"Well, . . ."

[Charles Doyle]

Useful information, Arnold.

I wasn't suggesting the novelty of response-initial "well," or wondering about its grammar or its rhetorical function.  My observation/query concerned the utter UBIQUITY of the usage currently on television programs with a quetion/anwer format; it now seems almost obligatory.

--Charlie
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Date:         Thu, 26 Oct 2006 14:49:16 -0700
From:         "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
Subject:      Re: So, about this message...
Comments: To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

On Oct 26, 2006, at 7:04 AM, Charlie Doyle wrote:

> Only in the last year or two have I begun noticing on TV that nearly every response to a question from an interviewer or anchorman begins, "Well, . . ."  Has that always been happening? Now, when an answer DOESN'T begin with "well," it sounds abrupt, curt, blunt, or unthoughtful.


it's been around for a very long time.  i don't know if there's been any upswing in its use recently and/or in tv interviews, or whether this is just a selective attention effect on your part.

a sampling of some literature, beginning with Fries 1952, who picked out a minor word-class (his Group K) of utterance-initial discourse markers: well, oh, now, why.

on to Schourup's 1982 dissertation (i was the adviser), with its ch. 4 on "well" (and a short section -- 6.2 -- on "now").

then Carlson's whole *monograph* on "well" (1984).

and Schiffrin's 1987 book, with a chapter (5) on "well", one (7) on "so" and "because", and one (8) on "now" and "then".

there's a lot more.  these are some highlights, mostly from roughly 20 years ago.

references:

Carlson, Lauri.  1984.  “Well” in dialogue games. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Fries, Charles C.  1952.  The structure of English.  NY: Harcourt, Brace & World.

Schiffrin, Deborah.  1987.  Discourse markers.  CUP.

Schourup, Lawrence C.  1983.  Common discourse particles in English conversation.  OSU WPL 28.  1982 OSU PhD dissertation.

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