Cover not available

In:Constructions in Contact 2: Language change, multilingual practices, and additional language acquisition
Edited by Hans C. Boas and Steffen Höder
[Constructional Approaches to Language 30] 2021
► pp. 55–80

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

“Ok, qui d’autre na, nobody on the line right now?”

A Diasystematic Construction Grammar approach to discourse markers in bilingual Cajun speech

 | Université de Neuchâtel
Published online: 3 June 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cal.30.03bou
Abstract
Discourse markers (DMs) in bilingual speech have received much attention in language contact studies because their semantic and syntactic detachability make them easy targets for being used bilingually. Though past studies on multilingual DM usage have provided rich insights, open questions remain with regard to non-salient examples and the emergence of mixed code DMs. This paper looks at the DM system of Cajun bilinguals in Louisiana using a Diasystematic Construction Grammar approach. The analysis demonstrates that the DM systems of Cajun bilinguals are simultaneously active. Besides using DMs outside of their native languages, evidence of the congruence of the two systems is further supported by the documentation of mixed code DMs such as na, yeah mais and mais yeah.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Historical background and current language contact situation
  • 3.Data and methods
  • 4.Overview of DM use across both languages
  • 5.Signs of congruence of two DM systems in Cajun bilinguals
    • 5.1The DM na and mais yeah/yeah mais
    • 5.2DMs at the border of language switching
  • 6.Discussion and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (49)
References
Aijmer, K. (2013). Understanding pragmatic markers: A variational pragmatic approach. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aijmer, K., & Simon-Vandenbergen, A. M. (2004). A model and methodology for the study of pragmatic markers: The semantic field of expectation. Journal of Pragmatics 36(10), 1781–1805. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anthony, L. (2017). AntConc (Version 3.5.5). Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Retrieved from [URL], date of access 02.102018.
Bernard, S. K. (2003). The Cajuns: Americanization of a people. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boas, H. C. (2010). On the equivalence and multifunctionality of discourse markers in language contact situations. In T. Harden, & E. Hentschel. (Eds.), 40 Jahre Partikelforschung (pp. 301–315). Tübingen: Stauffenburg Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boas, H. C., & Weilbacher, H. (2006). The unexpected survival of German discourse markers in Texas German. CLS 42–1: The Main Session. Papers from the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society, 1–15.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). How universal is the pragmatic detachability scale? Evidence from Texas German discourse markers. In F. Hoyt, N. Seifert, A. Teodorescu, & J. White (Eds.), The Proceedings of the Texas Linguistic Society IX Conference (pp. 33–58). Stanford: CSLI.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brasseaux, C. A. (1992). Acadian to Cajun: Transformation of a people 1803–1877. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burgess, R. (2017, May 24). French immersion education expands into Evangeline Parish. The Acadiana Advocate. Retrieved from [URL], date of access 10.20.2018.
Chevalier, G. (2002). La concurrence entre ‘ben’ et ‘well’ en chiac du sud- est du Nouveau-Brunswick (Canada). Cahiers de sociologie, 7(1), 65–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). Les marqueurs discursifs réactifs dans une variété de français en contact intense avec l’anglais. Langue française, 154(2), 61–77. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dajko, N., & Carmichael, K. (2014). But qui c’est la différence? Discourse markers in Louisiana French: The case of but vs. mais . Language in Society, 43(2), 159–183. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
de Rooij, V. A. (2000). French discourse markers in Shaba Swahili conversations. International Journal of Bilingualism, 4(4), 447–467. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dubois, S., & Horvath, B. M. (2002). Sounding Cajun: The rhetorical use of dialect in speech and writing. American Speech, 77(3), 264–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dubois, S., Noetzel, S., & Salmon, C. (2006). L’usage des pratiques bilingues dans la communauté cadienne. Canadian Journal of Applied Linguistics/Revue Canadienne de linguistique appliquée, 9(2), 207–219. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eckert, P., & McConnell-Ginet, S. (1999). New generalizations and explanations in language and gender research. Language in Society 28(2), 185–201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fried, M., & Östman, J. (2004). Construction grammar and spoken language: The case of pragmatic particles. Journal of Pragmatics, 37(11), 1752–1778. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuller, J. M. (2001). The principle of pragmatic detachability in borrowing: English-origin discourse markers in Pennsylvania German. Linguistics 39(2), 351–369. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goss, E. L., & Salmons, J. C. (2000). The evolution of a bilingual discourse marking system: Modal particles and English markers in German-American dialects. International Journal of Bilingualism, 4(4), 469–484. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. (1989). Neurolinguists, beware! The bilingual is not two monolinguals in one person. Brain and Language, 36(1), 3–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Studying bilinguals. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Höder, S. (2012). Multilingual constructions: A diasystematic approach to common structures. In K. Braunmüller, & C. Gabriel (Eds.), Multilingual individuals and multilingual societies (pp. 241–257). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014). Constructing diasystems: Grammatical organisation in bilingual groups. In T. A. Åfarli, & B. Mæhlum (Eds.), The sociolinguistics of grammar (pp. 137–152). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klingler, T. A. (2015). Beyond Cajun: Toward an expanded view of Regional French in Louisiana. In M. D. Picone, & C. E. Davies (Eds.), New perspectives on language variety in the South: Historical and contemporary approaches. (pp. 627–640). Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES Project: Tools for Analyzing Talk. 3 Rd Edition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved from [URL], date of access 02.10.2018.
Marshall, M. M. (1996). Le rôle de la langue français en Louisiane de ses origines jusqu’aux temps présents. Plurilinguismes, 11(1), 7–36.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maschler, Y. (2000). What can bilingual conversation tell us about discourse markers?:Introduction. International Journal of Bilingualism, 4(4), 437–445. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matras, Y. (1998). Utterance modifiers and universals of grammatical borrowing. Linguistics, 36(2), 281–331. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000). Fusion and the cognitive basis for bilingual discourse markers. International Journal of Bilingualism, 4(4), 505–528. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muysken, P. (2000). Bilingual speech: A typology of code-mixing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). Code-switching. In R. Mesthrie (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of sociolinguistics (pp. 301–314). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, C. (1993). Social motivations for codeswitching: Evidence from Africa. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). Contact linguistics: Bilingual encounters and grammatical outcomes. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Na!. (2019). In Larousse.fr. Retrieved August 8, 2019, from [URL]
Neumann-Holzschuh, I. (2008). Oui YEAH! Zur Syntax und Pragmatik ‘gedoppelter’ Diskursmarker im Louisiana-Französischen. In E. Stark, R. Schmidt-Riese, & E. Stoll (Eds.), Romanische Syntax im Wandel (pp. 469–485). Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ok. (2020). In Larousse.fr. Retrieved March 13, 2019, from [URL]
Picone, M. D. (1996). Stratégies lexicogéniques franco-louisianaises. Plurilinguismes, 11(1), 63–99.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). Anglophone Slaves in Francophone Louisiana. American Speech, 78(4), 404–433. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). French Dialects of Louisiana: A revised typology. In M. D. Picone, & C. E. Davies (Eds.), New perspectives on language variety in the South: Historical and contemporary approaches. (pp. 267–287). Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Poplack, S. (1980). Sometimes I’ll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en español: Toward a typology of code-switching. Linguistics, 18(7), 581–618. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salmons, J. (1990). The bilingual discourse markings: Code-switching, borrowing, and convergence. Linguistics, 28(3), 453–480. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schiffrin, D. (1987). Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Torres, L. (2006). Bilingual discourse markers in indigenous languages. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. 9(5), 615–624. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valdman, A. (2016). Vers l’identification des néologismes lexicaux du français de Louisiane. In. I. Neumann-Holzschuh, & B. Bagola (Eds.), L’Amérique francophone – Carrefour culturel et linguistique (pp. 281–304). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valdman, A., Klingler, T. A., Marshall, M. M., & Rottet, K. J. (1998). Dictionary of Louisiana Creole. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valdman, A., Rottet, K. J., Arcelet, B. J., Guildry, R., Klingler, T. A., LaFleur, A., Lindner, T., Picone, M. D., Ryon, D. (2010). Dictionary of Louisiana French: As spoken in Canjun and American Indian communities. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weinreich, U. (1954). Is structural dialectology possible?. Word 10(2), 388–400. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1964). Languages in contact: Findings and problems. London: Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Boas, Hans C. & Steffen Höder
2025. Diasystematic Construction Grammar at work. In Constructions in Contact 3 [Constructional Approaches to Language, 40], ► pp. 22 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue