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Cue phrases are words and phrases such as now and by the way which may be used to convey explicit information about the structure of a discourse. However, while cue phrases may convey discourse structure, each may also be used to different effect. The question of how speakers and hearers distinguish between such uses of cue phrases has not been addressed in discourse studies to date. Based on a study of now in natural recorded discourse, we propose that cue and non-cue usage can be distinguished intonationally, on the basis of phrasing and accent.
Hirschberg et al. (1987) studied this question.