Discourse particle

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In linguistics, a discourse particle is a lexeme or particle which has no direct semantic meaning in the context of a sentence, having rather a pragmatic function: it serves to indicate the speaker's attitude, or to structure their relationship to other participants in a conversation. Discourse particles are primarily a feature of spoken language; in written language they indicate an informal or jocular tone.

Examples in English include:

• well e.g. in "Well, I wouldn't say that." or "Well, look who it is!"
• y’know e.g. in "It's not as easy as that, y'know."

[edit] See also

• filled pause
• tag question
• speech disfluencies

[edit] References

• Hansen, Mosegaard (1998). The Function of Discourse Particles: A study with special reference to spoken standard French. ISBN 1-55619-815-9.