This paper seeks to investigate discourse markers in Dagbani, a Mabia language spoken in the Northern Region of Ghana. The study aims at identifying the Dagbani discourse markers by drawing data from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data was obtained from normal conversations among individuals at social gatherings and game playing joints where individuals gather and engage in conversations, while secondary data were gotten from some Dagbani novels. Data from both Nanuni (Southern Dialect) of Dagbani and standard dialect were sampled randomly and analyzed base on the social context and the pragmatics of the various markers employed in the discourse. The study also establishes the category of discourse markers displayed in the various conversations, guided by the Discourse Grammar Framework. The study found that, Dagbani discourse markers can be categorized into Thetical and Sentence Grammar with the Theticals dominating in many of the conversations such as w?yiyo “sorry”, laabirata “truly”, Oo! “Oh!”, yεima?li “actually/truly”, lala “really”, leaving few under Sentence Grammar category such as amaa “but”. However, Aa! “Ah! ” is used as a discourse marker to disjoint information.
References
[1]
Abu-bakari, B. (2017). Duligu mini Nɔηa. ζisuη Publications.
[2]
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Longman.
[3]
Blackmore, D. (2006). The Handbook of Pragmatics Eds (pp. 221-240). Blackwell Publishing.
[4]
Brinton, L. J., & Traugott, E. C. (2005). Lexicalization and Language Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615962
[5]
Diani, G. (2010). Emphasizers in Spoken and Written Academic Discourse: The Case of “Really”. In U. Römer & R. Schulze (Eds.), Patterns, Meaningful Units and Specialized Discourses (pp. 31-55). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.22.03dia
[6]
Fraser, B. (1993). Discourse Markers across Language. In L. F. Bouton (Ed.), Pragmatics and Language Learning Monograph Series (Vol. 4, pp. 1-6). University of Illinois.
[7]
Fraser, B. (1996). Pragmatic Markers. Pragmatics, 6, 167-190. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.6.2.03fra
[8]
Fraser, B. (1999). What Are Discourse Markers? Journal of Pragmatics, 31, 931-952. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(98)00101-5
[9]
Hansen, M. M. (1998). The Semantic Status of Discourse Markers. Lingua, 104, 235-260. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0024-3841(98)00003-5
[10]
Heine, B. (2013). On Discourse Markers: Grammaticalization, Pragmaticalization, or Something Else? Linguistics, 51, 1205-1247. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2013-0048
[11]
Heine, B., Kaltenböck, G., Kuteva, T., & Long, H. (2012). An Outline of Discourse Grammar. In S. Bischoff & C. Jeny (Eds.), Reflections on Functionalism in Linguistics (pp. 175-233). De Gruyter Mouton.
[12]
Heritage, J. (1984). A Change-of-State Token and Aspects of Its Sequential Placement. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis (pp. 299-345). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511665868.020
[13]
Hudu, F. (2010). Dagbani Tongue-Root Harmony: A Formal Account with Ultrasound Investigation. PhD University of British Columbia.
[14]
Issah, S. A. (2015). Conjoint and Disjoint Verb Alternations in Dagbani. Ghana Journal of Linguistics, 4, 29-63. https://doi.org/10.4314/gjl.v4i2.2
[15]
Kaltenböck, G., Heine, B., & Kuteva, T. (2011). On Thetical Grammar. Studies in Language, 35, 848-893. https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.35.4.03kal
[16]
Kwame, A. (2018). Segment Deletion as a Morpho-Phonological Process in Dagbani Compound Word Formation. Journal of West African Languages, 45, 155-176.
[17]
Matei, M. (2010). Discourse Markers as Functional Elements. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov, 3, 119-126.
[18]
Oh, S.-Y. (2000). Actually and in Fact in American English: A Database Analysis. English Language and Linguistics, 4, 243-268. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1360674300000241
[19]
Pazack, A. P. (2016). Wuni bimbirili. Pedaddo Ventures.
[20]
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman.
[21]
Schiffrin, D. (1987). Discourse Markers. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611841
[22]
Schiffrin, D. (2006). Discourse Markers Research and Theory: Revisiting and Approaches to Discourse Particles (pp. 315-338). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1163/9780080461588_018
[23]
Tree, J. E. F. (2015). Discourse Markers in Writing. Discourse Studies, 17, 64-82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445614557758
[24]
Waltereit, R. (2002). The Rise of Discourse Markers in Italian: A Specific Type of Language Change. In K. Fischer (Ed.), Approaches to Discourse Particles (pp. 61-76). Elsevier.