A Discourse-Pragmatic Study of in & ân "this" & "that" in Daily Persian Conversations

Three types of meaning i.e., propositional (conceptual), textual and interpersonal were acknowledged for language in the tradition of functional studies. In light of such appraoch, this study aims 1) to describe different types of meanings of in (this) and ân (that) in Persian and, 2) to show that how basics of grammaticalization can be applied to provide a synchronic survey of the semantic variety of the aforementioned dectic expressions as discourse markers in Persian. Based on Traugott & Dasher (2002), this paper examines the different uses of these elements by looking at their propositional (conceptual), textual and interpersonal meanings. The analysis indicates that in & ân are used in their propostional meaning and also used in the bridging contexts. Moreover, the investigation shows unlike ân, the semantic changes of in extends beyond the bridging contexts. So in (this) as a discourse marker, textually has a function in changing the topical trends and creating a pause to formulate the upcoming discourse. It is subjectively used to designate and emphasize the upcoming discourse and to create a contrast and inter-subjectively functions in speech acts such as requesting, asking and advising. Grammaticalization of the deictic expressions supports Traugott & Dasherchr('39')s clines. However, Traugott & Dasherchr('39')s semantic cline, should be modified in way of impersonal subjective > personal subjective > inter-subjective. In sum, using a descriptive-analytical methodology, it indicated that these elements have different uses which grammaticalization (Traugott and Dashar, 2002) provides a solid theoretical framework to describe and study these expressions in Persian.