Pragmatic markers and verba dicendi: An investigation of Mauritian Creole

Abstract

Offering a detailed investigation of three Mauritian Creole pragmatic markers based on one of the verba dicendi, dir ‘say’, in a corpus of spoken discourse, this article sets out to offer a preliminary insight into a category of elements that, to date, is mostly unexplored. By applying a methodology inspired by Canonical Typology, each marker is scored against a set of defined features, identifying their most and least prominent uses, and a detailed and comprehensive description of their functions is given. Reflecting on their synchronic properties, the article also considers their diachronic development and reflects on their very different evolutionary paths and stages of grammaticalization.