Participant continuity and narrative structure: Defining discourse marker functions in Old English

2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brita Wårvik
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Discourse Marker

The distal demonstrative as discourse marker in Beowulf

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD EPSTEIN
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Discourse Marker

The literature on the distal demonstrative se in Old English has mainly concentrated on its use as a marker of definiteness (referent identifiability) and deixis. In this article, I focus instead on demonstrative uses that have received much less attention in previous work. Drawing on data from Beowulf, I argue that the distal demonstrative determiner also serves a variety of discourse-pragmatic functions, such as indicating the relative importance of referents; topic continuity; or chapter boundaries.

Facing the Eternal Desert: Sociotemporal Values in Old English Poetry

KronoScope ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-253
Author(s):  
Rosemary Huisman
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Old English ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
English Poetry ◽  
Old English Poetry ◽  
English Poem ◽  
Modern Reader ◽  
The Social ◽  
Singular Noun ◽  
Narrative Time

Abstract Time is a singular noun, but includes a multiplicity of temporalities, including what J. T. Fraser has termed sociotemporality. In this paper, I discuss facing the urgency of time in a narrative dominated by sociotemporality, that of the Old English poem Beowulf, and suggest how criticism of the narrative structure of Beowulf has derived from a monovalent understanding of narrative time. Moreover, in recognizing sociotemporality as dominant in the organization of the poem, the modern reader can gain greater access to what was valued in the social context of its response to “the urgency of time.”

Continuity and quantity

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-122
Author(s):  
Brita Wårvik
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
Additional Test ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
Text Type ◽  
Temporal Expressions ◽  
Narrative Prose ◽  
Specific Factors

Givón’s (1995) quantity principle about the diagrammatic iconicity of coding forms has mostly been investigated for topic continuity and nominal elements. The present paper considers its applicability both to participant continuity and the continuity of time, focussing on their interaction in the organisation of narrative discourse. As an additional test of the hypothesis, the paper studies historical data, examining the structuring roles of signals of participant and temporal continuities in Old English narrative prose. The findings indicate that the choice of signals of the continuities of time and participants follows the iconic quantity principle of longer and informationally-heavier forms encoding greater degrees of discontinuity. The paper also underlines the importance of text type and genre-specific factors in investigations of discourse-structural signals. Specifically for the Old English narrative data, the study provides further support for the discourse marker role of þa ‘then’ as distinct from other temporal expressions.

The discourse markerwellin the history of English

1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas H. Jucker
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Middle English ◽  
Old English ◽  
Partial Answer ◽  
Reported Speech ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
Early Modern English ◽  
History Of ◽  
Face Threat ◽  
Interpersonal Level

The discourse markerwellhas four distinct uses in Modern English: as a frame it introduces a new topic or prefaces direct reported speech; as a qualifier it prefaces a reply which is only a partial answer to a question; as a face-threat mitigator it prefaces a disagreement; and as a pause filler it bridges interactional silence.In Old Englishwellwas used on an interpersonal level as an emphatic attention-getting device (similar to Old Englishhwæt‘listen’, ‘behold’, or ‘what’). In Middle English,wellalways functioned as a frame on a textual level. In Early Modern English, and particularly in the plays by Shakespeare, the uses ofwelldiversified considerably and adopted interpersonal uses again.

scholarly journals The Paradox of Context

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
László Iliásics
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Retrospective View ◽  
New Religion ◽  
The Wanderer

The aim of this paper is to resolve the paradoxical nature of the juxtaposition of Germanic pagan with Christian teachings and ideas in Old English elegies. First, the most relevant notions of religious encounter are discussed. Then, the notion of 'Wyrd,' the Germanic fate motif, shall be introduced. Subsequently, after giving a concise summary of the history and story of The Wanderer and The Seafarer, the paper deals with the narrative structure of each, then analysing their relevant parts in depth. The paper also elaborates on the phenomenon of 'progression.' The word is here used to refer to the shift in tone (from earthly to transcendent) which occurs to emphasise the importance of the new religion and is achieved by presenting Christian teachings as consolation for the exiled protagonists. In The Wanderer, the pagan retrospective view is exchanged for the eschatological, while in The Seafarer the development from a lament to sermon is what will be the means of this consolation.

Toxicity in Themes of Control: An Analysis of the Anglo-Western Cancer Rhetoric in A Monster Calls

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 117-129
Author(s):  
Natali Cavanagh
Keyword(s):  
Western Culture ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
The World

While infection has always haunted civilizations around the world, there are very few diseases that have had as much of an impact on Western culture as cancer has. The abundance of bereavement literature about characters with cancer begs the question; why cancer? This paper discusses ways in which cancer narratives reinforce Western obsession with control, through the lens of rhetoric and narrative structure. The author will specifically discuss how Patrick Ness’ 2011 novel, A Monster Calls, combats modern illness and cancer narratives and challenges themes of control threaded into Western culture

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