ARE APPOSITION MARKERS DISCOURSE MARKERS

This paper aims to re-assess the notion DISCOURSE MARKER as it is appl ied to a subset of so-called apposition markers. It is argued that the classification of markers of reformulation as discourse markers along side expressions like but and so is incoherent from a semantic point o f view, since this ignores the distinction between PROCEDURAL and CONC EPTUAL meaning. Moreover, this classification is based on an account o f discourse which is not only based on an insufficiently general accou nt of context, but which is also difficult to maintain in the light of the use of these expressions in parenthetical nominal appositions. An alternative account is developed in the framework of Sperber & Wilson 's Relevance Theory building on recent work on the meaning of parenthe ticals and sentence adverbials.