The Pragmatic Functions Of The Discourse Marker And

Discourse marker is a hot topic in the field of pragmatics during the recent years. Scholars from abroad have been focusing their attention on this universal social phenomenon and its pragmatic properties ever since1970s. Domestic researchers also began to discuss its significance and pragmatic functions in1990s and we can see some studies in the periodicals. But generally it’s far from enough. Discourse markers are widely used in our daily life, thus the correct understanding of its usage can not only make our own utterances more coherent but also help us have a better understanding of the others. Therefore the study of discourse markers is of great theoretical value and practical significance. As we know that the employment of discourse markers is not for the necessity of syntax but for the need of pragmatics.And has a high frequency in English literary works and is often used in our daily life. Liu Lijin (2002) has a study of the functions of DM and comes to the conclusion that the top three DMs in constructing a discourse are and, then, after. In analyzing SECCL and BNC, Wang Lifei (2005) finds that only and appears in the top ten frequently used discourse markers in both corpora in spite of the different rank in the list. So we can say that and is very often used by both native speakers and English learners.Based on Relevance Theory and Coherence Theory, the thesis is aimed to provide a comprehensive description of the definitions, terminology, properties and multiple functions of discourse marker and from structural, semantic and interactive level, and proved a conceptual framework for a bi-directional optimalization in interpersonal communication. With qualitative analysis, the study uses a large number of extended examples taken from Schiffrin’s work (1987), the classic English film Jane Erye, and also some other examples from some academic works and English literature. Each function will be analyzed extensively and a detailed interpretation is provided in the study of its core meaning in different discourse contexts. Finally the paper points out its limitations and implications. In a word, the thesis aims to present us that as a marker of relevance, discourse markers serve to achieve discourse coherence and improve the interpersonal communication.The paper characterizes that there is a profound analysis of the functions of the discourse marker and and then comes to its core meaning, what’s more it also points out the connection between its meanings and functions.The organization is as follows:The first chapter gives a brief introduction of the origin of the paper on and as a DM, presenting the significance of the current study and giving the outline of the research.Chapter two is literature review, including the definitions and terminology of DM, properties, functions and classifications of DM, and also the studies both domestic and abroad.The third chapter supplies the theoretical background, concerning the coherence-based approach and relevance theory.Chapter four and chapter five are the main body of the study. Chapter four has an overview of the research design and proposes the research questions, the source of the data collections, then qualitative analysis is provided for the study.Chapter five explains the comprehensive analysis of the DM and from the structural level, semantic level and interactive level and also points out its core meaning. On the structural level, and mainly connect sentences or texts, indicating juxtaposition, consistency and progression. On the semantic level, and may show addition, contrast, consequence or result, chronological sequence, explanation and comment. On the interactive level, and mainly shows the continuation of a discourse, shift of topic, delaying device, self-repair or self-correction and plays a guiding role. The core meaning of and is both as a coordinator to link a discourse and a text, indicating addition, contrast and as speaker continuation in interaction to show the transition from one topic to another.The last chapter comes to the conclusion, summarizing the main findings of the study, pointing out the limitations and the areas which need to be further studied.