal functions when examined across different varieties and contexts. For example, in addition to its canonical temporal and discourse marking functions, now has additional functions as both a pragmatic marker and deictic presentative in spoken Irish English. In the present chapter, a functional classification of now, developed based on evidence from the Limerick Corpus of Irish English, is tested comparatively in relation to both the Ireland component of the International Corpus of English and the Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech. The chapter takes an iterative approach to the corpus data: randomised samples of concordance lines with now as node (n = 500) are examined in both corpora in order to determine the functions of now. In addition, the chapter utilises the corpus metadata to supplement this analysis with a sociolinguistic profile of the item. Therefore, the chapter aims also to reveal a profile of the users of the marker now as well as what they use it for in both Irish and Scottish English.
the role that small words play in communication in that they are polyfunctional,
laden with interpersonal meaning and contextually bound. It can certainly be
argued that their general ubiquity in corpus frequency lists is a testament to their inherent multifunctionality. These small items have been shown to be essential to, and sometimes emblematic of, the pragmatic systems of different varieties of English. Now, like so many other pragmatic markers, has been shown to exceed its more generally observed temporal functions when examined across different varieties and contexts. For example, in addition to its canonical temporal and discourse marking functions, now has additional functions as both a pragmatic marker and deictic presentative in spoken Irish English. In the present chapter, a functional classification of now, developed based on evidence from the Limerick Corpus of Irish English, is tested comparatively in relation to both the Ireland component of the International Corpus of English and the Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech. The chapter takes an iterative approach to the corpus data: randomised samples of concordance lines with now as node (n = 500) are examined in both corpora in order to determine the functions of now. In addition, the chapter utilises the corpus metadata to supplement this analysis with a sociolinguistic profile of the item. Therefore, the chapter aims also to reveal a profile of the users of the marker now as well as what they use it for in both Irish and Scottish English.
| Original language | English (Ireland) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Socio-Pragmatic Variation in Ireland |
| Subtitle of host publication | Using pragmatic variation to construct social identities |
| Editors | Martin Schweinberger, Patricia Ronan |
| Place of Publication | Berlin |
| Publisher | De Gruyter |
| Pages | 11-30 |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Keywords
- sociopragmatics
- pragmatic markers
- Irish English
- varieties of English
- 'now'