Finance

Philosophy

Business

Artificial intelligence

Psychology

Political science

Position (finance)

Representation (politics)

Computer science

Linguistics

Communication

Discourse analysis

Segmentation

Discourse marker

Politics

Journal of Pragmatics

A large number of studies describe the many different functions of polyfunctional discourse markers like well in different contexts and from different theoretical perspectives. In the current paper, we propose to systematize the many different uses identified based on their position with respect to the discourse units they are associated with. Not only can previous findings on well be integrated into a single coherent representation of its uses and functions, but the positions with respect to the discourse units can also be associated with specific functions, thus shedding light on how the polyfunctionality of well is brought about.

Using discourse segmentation to account for the polyfunctionality of discourse markers: The case of well