Monografico_8_EN_Doxa_31_Discourse_markers

1. Introduction

Interest in digital discourse in Spanish has increased in recent years as shown by studies carried out from various linguistic, sociolinguistic, discursive and pragmatic viewpoints (Mancera Rueda & Pano Alamán, 2013; Estrada Arráez & de Benito Moreno, 2016; Giammatteo et al., 2017; Robles Ávila & Moreno Ortiz, 2019). The majority of recent studies focus on interactions on virtual social networks, assuming that the technological and socio-situational context of the exchange and the conditions of production and reception of the messages largely determine the linguistic register used by the participants when they interact on these platforms. From this viewpoint, it can be affirmed that the majority of messages published daily on Facebook or Twitter are to be found on the pole of communicative immediacy (Koch y Oesterreicher 2007 [1990]), and thus said messages present numerous manifestations of linguistic elements which are prototypical of the informal oral register in Spanish (Briz Gómez, 2014), such as brevity (Cantamutto & Vela Delfa, 2020) or the abundance of neologisms and dialectic expressions (Mancera Rueda & Pano Alamán, 2013).

Although several of the studies referred to mention the presence of discourse markers, their analysis has been limited to a small number of studies of Spanish and Argentine political discourse on Twitter (Loredo & Picone, 2012; Pano Alamán & Mancera Rueda, 2014; Padilla Herrada, 2016). The objective of this article is to contribute to filling this void by means of a quantitative-qualitive, linguistic-pragmatic analysis of the discourse markers utilized most frequently on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The study also seeks to reflect on the possible relationship between the use of certain markers and the informal register which is, to a certain degree, imposed in discourse on social networks, a discourse generally characterised by controversy in the expression of opinions.

2. Theorical framework: discourse markers and digital discourse in Spanish

In one of the first studies of the presence of markers in digital discourse in Spanish, Gómez Torrego (2001) points out that in the electronic mail analysed, “anaphoric connectors” such as such as en efecto (really), claro que sí (of course (it is)), bueno, bien (well), de acuerdo (alright) and por fin (finally) are frequent, as they allow the speakers to handle interaction and negotiation in that medium. López Quero (2007), in his analysis of the functions of pues, pero and bueno in chat channels, underlines the polyfunctional character of markers. For example, the first of these usually initiates the reply to a question taking on a role as an intensifier though it may also have a role of continuity when expressing agreement or disagreement with the speaker; the counter-argumentative connector pero is normally preceded by sí,(yes) when expressing sincerity, or followed by si (if) (pero si) with a modal value of surprise or opposition; as for bueno, this has a meta-discursive role of conclusion, which also allows for attenuation of any possible disagreement with the interlocutor. The same author, in another study focused on the use of venga (come on) in fora of debate and chats, affirms that this conversational marker figures in digital discourse to mark a volitional deontic register as well as to express meta-discourse and the focus of the alterity (López Quero, 2010: 192).

In a study dedicated to the utilisation of markers in specialised fora of debate, Landone (2009) indicates that, in some cases, they are information structurers which give coherence and cohesion to the discourse, while in others they serve as conversational markers which facilitate the development of dialogic interaction. These values allow the author to highlight