The discourse use of French donc in imperative sentences

• Joeri Vlemings ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Antwerp

     University of Antwerp

     Arrondissement Antwerpen, Bélgica

     
• Localización: Journal of pragmatics, ISSN 0378-2166, Vol. 35, Nº 7, 2003, págs. 1095-1112
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • It seems that the French particle donc is not always used as a conjunction of argumentation, linking the antecedent to the consequent and presenting the consequent as a kind of logical result of the antecedent, as is the case in its inferential use: ‘Il pleut, donc Paul reste à la maison’ (It is raining, DM Paul stays in). When this kind of inferential analysis is applied to utterances like ‘Tais-toi donc’ (Be quiet DM), it becomes obvious that donc is used as a discourse marker without a clear link to any antecedent whatsoever. In this paper I will investigate, from a pragmatic point of view, if it can be maintained that French donc, used in imperative sentences, is indeed a discourse marker and whether this use is to be analyzed along the same lines as inferential donc is.