Funciones pragmático-discursivas de oraciones escindidas del tipo “lo que pasa es que” en narraciones conversacionales de hablantes chilenos

  • Alonso Escobar Departamento de Lingüística, Universidad de Chile
  • Silvana Guerrero Departamento de Lingüística, Universidad de Chile
Keywords: cleft sentences, conversational narratives, narrative structure, atenuation, focalizing function

Abstract

This investigation presents the study results of the pragmatic-discursive functions performed by cleft sentences as “lo que pasa es que” in conversational narratives of personal experience produced by Chilean speakers. The analysis of 54 conversational narratives has a twofold purpose: on the one hand, to classify cleft sentences according to the part of the narrative structure they introduce; on the other hand, to offer a taxonomy of pragmatic-discursive functions performed by such constructions. The main conclusions suggest that cleft sentences perform three macro functions: a focalizing function—apparently the most relevant function for the narrative unfolding—, an introductory function of mitigation by justification, and an orientational function, each of them with different realization possibilities.

Published
02-12-2021