Discourse markers here and there

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to analyze to what extent and to what ends people use discourse markers in chat language in Hungarian. Since it builds on a small-scale research, the present paper serves to raise questions and provide insights – rather than giving final answers. Drawing on the findings of this small-scale study, the most important proposal of the paper is that discourse marker research should not only turn to speech for research material but also to written language – providing that it is conversational and lengthier (than computer-mediated chats), so that there is enough time at the disposal of the interlocutors to fine-tune their conversational messages.