Surely as a marker of dominance and entitlement in the crime fiction of P.D. James

Vol.35,No.2(2009)

Angela Downing

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/105147

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Abstract
In this study I make the claim that the pragmatic marker surely is used in British English to externalise a speaker's bid for dominance at a particular point in interactive discourse. In so doing the speaker positions himself/ herself towards other speakers within the contextual setting. The position of surely in the sentence as well as the position in which it occurs in the sequence of talk contribute to the different strengths and types of stance in context. The data used are drawn from three of the crime fiction novels of P.D. James. This material allows the reader access to the illusion, first of interaction similar in some ways to naturally occurring talk and second, to that of entering characters' minds. Self-questioning is one of the functions served by surely in the novelist's representation of thought.

Keywords:
pragmatic marker; surely; dominance; entitlement; stance; discourse; fiction; P. D. James

Pages:
79–92
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