An Overview of Spanish Discourse Markers of Reformulation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to shed light on the nature and behaviour of Spanish Discourse Markers of Reformulation by looking into the scope of the reformulator and their distributional properties. Taking previous research on English reformulators (Del Saz 2003; Del Saz 2005, in press; Del Saz and Fraser, in press) as a framework of analysis, I have analyzed a set of Spanish reformulators using the two parameters above in order to complement the research already carried out on Spanish markers of Reformulation. Outlining the scope of the reformulator has proved useful to discriminate between the uses of these markers. Likewise, looking into co-occurrence of markers of the same and/or different types has allowed me to identify the basic instructions they convey. The results outlined here seem to support the view that these markers display multifunctionality and are insightful with regard to the level of prototypicality that each marker displays.