Die italienischen Diskursmarker e, ma, allora, quindi und perché als Teiläquivalente der Modalpartikel denn

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of the equivalence between the German modal particle (MP) denn and Italian discourse markers. This equivalence, which has already been extensively observed in studies on MPs, is here deepened through the application of Blühdorn's (2019) model, which sees for each MP a semantic and a pragmatic meaning (SK, PK). The study provides a definition of the particle being examined in its semantic and pragmatic meaning, using this definition as a Tertium Comparationis in the analysis of the equivalent means identified from a corpus of detective novels and their translations into Italian. The corpus analysis identifies the lexemes e, ma, allora, quindi e perché as translators of the MP analysed.  Through the application of the model, the study shows how the identified discourse markers translate only one of the denn functions, in particular PK, and therefore consider them as partial equivalents of the German MP.