“(EU SÓ) SEI QUE” IS A DISCOURSE MARKER: TEXTUAL-INTERACTIVE FUNCTIONS OF CONSTRUCTION WITH THE VERB “SABER”

Abstract

Based on the Textual-Interactive Grammar (TIG), we investigate the construction “(eu só) sei que” in its function of Discourse Marker (DM) acting in the textual organization. Based on data collected from speech samples of Brazilian Portuguese variety, we identify five textual functions of DM: topic closing; intratopic sequencing; topic sequencing; topic opening and basically sequencer + secondarily modal. We conclude that these five functions can compound to a path of linguistic change, via abstraction of uses, having as terminal focal point the DM functions.