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Repair strategies and social interaction in spontaneous spoken French: the pragmatic particle enfin
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2001
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.
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- © 2001 Cambridge University Press
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