Russian discourse markers that highlight the truth of the statements: a corpus-based semantic analysis

Abstract

This research analyzes and compares two near-synonymous Russian discourse markers, čto ni govori (‘whatever you say’) and i pravda (‘truly’), both used to verify the truthfulness of statements within their contexts. Despite their crucial role in communication, their analysis remains incomplete. Using data from monolingual and parallel corpora in the Russian National Corpus (RNC) and Sketch Engine, we identified the unique features of these discourse markers, highlighting both their similarities and differences. Our findings reveal distinctions in their usage across various discourse modes (dialogue, questions, and monologues), the presuppositions they carry, their positioning within statements, and their combinatorial properties.

Keywords

• discourse markers
• čto ni govori
• i pravda
• pragmatics
• modes of usage
• presupposition