The grammaticalization of discourse markers

This article deals with the processes associated with the grammaticalisation of discourse markers. It provides a theoretical outline of discourse markers and an overview of how the development of discourse markers has recently been treated in the study of language change. It describes a new reformulated model of grammaticalisation and compares it with its traditional counterpart. It also discusses the kind of expressions in terms of structure and meaning which occur in initial and final positions in the grammaticalisation of discourse markers.