English

Noun

discourse marker ‎(plural discourse markers)

1. (linguistics) a word or phrase that marks a boundary in a discourse, typically as part of a dialogue. Discourse markers often signal topic changes, reformulations, discourse planning, stressing, hedging, or backchanneling.

Usage notes

• Common discourse markers used in the English language include "you know", "or whatever", "actually", "basically", "like", "I mean" and "OK".

See also

• connective
• filler
• interjection