Investigating acquisition of discourse markers through a developmental learner corpus

Despite the importance of discourse markers for pragmatically effective communication, surprisingly little research has been conducted on the acquisition of these markers by immigrant second language learners. The present paper approaches this understudied research area by using a developmental learner corpus (Belz and Vyatkina, 2005 and Belz and Vyatkina, 2008) to examine discourse marker use by one naturalistic adult language learner for one year. Results show very different patterns of use and development among three focal discourse markers. You know was heavily overused by the participant although its occurrences declined by 50% over the year; like increased from almost zero uses at the beginning of the year to over 2300 occurrences per 100,000 words by mid-year, then dropped by 50% by the study's end; well was not used at all as a discourse marker. Possible reasons for these patterns are discussed, including the participant's need for pragmatic coping devices as a naturalistic language learner, or the more nuanced functions of well compared to like and you know. Overall, the paper aims to show the usefulness of developmental learner corpora as a tool for studies of pragmatic acquisition, as well as the importance of considering naturalistic learners in our picture of second language pragmatics.

► This study uses a developmental learner corpus with a naturalistic L2 learner.
► Results show very different developmental patterns for three discourse markers.
► Like, you know, and well were used in distinctive ways by the learner.
► Pragmatic acquisition may be very different for naturalistic and classroom learners.
► Developmental learner corpora may be useful for studying pragmatic acquisition.