discourse: discourse element
The discourse relation is used for interjections (words tagged INTJ) and other discourse particles or words which are not clearly linked to the syntactic structure of the sentence except in a discursive sense. However, if an interjected element is clausal (including tag questions and words with a sentence-final particle or single words that are verbs or predicate adjectives), it should be given the relation parataxis.
# visual-style 4 1 discourse color:blue
# visual-style 1 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 1 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
1 哦 _ INTJ _ _ 4 discourse _ oh
2 ， _ PUNCT _ _ 1 punct _ _
3 不過 _ ADV _ _ 4 advmod _ but
4 要 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ require
5 三 _ NUM _ _ 6 nummod _ three
6 年 _ NOUN _ _ 4 obj _ CL:years
1 "Okay, _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 but _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 it'll _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 take _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 three _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 years." _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
Some discourse markers appear at the end of an utterance/clause/sentence, but should not be confused with sentence-final particles (discourse:sp) even if there is no pause before it. These include 吓 haa2, 吓嗎 haa6maa2, 吓話 haa6waa2, 呵 ho2.
# visual-style 3 7 discourse color:blue
# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 3 fgColor:white
# visual-style 7 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 7 fgColor:white
1 你 _ PRON _ _ 3 nsubj _ 2SG
2 唔 _ ADV _ _ 3 advmod _ NEG
3 食 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ eat
4 㗎 _ PART _ _ 3 discourse:sp _ SP
5 喇 _ PART _ _ 3 discourse:sp _ SP
6 ， _ PUNCT _ _ 7 punct _ _
7 呵 _ PART _ _ 3 discourse _ (tag-particle)
8 ？ _ PUNCT _ _ 3 punct _ _
1 "You're _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 not _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 eating, _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 isn't _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 that _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 so?" _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
Particles 呀 aa3, 呀 aa4, 呢 ne1/le1, 喎 wo3 may occur after a topic in sentence-initial position; these have homophonous counterparts in sentence-final particles but should not be confused with them, and should be labelled discourse rather than discourse:sp.
# visual-style 1 2 discourse color:blue
# visual-style 1 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 1 fgColor:white
# visual-style 2 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 2 fgColor:white
1 臭豆腐 _ NOUN _ _ 4 dislocated _ stinky-tofu
2 呀 _ PART _ _ 1 discourse _ PART
3 ， _ PUNCT _ _ 1 punct _ _
4 冇 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ not-exist
5 人 _ NOUN _ _ 4 obj _ person
6 食 _ VERB _ _ 5 acl _ eat
7 㗎 _ PART _ _ 4 discourse:sp _ SP
1 "Stinky _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 tofu _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 -- _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 nobody _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 eats _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 that." _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
Additionally, 呀 aa3 and 喇 laa1 may be used to offset items in a list. In this case, they should depend on the items that are conjuncts or that form the list, whether these conjuncts are nouns, phrases, or predicates.
# visual-style 3 4 discourse color:blue
# visual-style 3 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 3 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
# visual-style 6 7 discourse color:blue
# visual-style 6 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 6 fgColor:white
# visual-style 7 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 7 fgColor:white
1 呢度 _ PRON _ _ 2 obl _ here
2 有 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ exist
3 芒果 _ NOUN _ _ 2 obj _ mango
4 喇 _ PART _ _ 3 discourse _ PART
5 ， _ PUNCT _ _ 6 punct _ _
6 龍眼 _ VERB _ _ 3 conj _ longan
7 喇 _ PART _ _ 6 discourse _ SP
8 ， _ PUNCT _ _ 10 punct _ _
9 同埋 _ CCONJ _ _ 10 cc _ and
10 荔枝 _ NOUN _ _ 3 conj _ lychee
1 "There _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 are _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 mangoes, _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 longans, _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 and _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 lychees _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
7 here." _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
The particle 呢 ne1/le1 can also be used as a hesitation marker.
# visual-style 1 2 discourse color:blue
# visual-style 1 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 1 fgColor:white
# visual-style 2 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 2 fgColor:white
# visual-style 4 5 discourse color:blue
# visual-style 4 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 4 fgColor:white
# visual-style 5 bgColor:blue
# visual-style 5 fgColor:white
1 我 _ PRON _ _ 7 nsubj _ here
2 呢 _ PART _ _ 1 discourse _ PART
3 ， _ PUNCT _ _ 1 punct _ _
4 琴日 _ NOUN _ _ 7 obl:tmod _ yesterday
5 呢 _ PART _ _ 4 discourse _ PART
6 ， _ PUNCT _ _ 5 punct _ _
7 見 _ VERB _ _ 0 root _ see
8 到 _ VERB _ _ 7 compound:vv _ arrive
9 隻 _ NOUN _ _ 10 det _ CL
10 老鼠 _ NOUN _ _ 7 obj _ mouse
11 呀 _ PART _ _ 7 discourse:sp _ SP
12 ！ _ PUNCT _ _ 7 punct _ _
1 "I, _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
2 uh... _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
3 yesterday... _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
4 saw _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
5 a _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
6 mouse!" _ _ _ _ 0 _ _ _
References
- Matthews, Stephen and Virginia Yip. 2011. Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar, 2nd ed. Routledge.
discourse in other languages: [bej] [bg] [bm] [cop] [cs] [el] [en] [eu] [fi] [fr] [ga] [hy] [it] [ja] [ka] [kk] [ky] [no] [pcm] [pt] [ru] [sl] [sv] [swl] [tr] [u] [vi] [yue] [zh]