Towards a model for discourse marker annotation
Catherine Bolly, Ludivine Crible, Liesbeth Degand, Deniz Uygur-Distexhe · Studies in language companion series · 2017
Abstract This chapter presents an empirical method for the identification and annotation of discourse markers (DMs) in in spontaneous spoken French (MDMA project). Central to the proposal is the assumption that DMs may be described as clusters of features that, in specific patterns of combination, allow to distinguish DM use from other linguistic items fulfilling a non-propositional function, such as modal particles or pragmatic markers. The hypothesis underlying the annotation experiment is that the analysis of the distributional constraints imposed on specific markers should uncover reliable features for the identification and categorization of DMs. Multivariate statistics suggest a certain hierarchy between the different features under scrutiny, regarding their relevance and reliability, in the process of identifying DMs in context.