Discourse markers in Persian
What is it about?
Persian discourse markers are words such as xob (خب), digé (دیگه), hâlâ (حالا), and tâzé (تازه) that are used to organize and manage the discourse or to express the speaker's attitude toward the content of talk. These discourse markers do not have fixed meanings, rather they have "meaning potentials" that are realized within context. As a discourse marker, digé (دیگه) manages the discourse by pointing forward to an upcoming discourse unit; whereas, tâzé (تازه) manages discourse by marking subordinate discourse segments and pointing backward to a prior discourse segment. On the other hand, hâlâ (حالا) typically draws focus to the discourse segment in which it appears.
Why is it important?
The examination of Persian discourse markers indicates that shared meaning potentials naturally lead to similar discourse and pragmatic functions. The discourse markers digé (دیگه), hâlâ (حالا), and tâzé (تازه) share a temporal semantic feature that contributes to the primary function of these markers as focus management markers.