The meaning and functions of French je pense (que)

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the meanings of the French construction je pense (que) (‘I think (that)’, henceforth JP ), as well as its uses in social interaction. We propose an account of JP as a micro-construction with two basic elements of coded meaning, either one of which may be pragmatically foregrounded in a given context of use. As a direct result of its constructional meaning, which we argue is situated at the context level rather than at the content level of discourse, the expression frequently functions as a pragmatic marker in conversation. We show that uses of JP may fulfil both interpersonal, face-related functions and discourse-organizational ones. Our analysis has implications for the way JP and similar expressions in French and other languages are categorized and how their pragmatic functions may be seen to have developed. It also raises interesting questions with regard to the psycholinguistic processing of such constructions.

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