Contrastive Analysis of German "weil" and English "because" as Discourse Markers in Connected Speech

Table of Contents

• Introduction
  • General approach
  • Primary objective
• Discourse markers
  • Characteristic features
  • Primary functions
• Contrastive analysis of English because and German weil
  • weil
    • Propositional versus non-propositional meaning
    • Functions and examples of weil in corpus
      • weil as a causal subordinating conjunction
      • Epistemic weil
      • weil referring to speech acts
      • weil as discourse marker
  • because
    • Propositional versus non-propositional meaning
    • Functions and examples of because in corpus
      • because as a causal subordinating conjunction
      • Paratactic uses of because
      • because as discourse marker
• Results
• Bibliographic references
  • Online sources
  • Corpora
• Appendix

Objectives and Key Themes

This paper aims to investigate the diverse uses and functions of German "weil" and English "because" as discourse markers in spoken discourse. The analysis will explore both the similarities and contrasts between the two languages in their use of these discourse markers, while also examining their functional dissociations to other fields of operation. The analysis will be conducted through a contrastive approach, utilizing corpus data from the "Forschungs- und Lehrkorpus für gesprochenes Deutsch" (FOLK) and the "British National Corpus" (BNC).

• Definition and categorization of discourse markers
• Contrastive analysis of "weil" and "because" as discourse markers
• Functional dissociations of "weil" and "because" to other fields of operation
• Discourse-pragmatic functions of "weil" and "because" in connected speech
• Similarities and contrasts between the use of "weil" and "because" in spoken discourse

Chapter Summaries

• Introduction: This chapter sets the stage for the investigation by discussing the complexities of spoken discourse and the role of discourse markers in aiding comprehension. It introduces the two languages of focus (German and English) and their respective discourse markers, "weil" and "because," outlining the general approach and primary objectives of the study.
• Discourse markers: This chapter delves into the complexities of defining "discourse markers" as a linguistic phenomenon, acknowledging the lack of a universally accepted definition due to the dynamic nature of language. It examines the diverse terminology used to describe these markers across different linguistic traditions, highlighting the challenges of finding common ground for contrastive analysis.
• Contrastive analysis of English because and German weil: This chapter presents a comparative analysis of "weil" and "because" in their propositional and non-propositional uses. It explores their different functions as causal subordinating conjunctions, discourse markers, and in other contexts, illustrating their usage with corpus examples from the FOLK and BNC.

Keywords

This study focuses on the contrastive analysis of German "weil" and English "because" as discourse markers in spoken discourse. The research explores the functional dissociations of these markers to other fields of operation, emphasizing their role in supporting hearer comprehension processes. Key concepts include discourse markers, spoken discourse, contrastive analysis, pragmatic functions, and corpus data.