Prosodic Marking of Conjunctive Adverbs as Discourse Markers in Serbian EFL Students’ Oral Argumentation

Authors

  • Aleksandar Pejčić

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2022.14.4

Keywords:

discourse markers, conjunctive adverbs, spoken discourse, argumentation, EFL

Abstract

This study analyses the use of conjunctive adverbs as discourse markers (DMs) in oral argumentative presentations by two groups of Serbian EFL students with the intention of comparing the distribution of DMs and the strength of their prosodic boundaries. The study included 5 first-year and 5 third-year students at the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, who recorded their oral argumentative presentations on a topic selected by the researcher. The analysis included the distribution of DMs by functional class, whereas the acoustic analysis looked into the use of boundary tones, nuclear tones, pitch reset and pauses. The results revealed that the third year students did possess a broader range of appropriate vocabulary, especially adverbial and used lengthier pauses, but did not differ much in their choice of tone or key from their first-year peers.

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Published

2022-12-21

How to Cite

Pejčić, A. (2022). Prosodic Marking of Conjunctive Adverbs as Discourse Markers in Serbian EFL Students’ Oral Argumentation. Belgrade English Language and Literature Studies, 14(1), 95–114. https://doi.org/10.18485/bells.2022.14.4

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2022): BELLS - volume 14

Section

THEORETICAL AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS

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