Burston, Monique (2006). The French connector certes: A Natural Semantic Metalanguage interpretation. In Bert Peeters (Ed.), Semantic primes and universal grammar: Empirical evidence from the Romance languages (pp. 289-305). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.81.18bur
This paper looks at the meaning and use of the French discourse marker certes in sequences involving an assertive-concessive adverb certes (equivalent to English certainly, admittedly, granted, of course etc.) followed by an apodosis starting with mais (‘but’) or an equivalent adversative expression (as in une faute certes, mais qui est pardonnable ‘a mistake, admittedly, but a forgivable one’). An explication in Natural Semantic Metalanguage shows that certes is at the heart of a “diaphonic” situation: a duality of voices can be heard in the text, of which the second reinterprets, reformulates and integrates the first. The explication also accounts for the fact that certes critically contributes to text coherence, by creating a thematic-rhematic structure.
Research carried out in consultation with or under the supervision of one or more experienced NSM practitioners
