Viewing discourse markers as one of a class of signals that communicators use to manage conversation can help make sense of the varied and contradictory functions ascribed to them. Issues for further testing include demonstrating that speakers and listeners ascribe particular functions to particular markers, tracking the development of these functions as children age, tracking how these functions are adopted by second language learners, and documenting how discourse marker use changes across technological settings.
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Jean E. Fox Tree (2010) studied this question.
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