What is a pesky little particle?

Definition
	A pesky little particle is a morpheme that is either
	lexically contentless, or behaves in a text in a manner that is anomalous with regard to its usual lexical content, and is intractable to grammatical analysis.
	Therefore, it usually has a discourse or pragmatic function.

Examples
	Here are examples of English pesky particles, when used to relate more than one sentence:
	now either moreover

Sources
	J. Grimes 1975:93–94

Context for this page:

Concept module: pesky little particle
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): P
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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