1 - Introduction

Summary

Chapter 1 provides an introduction and overview of the topics covered in the book. General extenders, adjunctive and disjunctive, are defined, exemplified and their internal structure analyzed. Four functions are described, with examples, as referential, interpersonal, personal and textual. Thehistorical development of some common forms is described, as well as the processes of grammaticalization. Certain forms are recognized as linguistic variables that align with social variables to represent social markers in different communities. Translation equivalents are identified in a range of different languages and in the speech of second language learners and those using English as a lingua franca. Ideas are presented for teaching general extenders as examples of pragmatic markers. Their multifunctionality is illustrated, together with some observations on their position within utterances, leading to a novel claim that some forms can be used as associative plural markers, a feature hitherto undocumented in English.