Ironic denial: tobože in Croatian political discourse

This study examines syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of the Croatian parenthetical focus discourse marker tobože ('pretendedly, allegedly, supposedly') and the relevance of its use in political discourse. This echoic particle expresses an ironic denial of another's opinion or belief. Although tobože displays only procedural properties, it reinforces its illocutionary force by conveying folk-etymological meaning. Thus, it is suggested that this discourse marker is both culturally and conceptually specific. Finally, this study argues that the host discourse of tobože is motivated pragmatically and thus is predictable.