Interpersonal discourse markers and some issues on their translation (Evidence from Vietnamese and English)

Abstract

The paper suggests that the meaning of discourse is expressed not only in propositional content but also through modal content, that is, speaker's subjective opinion about the proposition is expressed through how discourse markers are used. In other words, the speaker tends to use discourse markers to express his/her personal feelings, attitudes, and evaluations on the proposition to make communication more "interpersonal". It can be said discourse markers are often used in interpersonal communication and for interpersonal communication. Besides, the paper presents some difficulties in translation of discourse markers and proposes some strategies of their translation.