Abstract
This paper investigates the semantics and pragmatics of the discourse marker ata in Belizean Kriol. I argue that ata is a contrastive discourse marker in the sense of Fraser ("Towards a Theory of Discourse Markers", 2006a) and that it is used to convey an emphatic contrast with the immediately preceding discourse. I analyze this latter element as a Gricean (Studies in the Way of Words, 1989) conventional implicature. In addition, ata is frequently used in conveying negative attitudes toward the preceding discourse. I argue that this is not a conventional aspect of ata's meaning but that it is instead calculated in context via Gricean pragmatic reasoning.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 86-102 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Lingua |
| Volume | 143 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was funded by a grant from the Global Programs and Strategy Alliance on the Twin Cities campus at the University of Minnesota .