Use of Intensifiers and Discourse Particles in Casual Speech

Abstract

In order to make a valid comparison between variations of casual spoken English, the focus has to be on a certain set of lexical markers likely to be used by the two speech communities being compared. This is particularly important given the fact that the subject of my research is spoken language, seen as more open to changes of expression and change over time than written language, which by its very nature is more conservative and bound to conventions.