ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a few of the Irish conventions for such language. Discourse markers are words and phrases that help manage the flow of a conversation, connecting sentences to each other and to the wider context of the discourse. These markers often appear at the beginning (sometimes end) of a sentence or clause and fall outside the sentence grammar proper, but help to provide cohesion in the larger dialogue. Certain phrases indicate that the speaker is less than perfectly committed to what was just said, or recognizes the possibility of an objection from the audience. A wide range of words serves to highlight what is being said or has just been said, affirming the truth, value, or importance of the utterance. They may be used to indicate agreement or disagreement with what another speaker has said, but in other cases, they just serve to augment what the current speaker is saying.
