Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T14:22:26.153Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Repair strategies and social interaction in spontaneous spoken French: the pragmatic particle enfin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2001

Kate Beeching
Affiliation:
University of the West of England

Abstract

The spoken language has traditionally been regarded as being a degenerate version of the written language, marred by backtrackings and repetitions. This paper explores the role of the pragmatic particle enfin when it is used as a corrective, both to introduce a repair and, in its mitigating or hedging capacity, as a mediator of social relations. An attempt is made to account for the pragmatico-syntactic characteristics of a particular manifestation of corrective enfin – the echo/self-mimic corrective. The behaviour of enfin is arguably a microcosm in a much larger universe of rules governing the way speakers produce and hearers interpret the shifting signals of participatory discourse.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)