How and When do Children Acquire the Use of Discourse Markers?

In this paper, I will be reporting on my research into the developmental aspects of the use of discourse markers, and will attempt to show that they are learned considerably earlier than is usually assumed. The study uses the data of 4 to12-year-old children’s narratives where the subjects are asked to recall either the Fish Story or the Beach Story. The results demonstrate the early onset of discourse markers such as so and and at the age of 4. At this early age, the subjects can be shown to control the structure of discourse by means of discourse markers which guide the intended meaning of the utterances the hearer should understand. This central finding – that the use of so and and as discourse markers is established before there is any persuasive evidence of the control of logical connectives – suggests a larger hypothesis that the rudimentary use of discourse markers is a precursor for the emergent command of procedural meaning more generally.