ABSTRACT
The main goal of this chapter is to study the discourse contribution of the clauses linked by the discourse connective puisque (‘since’, PSQ) in French, in terms of (not-)at-issue meaning. This question constitutes the novelty of this chapter, since it has not been addressed with respect to PSQ, or even with respect to discourse connectives, to my knowledge. This new question implies a specific methodological framework providing new theoretical instruments to answer it: The analysis is carried out within a formal discourse-pragmatic model based on the notion of Question Under Discussion (QUD; cf. Roberts 1996; Velleman & Beaver 2015). Thus, an important outcome of this chapter is that it puts the study of discourse connectives in general, and of PSQ in particular, in a new theoretical framework.
In order to evaluate the discourse contribution of PSQ-clauses, I take into consideration several aspects of PSQ-usages: i) the information structure of the relation PSQ establishes, ii) the type of coherence relation expressed, and, crucially, iii) the clause-linking specificities of PSQ. The first two aspects are widely studied in discourse-analytical models. The third one is traditionally well attested (Groupe Lambda-L 1975; Ducrot 1983), however, it has not been questioned from the point of view of the theoretical implications it bears on discourse progression or the discourse-level information structure of PSQ-clauses. The study of the latter will be the main import of this chapter, captured in terms of (not-)at-issueness.
The analysis of PSQ-usage with respect to the question of how the PSQ-clause contributes to discourse progression reveals that PSQ is not homogeneous in its usages. Limiting the analysis on medial positions of PSQ, two types of PSQ-usages are distinguished. These two types are different with respect to the information status of the PSQ-clause, the type of coherence relation expressed, as well as the way the PSQ-clause contributes to discourse progression, either as at-issue or not-at-issue content.
