Jana Kenda
Romanica Cracoviensia, Tom 20, Numer 2, Tom 20 (2020), s. 99 - 113
https://doi.org/10.4467/20843917RC.20.010.12556Speech management: a metadiscursive function
Metadiscourse (MD) is the unique property of human language to codify messages on language itself. It reveals the author’s presence in reference to speech management and other interventions or comments with which the author either illustrates their opinion on the subject or leads the interlocutor/reader to an understanding of their message. MD was traditionally distinguished from propositional material and considered “material not belonging to the object of discourse”. This paper argues that MD not only supports propositional content, but represents the crucial means by which the latter is perceived by the interlocutor/reader. It also includes a presentation of Ädel’s so-called reflexive model, which avoids the dichotomy between proposition and MD, takes both the author and their interlocutor/reader into consideration, and appropriately highlights the reflexivity through which the importance of the author’s awareness of the text is brought into focus. The empirical part includes the illustration of the metadiscursive functions of the discourse marker cioè.