Consensus, Controversy, and Prospects in the Study of the Evolution of Discourse Markers

Abstract

Research on the evolution of discourse markers has yielded abundant results in recent decades. This study systematically reviews the relevant literature at home and abroad. It first examines the basic views on the evolution mechanism of discourse markers from the perspective of grammaticalization, lexicalization, pragmaticalization and cooptation, and then analyzes the differences between the views and the causes of the divergence. This study also discusses the interconnection and intersection of different mechanisms. Finally it puts forward that scholarly attention should be given to a multilevel discussion on the evolution mechanisms and cross-linguistic study on the formation mechanism of discourse markers in future research.