Daria Ryzhova (HSE University), Polina Padalka (HSE University) YES and NO answers and their synonyms in Shughni

Shughni response particles ůn 'yes' and nāy 'no' may be used in various contexts, including, besides answers to polarity questions, reactions to requests, suggestions, opinions and other types of speech acts. In addition to their usage in a dialogue setting, these particles can function as discourse markers in narratives. In this talk, we will outline the range of their functions and present their synonyms: other response particles (e.g. en 'yes', an 'yes', nāyo 'no', na-a 'no') and multiword expressions (discourse formulae). We will show that synonymous items tend to distribute across different discourse functions. For some items, we will trace their presumable pragmaticalization paths.