The discourse marker "eh" in semi-directed interviews with Havanans. Notes on its origin and functions

Abstract

The form eh has been considered an expletive (Cortés Rodríguez 1991), a filler (Rabanales & Contreras 1992), a filled pause (Briz Gómez 1998) and a discourse marker (Poblete Bennett 1996; Montes 1999; Martín Zorraquino & Portolés Lázaro 1999; Valencia Espinoza 2014). The aim of this article is to present a number of hypotheses about its origin as a discourse marker and to analyze its functions in a sample of Havana speech, based on previous research and the analysis of 36 semi-directed interviews. Eh originates from an articulatory motivation and is related to the interjection eh, from which it retains the nuance of pointing to the listener. It provides a discursive pause, as it functions as a reflexive metadiscursive marker (a resource of the speaker) or as a mediator of a specific discursive operation (a resource oriented towards the listener).