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Conférence: It's all good, ass!

A pragmatic analysis of the Norwegian discourse marker 'ass'

The presentation will explore the Norwegian discourse marker 'ass' and its range of functions. While it has often been assumed that 'ass' primarily serves as an intensifier, the discussion will highlight how it also fulfills other pragmatic functions beyond intensification.

My thesis explores the use of the Norwegian discourse marker ‘ass’. As there was limited research in this particular area, the function of the discourse marker was initially unclear. It has long been generally accepted that ‘ass’ is an abbreviation of ‘altså’ (meaning ‘so’) and is used as an intensifier, strengthening the meaning of a word or phrase, or the speaker’s attitude.

I formulated two hypotheses: (i) the discourse marker ‘ass’ is used to intensify the meaning of a word, a phrase, or the speaker’s attitude, and (ii) the discourse marker ‘ass’ can serve other purposes in addition to strengthening in a discourse.

The data was obtained from the corpus Norsk talespråkskorpus - Oslodelen (NoTa-Oslo), and the Norwegian TV-series Flus. The data was then analyzed using a substitution method, which involved replacing ‘ass’ with other, more well-documented intensifiers. If the pragmatic meaning remained intact, the function was considered to be intensifying. If the pragmatic meaning was deviant, attempts were made to find other pragmatic particles that did not alter the meaning of the utterance.

What I found was that in addition to the intensifying function, the discourse marker ‘ass’ could also function mitigating in several distinct respects. For example, the discourse marker was often used in face-threatening speech-acts, such as rejection, both in regard to the positive and negative face. The thesis also argues that the discourse marker can express regret, and that this function must be regarded as distinct from the mitigating one.

Info

Jour: 2025-11-14
Début: 16:15
Durée: 00:30
Salle: M2.41

Langue: en

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