Chapter 5

The German modal particle ja and selected English lexical correlates in the Europarl corpus

This study deals with lexical correlates of the German modal particle ja in English, using data from the Europarl corpus for illustration. The central question addressed is whether, or to what extent, English has expressions that are functionally equivalent to ja. A graph-based model for the analysis and comparison of linguistic expressions used for discourse management is proposed, and five typical lexical correlates of ja found in English speeches are analysed in terms of this model: as you know, after all, of course, in fact and indeed. The question of equivalence with ja is addressed in each case and a number of descriptive generalizations are made concerning the conditions under which these expressions are found in English translations of German sentences with ja. It is argued that there is a categorical difference in the use conditions of ja and the English expressions under study: While ja is never used to (newly) establish a speaker’s commitment to the truth of a proposition, or any type of consensus, as it requires propositions to be ratified or uncontroversial at the time an utterance is made, all of the English expressions under study can be used in sentences establishing some type of epistemic commitment or consensus. At a general level, the conclusion is that none of the English expressions in question is functionally equivalent to ja, even though – under specific circumstances – they may have similar communicative effects.