discourse words

[colkitto]

This may be an example of a change in progress

discourse words ... like ... y'know ... kazetsja ...

maybe "allegedly" is starting to undergo some erosion ....


> In the days when I drove a lift in a department store, I was continually 
> amazed by the contradictory accounts of the weather that I received from 
> customers.  Even in the West Riding of Yorkshire the weather doesn't 
> change that fast, and a hedging phrase such as 'v principe' would have 
> been a very useful adjunct to my necessarily obsequious replies. Perhaps 
> because of that, whenever I speak a foreign language other than Russian, I 
> find myself constantly trying to come up with literal translations of 'v 
> principe'.
>
> But I am surprised to find 'allegedly' introduced into this company.  At 
> least in British English this is more than a discourse word, since it is 
> customarily added to any public accusation to ensure that you (and the 
> medium conveying your words) are exempt from any subsequent libel action 
> that may be brought.  I accept, though, that its use in technical language 
> could be problematic, not least because it is in effect the expression of 
> a personal opinion.
>
> John Dunn.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alina Israeli <aisrael at AMERICAN.EDU>
> To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
> Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:09:51 -0500
> Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] discourse words
>
> Many thanks to Olga Yokoyama for defending the discourse words that
> traditionally earned a bad reputation being called crutches, sornjaki
> and many other things. A quick Google search of the subject gives you
> a number of citations. But I would like to mention a book edited by
> Denis Paillard and K. Kiseleva "Diskursivnye slova". (Moscow 1998)
>
> In my translation class I actually teach the meaning of some of those
> words, like v principe, for example, and how to translate them into
> English. Learning to use them in a foreign language is a lot harder.
> This is a true sign of mastery of the language.
>
> AI
>
> On Nov 28, 2007, at 7:41 PM, Yokoyama, Olga wrote:
>
>> [quoting Renee Stillings: Oh, and drop all the crutch words. Russian,
>> both written, and verbal, is often littered with ambiguous
>> (non-committal ...) terms like "v principe," "vozmozhno," etc. In
>> nearly
>> all cases these can just be dropped for the sake of good
>> writing ... or
>> speaking. I can't tell you how many times a question along the
>> lines of
>> "How's the weather today?" is answered by "V principe, kholodno."
>> Is it
>> or isn't it???]
>>
>
>
> Alina Israeli
> LFS, American University
> 4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
> Washington DC. 20016
> (202) 885-2387
> fax (202) 885-1076
> aisrael at american.edu
>
>
>
>
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>
> John Dunn
> Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
> University of Glasgow, Scotland
>
> Address:
> Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
> 40137 Bologna
> Italy
> Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
> e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
> johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it
>
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