Functional Variation of Discourse Particles in Lithuanian: A Look at Clause Peripheries
2019
The present study aims to examine functional variation of the focus particle gi and the demonstrative particle va occurring in clause peripheries in Lithuanian. The study explores the scope of the particles, their host units (phrasal, clausal, non-clausal), occurrences in different speech acts and co-occurrences with other elements in the left and right periphery. The data have been retrieved from the sub-corpora of Spoken Lithuanian and Fiction in the Corpus of the Contemporary Lithuanian Language as well as from the parallel corpus ParaCorpEN-LT-EN. The findings obtained provide evidence of a number of distinct functions of the particles in clause peripheries. In the left periphery, gi and va function as devices for the organisation of discourse and foreground the speaker’s perspective, and in the right periphery they express the speaker’s emotive assessments targeted at the hearer and claiming the hearer’s response. Despite some functional overlap in clause peripheries and in other positions, the particles gi and va display sufficient functional diversification determined by their position in a clause and by discourse factors.
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