Final but in Australian English conversation

Abstract

In contemporary Australian English but has progressed through a grammaticization continuum to become a “fully developed” final discourse particle. Here we document the place of Final Particle but in Australian English. Firstly, we make a case that it provides further evidence of the mixed origins of Australian English. Secondly, we show how prosody, turn organization, and speaker interaction indicate that Final Particle but marks contrastive content and is a turn-yielding discourse particle. Thirdly, we establish through survey data that its usage in Australian English differs from that in American English and that but as a Final Particle can be seen as a distinctive feature of Australian English. Lastly, we argue that Final Particle but has social meaning and can index “Australianness”.