Introduction

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the study of spoken communication, and in how research on spoken language can be combined with corpora. As can be expected, the corpus-pragmatic approach has resulted in a large output of articles on pragmatic markers primarily in British English. On the other hand, the study of pragmatic markers in other varieties of English has been neglected until recently. The thinking behind this change is that it is important to study pragmatic markers across varieties of pluri-centric languages such as English to learn more about pragmatic markers in general (e.g. about their relationship to the context) and about the factors behind their regional variation (cf. Barron & Schneider, 2009; Barron this issue; Schneider & Barron, 2008). According to Barron and Schneider (2009, p. 429), variational studies need to be contrastive: ‘Strictly speaking, it is not possible to establish any variety-exclusive and variety-preferential features of any (regional, socio-economic, ethnic, etc.) dialect, if this dialect is not explicitly compared to a dialect of the same kind of this same language.’ Following this principle my aim will be to study anyway in Irish English both in its own right and in comparison with some selected varieties of English.

Previous research on the pragmatics of Irish English has analysed pragmatic markers such as sure and like (Amador-Moreno et al., 2015). Anyway does not have an obvious association with Irish English but it was more frequent in that dialect than in other comparable varieties and would therefore be an aspect to be covered by variational pragmatics. As has been done in earlier studies, anyway will be described with regard to the type of relations it signals between utterances or larger discourse segments. An extended aim is to disentangle the factors (e.g. regional, cognitive or discourse-universal, diachronic) involved in the explanation of the similarities and differences between anyway in Irish English and in other varieties.

Statements about the pragmatics of anyway in a variational pragmatics perspective need to begin by investigating its frequency in Irish English and making comparisons with other varieties. Moreover, English has many connectives with the same function as anyway such as anyhow and anyways which may compete with anyway in a variety (see “The Distribution of Anyway in Different Varieties of English” section). Other connectives which may sometimes be used with the same meaning are after all, but, and and.

An important factor is the position of the pragmatic marker in the utterance or turn. The study of pragmatic markers in spoken language cannot neglect the constraints imposed by cognitive, collocational, discourse-structural and interactional factors on their placement. Speakers have to plan and produce messages in real time, and utterances in spoken language are therefore organized in a linear way from left to right. One manifestation of the temporal constraints is that pragmatic markers are placed in the peripheries of the utterance or turn with the function to perform specific sequentially organized communicative activities (Biber et al., 1999). For example, in dialogic speech, the leftmost slot preceding a unit of talk (an utterance or turn) would be the place where the speaker takes the floor to speak, and elements in the rightmost position indicate that the speaker is giving the speaker turn to the hearer.

Other aspects which need to be covered by the variational approach concern the role of cultural and interpersonal norms. A recurrent theme in many studies of the pragmatics of Irish English is that the sociopragmatic context needs to be considered as a factor explaining the frequency and use of linguistic elements.

A further dimension which needs to be considered is historical. According to the OED, anyway is formed from any + way by compounding. As an adverb it has the meaning ‘in any manner or respect’. A common thread in diachronic discourse studies is that adverbs develop to sentence adverbs and ultimately to discourse markers (Traugott & Dasher, 2002, p. 152). Anyway starts out as an adverb integrated into the clause, then moves to the left periphery and ultimately to the right periphery. We would therefore expect grammaticalization to be involved in the explanation of the functional differences of anyway in the peripheries, and that the extent of grammaticalization can explain the differences between the varieties.

During the past decades there has been extensive research on the functions of anyway and other pragmatic markers in interactionally salient positions in the utterance or the turn. The findings from previous work will be important when investigating anyway in Irish English and will be reviewed in “Previous Studies” section. “Material and Methodology” section introduces the data and the methodology. “The Distribution of Anyway in Different Varieties of English” section contains a quantitative analysis of anyway in Irish English and in selected varieties. In “Anyway in the Left and Right Periphery in Irish English: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis” section the discourse-pragmatic functions of anyway in Irish English will be discussed. “Concluding Discussion” section contains the conclusion.

Previous Studies

Anyway has been the topic of several previous studies (see e.g. Altenberg, 1986; Ferrara, 1997; Lenk, 1998; Haselow, 2012, 2015; Aijmer, 2016; Ranger, 2018). Altenberg (1986) analysed the different functions of anyway in the context of ‘an increasing awareness of the need for a deeper knowledge of the nature of spoken language’ (Tottie, 1986, p. 1). The interest in the close association between the functions of pragmatic expressions and the constraints imposed by using language in unplanned spoken discourse has continued and has also resulted in several studies of what anyway is doing in different positions in the utterance (or turn) in spoken language. Anyway provides many challenges because of its multifunctionality and the number and types of function in different peripheries.

According to Haselow (2015), the principle explaining the functional value of anyway is its placement in the left or the right periphery in the utterance. Position in the peripheries is regarded as important because certain conversational tasks are naturally performed either initially (before the basic message) or after the message has been completed. Anyway in the left periphery is described by Haselow as a discourse-grammatical marker ‘that indicates a major shift in discourse marking, the closing of an ongoing activity and the move to a new activity’ (Haselow, 2015, p. 168). When anyway is placed in the right periphery of the propositional content q of what Haselow calls a TCU (‘turn-constructional unit’) the TCU is marked as being true under any condition and ranks higher in terms of information value than the preceding one(s). In this sense (the final stressed) anyway strengthens the illocutionary force of an assertion and downgrades ‘the information value of a proposition p expressed in preceding talk by highlighting the general validity of q. (Haselow, 2015, p. 170). According to Haselow (2012), the pragmatic function (of anyway and other final particles) can be described as managing common ground. Speakers need to negotiate which propositions are part of the common ground, for example which ones are new, and which ones need to be modified or corrected.

Ranger (2018) discusses four main values of anyway (concessive, resumptive, additive, corrective) and proposes a schema (in the form of a triangular relationship between p and q and an indeterminate representation p*) from which these values can be derived depending on the relationship between the terms. Aijmer (2016) focused on the multifunctionality of anyway and how meanings are negotiated by the speaker and the hearer in the communication situation. Words like anyway are underspecified or abstract, and speakers use position, prosody, non-linguistic knowledge, preceding discourse, etc as hearer-oriented clues directing the co-participant in the conversation to the intended interpretation. Her study also shows that there are differences between anyway in the British component of the ICE-corpus and other ICE-varieties (Canadian, Philippine, New Zealand English) with regard to frequency, position and collocations.

Anyway is also used in less traditional ways which are only briefly referred to in previous studies. Park (2010, p. 3283) draws attention to the use of anyway as a stand-alone utterance functioning as an ‘impasse marker’ rather than a resumptive marker. The stand-alone anyway(s) is described by the Urban Dictionary https://www.urbandictionary.com/as ‘a word used to end an awkward conversation’.

Previous research on anyway is valuable because it highlights the need to take into account many different factors accounting for the function of anyway such as position, collocating elements and the foregrounding and backgrounding of information. It is also shown that several different theoretical frameworks can be used to analyse anyway in different positions. With the exception of Aijmer (2016), previous studies have mainly discussed anyway in British English.

Material and Methodology

This study will compare the distribution of anyway in Irish English with its frequency and use in other varieties (cf. Kallen, 2015 for a study of actually in Irish English along these lines). The attestations of anyway in Irish English have been retrieved from the ICE-Ireland Corpus (hereafter ICE-IRL), which is a component of the International Corpus of English (Greenbaum, 1996, Nelson et al., 2002). The ICE-corpora included in the comparison represent Canadian English, New Zealand English, Australian English, Singapore English, Philippine English. The material is taken from informal conversations (direct conversation and telephone calls) and amounts to c. 200,000 words for each variety. Anyway in Irish English will also be compared with its use in the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English (SBCSAE) (249,000 words). The SBCSAE is based on recordings from all over the United States. The predominant types of spoken language are informal conversation but other forms of language are also represented, e.g. telephone conversation, card games, classroom lectures, story-telling (https://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/research/santa-barbara-corpus).

The examples of anyway from the ICE-IRL were further analysed with regard to their position in the clause, collocation and function.

The Distribution of Anyway in Different Varieties of English

Table 1 shows that anyway was distributed unequally across the (selected) varieties of English represented by the FTF and TEC text categories of ICE-corpora and by the SBCSAE.

Table 1 The frequencies of anyway (including occurrences of anyways) in selected varieties of English
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The higher frequency of anyway in ICE-IRL (1389 pmw) and ICE-CAN (1258 pmw) compared to other sub-corpora was confirmed by statistical calculations.Footnote 1 There is no significant difference in frequency between anyway in ICE-IRL and ICE-CAN (LL 1.31). The frequency of anyway in ICE- SIN and in SBCSAE was significantly lower than in other corpora. Moreover, there is no significant difference in the number of occurrences of anyway between ICE-GB and ICE-NZ (LL 3.02), ICE-AUS (LL 0.05) and ICE -PHIL (LL 0.47). The low frequency of anyway in SBCSAE is remarkable as it seems to contradict the results from other studies. For example, Biber et al. (1999, p. 887) did not find any difference in the frequency of anyway in British and American English conversation (500 occurrences per million words in both varieties).

Anyway in ICE-IRL had the variant forms anyhow and anyways. According to Amador-Moreno (2020, p. 109), anyhow was a widespread feature of Irish English by the nineteenth century. Before 1890 it was more frequent than anyway and associated with informal and colloquial contexts (Amador-Moreno, 2020, p. 107). After that date anyway became more frequent than anyhow. In fact, there were only a few occurrences of anyhow in the ICE-IRL corpus (see Table 2).

Table 2 Frequencies of anyhow in selected varieties
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Table 2 shows that anyhow was more frequent in Australian English than in the other varieties. This could suggest that anyhow, which used to be a typically Irish form according to Amador-Moreno, was adopted by the English in Australia through contact with the Irish in the nineteenth century (cf. Hickey, 2007, p. 414 on the emigration of the Irish to Australia). However, the low frequencies of anyhow in Australian English do not warrant any far-reaching conclusions,

Comments on the form anyways have described it as identifying speakers coming ‘from Ireland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey. Wright 1962 [1898]’ (quoted from Amador-Moreno, 2020, p. 106). Amador-Moreno did not find any examples in the historical Corpus of Irish English Correspondence (CORIECOR) from the nineteenth century and anyways was infrequent in ICE-IRL (four occurrences, only in final position). On the basis of the present material, it can be thought of as ‘American English’ and particularly as Canadian English. It was also attested in ICE-PHIL. No occurrences were found in ICE-GB. See Table 3:

Table 3 Frequencies of anyways in the varieties
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Anyway in the Left and Right Periphery in Irish English: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis

The analysis of the multifunctionality of anyway is based on the hypothesis that it is polysemous. Its meanings are organized around a core function from which other meanings can be derived by inferencing.

It will be shown that its functional profile is based on a close connection between form, position and function. Anyway has different sub-senses and meanings derived by implicature depending on whether it is placed in the left or the right periphery. It also occurs with hedging meaning in the right periphery of the utterance with a weakening or loss of its concessive meaning.

As Kirk (2015, p. 90) points out, the general expectation would be that the same pragmatic marker shows the same semantic and pragmatic regularities in all the regional varieties of the language, and that these regularities are related to general cognitive and interactional factors.

Taking this observation as the starting-point, I have investigated the functions of anyway in the left and the right periphery. Anyway can also have a number of different functions in combination with connectives such as but, and, so and well. To begin with, I will describe the frequency of anyway in different positions. This will be followed by a discussion of anyway in the left and the right periphery.

The Frequency of Anyway in Different Positions in the Utterance

Many different models have been proposed to map the conceptualization of ‘periphery’ for different languages (Beeching & Detges, 2014). In the present model, which is inspired by an emergent view of linguistic structure in informal spoken language (Haselow, 2017), the leftmost periphery of the unit of talk can be regarded as a ‘temporal slot’ which becomes available in the course of the real time production of units of talk (Haselow, 2017, p. 129): ‘Expressions in this time slot are not integrated into hierarchical relations with other forms’ (Haselow, ibid.) but reserved for expressions projecting ‘an upcoming structural unit without, however, requiring the speaker to have a syntactic plan at hand’ (Haselow, 2017, p. 130). The final field (the slot following a structural unit that has reached a potential point of completion) is another ‘crucial moment in the production of a unit of talk in so far as it allows speakers to deal with a variety of communicative tasks before potential turn transition or continuation with a new idea’ (Haselow, 2017, p. 172). The following categories are used to classify anyway in different positions:Footnote 2

  • Anyway in the left periphery (LP) of a discourse unit (utterance):

    1. (1)

      Anyway she’s going to tell the landlord (S1A-056)

  • Anyway in the right periphery (RP) of an utterance (after the verb and its complement):

    1. (2)

      Well it’s the same colour anyway (S1A-001)

It is generally difficult to classify examples with regard to position when anyway is not placed at the end of the utterance. In (3) anyway does not modify a phrasal element in the clause.

  1. (3)

    She knew I had two of them anyway to take back (S1A-022)

Anyway will therefore be classified as being in the right periphery of the utterance.

  • Anyway in medial position

Medial position includes patterns where anyway occurs after the subject (‘in the post-initial temporal phase’; Haselow, 2017, p. 154). In (4) anyway has scope over the finite verb only:

  1. (4)

    and big Sam across the street anyway decided that they would go up to the grotto that night (S1A-043)

  2. •

    Anyway as an element on its own

Anyway can also be an utterance on its own. This position of anyway is less familiar but is interactionally interesting (see example 5). The situation in which anyway is used is complex (the conversation has come to a temporary stop) as indicated by the way speaker D uses anyway to signal misalignment or a conversational impasse (cf. Park, 2010):

  1. (5)

    <E> <X> <#> I was <,> watching telly </X>

    <D> <#> <{> <[> Anyway </[>

    <C> <#> <[> And that’s not even what </[> </{> what could be done in this house <,> (S1A-023)

Figure 1 shows the frequencies of anyway in Irish English as a graph (percentages):

Figure 1
figure 1

The frequency of anyway in different positions in the ICE-IRL Corpus

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The high frequency of anyway in the right periphery does not seem to be a new development. Amador-Moreno (2020, p. 108) found that anyway was more frequent in medial and final position in the CORIECOR Corpus than in the initial position.

We can also compare anyway in different positions in Irish English with its frequencies in the same positions in other varieties (Table 4).

Table 4 The frequency of anyway in different positions of the utterance in the selected varieties
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Table 4 highlights the varietal differences and points to a similar trend in ICE-IRL, ICE-GB and in ICE-NZ and ICE-AUS to place anyway most frequently in the right periphery.

Moreover, anyway in ICE-IRL is distinctive because it has the highest percentage of examples in the right periphery. The patterns where anyway is mostly found as a discourse marker in the left position are SBCSAE, ICE-CAN, ICE-PHIL and ICE-SIN. In SBCSAE anyway was found in the left periphery in slightly more than half of the occurrences. In Ferrara’s (1997) study of anyway in American English the percentage of ‘the resumptive marker’ was even higher (89%) which can be explained by the fact that her data consisted mainly of narratives.

In Canadian English and American English anyway was more frequent than in Irish English as a stand-alone marker. ICE-CAN, ICE-PHIL and ICE-SIN follow the American pattern and preferred to use anyway as a discourse marker in the left periphery.

The Functions of Anyway in the Left Periphery

It is assumed that anyway has both conceptual meaning and a procedural meaning (function) to guide the hearer to the intended interpretation of the utterance. The conceptual meaning of anyway is concessive and can be paraphrased as ‘nonetheless’ (no matter what) and its function is dismissive (anyway instructs the hearer to dismiss what has been said as a divergence from the main topic). According to Altenberg (2002, p. 31), the concessive meaning arises ‘from the implication that S2 is the case whatever the situation or circumstances indicated by S1 may be, i.e. under all circumstances (‘in any case’). Hence, S2 can be said to have ‘dismissive’ force, overriding any point made in S1.’Footnote 3

In the left periphery anyway has the retrospective function to point backwards to something said earlier and a projective function anticipating how the discourse is going to continue. ‘The dismissive’ anyway therefore seems ideal to resume talk in a coherent way when the speaker has been interrupted or digressed from the topic.

In extract (6), anyway illustrates the traditional function of anyway to resume the topic (mentioned in all previous studies of anyway).

  1. (6)

    <C> <#> That was a missile <&> makes noise of fireworks </&> <,> <#> Did I tell you we went to see fourth of July fireworks in when we were in America <#> We went to Ithaca <#> They were amazing <#> You lie <,> we were all lying on the grass outside this university <#> I haven’t a clue where it was <#> It wasn’t Cornell <#> They’ve one Cornell and Ithaca whatever <#> Anyway we were outside the university and we were just looking at the roof <{> <[> at the sky </[> <#> It was amazing <#> One was in the shape of a love heart and everyone goes ah <#> They were <.> beaut </.> they were amazing man <,> (S1A-050)

The speaker is a female student talking about how she went to see a fourth of July firework when she and her friends visited America. They were lying on the grass outside the university. At this point in the discourse, the speaker diverges from the narrative thread in order to try to remember the name of the university (‘I haven’t a clue to where it was’). Anyway signals the speaker’s return to the main line of the narrative after the break strengthened by the repetition of ‘(we were lying on the grass) outside the university’ from the preceding discourse. The extract also shows that the scope of the initial anyway is not restricted to a single utterance but can be extended to several (a sequence of) utterances.

The concessive core meaning of anyway in the left periphery may be overshadowed by its contextual meanings. Exactly how anyway is interpreted in spoken communication depends on collocating elements, metalinguistic comments (‘anyway I don’t know’, ‘anyway either way’) or on the preceding context (for example the type of divergence or problem exemplified in the preceding discourse) (cf. Ferrara, 1997).

In (7) the speaker repeats an antecedent utterance adding the emphatic do to modify the verb phrase (they did play tennis).

  1. (7)

    <D> <#> And that was some time after the actual beginning of the war <#> So then they again <,> uh uh lived out in the Nissen huts <#> But during this time <,> uh between the <unclear> 2 sylls </unclear> and the Americans <,> a lot of them used to come into Lurganboy House and they played tennis on the tennis what was then the tennis court <#> It was flat but I’m afraid it isn’t flat any longer <&> laughter </&> <#> But anyway they did play tennis and then we had a few spare rackets (S1A-029)

Example (8) illustrates the resumptive function of anyway in the left periphery of the utterance:

  1. (8)

    <C> <#> Who wrote it <#> Cowan

    <B> <#> Uhm <,> himself and uhm <,> that buck that’s up the North now you know that released the new film Frankenstein now

    <C> <#> Kenneth Brannagh

    <B> <#> Kenneth Brannagh aye <#> He’s something got to do with it and all

    <C> <#> Yeah he came down to Charlestown Brendan yeah

    <B> <#> He did

    <C> <#> Met Norman Cowan that hasn’t got a bit of grammar in his head <&> laughter </&>

    <B> <#> Norman Cowan is his idol <&> laughter </&> <#> He inspired him to break out into this so he did

    <C> <#> Anyway it was Mary Shelley that wrote that Frankenstein thing

    <B> <#> Mm

    <A> <#> So how far have they got in it or when is it on (S1A-072)

The speakers are going to set up a pantomime play and are discussing how far they have got. The topic is interrupted by speaker C who asks who wrote the play. Speaker B provides the information that it was Cowan and the person who released the film Frankenstein and that he came down to Charlestown where the two met. Anyway is used by speaker C to return to an earlier point in the discussion where Frankenstein was mentioned in order to add that it was written by Mary Shelley. After this digression the main topic is resumed.

When anyway in the left periphery is followed by a question it has the function to change the topic abruptly (5 occurrences).

  1. (9)

    <A> ] <#> I wrote a letter to Simon today for Christmas

    <B> <#> Did you

    <A> <#> Because I don’t think he’ll be over before <#> Would you consider writing <#> He’s been very good to you

    <B> <#> I’ve written a letter

    <A> <#> Have you

    <B> <#> Yeah last week

    <A> <#> Right well I’ll get Pat to post mine tomorrow

    <B> <#> He’s coming over for Christmas

    <A> <#> No he won’t be over before Christmas <,> so I’ve written a letter to them

    <B> <#> Oh right okay <#> Yeah <#> Anyway how are your glasses <,> <&> cough </&> working out

    <A> <#> Very <.> prob </.> problematic (S1A-059)

Anyway frequently co-occurred with other connective markers. The contrastive but anyway has the function to resume or shift a topic while and anyway signals that a new, more important or conclusive, point is added. Well anyway is also contrastive but well has a weaker contrastive meaning than but. So anyway can be described as a typical narrative device moving the narrative forwards or to a conclusion. (10) illustrates the use of but anyway in its default function to resume the topic after an interruption:

  1. (10)

    <B> <#> Do you ever hear now <.> th </.> that Halloween story

    <D> <#> Which one

    <B> <#> The one uhm about the hair <#> Did you ever hear it

    <D> <#> No

    <B> <#> I can’t remember it now completely <#> But anyway it was this girl she was babysitting <#> And she was about thirteen fourteen right

    <D> <#> Is this supposed to be true like

    <B> <#> I don’t know

    <D> <#> Alright

    <B> <#> But let’s say it is <#> Anyway she was babysitting <#> (S1A-051)

Speaker B takes the floor in order to tell ‘that Halloween story’. The narrative is interrupted by a digression where the hearer asks ‘which story’. The speaker does not remember the details of the Halloween story (‘I can’t remember it completely´). But anyway is used at the point in the interaction where the speaker chooses to continue on this topic. The second anyway (‘but let as say the story is true’) is used by the speaker to return to the topic ‘moving beyond a conversational impasse’ caused by the fact that the hearer was not certain that the story was true (cf. Park, 2010).

Like Ranger (2018, p. 106) I distinguish between a concessive (or contrastive) use of anyway and an additive function signaled by and. In (11) the speaker talks about a film called ‘Stolen Miracle’ where a baby was abducted by a woman who has had a miscarriage:

  1. (11)

    <B><#> And uh it was called Stolen Miracle <#> And it was all about uh uh what do you call it <,> it was a mother <,> uh what do you call it she’d a daughter and then thought they weren’t going to have any more children <{1> <[1> <,> and </[1> then she was expecting a baby and she was in the hospital and she had she’d this wee boy <#> And then of course wasn’t the <,> the baby was abducted <{2> <[2> <#> This </[2> this woman came in and then uhm she must have been hanging about and said <,> oh I’ve just taken him up somewhere for a check-up <#> And she made off and then she was living with uh uh this <.> ex </.> uh <{3> <[3> ex-con </[3> <#> And uh of course then this big uh TV programme and appeal and all <{4> <[4> looking </[4> for the child <#> You know and then <{5> <[5> there’s </[5> the whole story unfolding and how they find <{6> <[6> her </[6> out <#> And anyway it all ends up well that they get the <.> ba </.> the baby back <#> (S1A-033)

And anyway is not simply an additional marker but it conveys that the added information is relevant. Both the speaker and hearer are familiar with the scenario described in the extract (the news about a baby abduction is big on television and there may be appeals to hand back the baby). And then of course (and of course then) mark different stages in the narrative. And anyway adds the most important or conclusive point rounding off the narrative (Ranger, 2018, p. 126). The additive marker and anyway was not found in all the varieties (see Table 5).

Table 5 The collocation of anyway with other discourse markers in the left periphery in varieties of English
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Anyway can also be added after so with the discourse-pragmatic function to move the narrative forward to a new stage (so anyway the next thing was, so anyway then, so anyway eventually). In extract (12) the speakers are watching the TV programme, sitting and drinking. So indicates the movement from one point in the story to the following one. So anyway the next thing was represents a rather emphatic way of indicating what happened next:

  1. (12)

    <#> So we’re sitting watching that right <&> laughter </&> <#> And I thought it was fascinating cos I hadn’t had a TV in so long <#> I was going fuck <#> What <&> laughter </&> <#> Rewind that bit <&> laughter </&> <#> Sitting and drinking Saeng-Som <#> So anyway the next thing was like I just got pissed and I thought oh fuck it <#> I’ll just stay here <#> (S1A-044)

Anyway as an element in a sequence of discourse markers has a resumptive function (mm well anyway, so uhm anyway, and uhm so anyway, okay so anyway, anyway okay so, but uhm anyway like). In (13) the speaker is talking about a new winebar he visited with a friend who told him to go there for a coffee.

  1. (13)

    <B> <#> It used to be the old uhm Merchant’s what was it I can’t remember <{> <[> now anyway </[> <#> It’s just in Temple Bar but it’s completely out of character for Temple Bar <#> It’s absolutely beautiful now all <.> st </.> stone up the stairs and all this kind of stuff <#> And uhm so anyway he said come on down here and we’ll go for <,> go for a coffee or something in in <.> thi </.> this new place <#> (S1A-049)

Table 5 shows the occurrences of anyway collocating with other discourse elements (but, so, and, well) in varieties of English and Table 6 gives the same information as percentages of the total number of occurrences in the left periphery.

Table 6 The collocation of anyway with other discourse markers in the left periphery in varieties of English
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The columns Total shows the number of occurrences of anyway collocating with other discourse markers for each corpus. Percentages indicate the proportion of occurrences with one or more pragmatic markers in relation to the total number of examples of anyway in the left periphery. Combinations of anyway were particularly frequent in in ICE-IRL, ICE-NZ and SBCSAE. In ICE-GB, ICE-CAN, ICE-AUS, ICE-PHIL and ICE-SIN on the other hand, anyway was most frequently used as a single element.

The findings of the empirical study of anyway in the left periphery can now be summed up. When anyway is found in the left periphery the focus is on the speaker who is in control of what happens in the conversation guiding the hearer to the intended interpretation. The left periphery anyway has been shown to carry out functions at the metadiscursive level such as topic resumption, continuation, or marking a new stage in the narrative in line with Beeching-Detges’ prediction that elements are placed initially in the utterance in order to carry out textual or discourse-structuring functions (cf. e.g. Haselow, 2015). Anyway could also mark a topic change after some problem in the conversation (the topic is exhausted and the speaker does not want to continue).

The topic resumption function is additionally marked by cohesive links such as repetition of a preceding element, metalinguistic comments or by combinations of anyway with other connectives such as but, well, and, so in conversation and story-telling.

We can assume that in all the varieties of English the concessive meaning of anyway is negotiated, modified or extended in the communication situation. In Irish English anyway was frequently used with another connective for argumentative purposes (similar to the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English).

Anyway in the Right Periphery

As shown in “The Frequency of Anyway in Different Positions in the Utterance” section, anyway is more frequent in the right periphery than in the left periphery. In all there were 196 occurrences of anyway in the right periphery. Anyway in the right periphery is used both with a concessive or dismissive function and as a hedging particle with a softening function. The hedging function of anyway is discussed in “Utterance-Final Anyway in Combination with Other Discourse Markers or Final Particles”, “Anyway in the Right Periphery with a Restrictive (‘At Least’) Function” and “The Right Periphery: Anyway in Questions”sections.

In (14) anyway has concessive or dismissive meaning (‘even though p1, or any px, q’; Haselow, 2015, p. 169). The speaker is explaining why they did not get an invitation to the wedding (we didn’t invite him (the bridegroom) when we got married and even if we had been invited we could not have gone since we would have been in Australia):

  1. (14)

    B><#> On the other hand we you know we didn’t invite Gene to our wedding and there’s a little bit of that as well <#> You know there is that bit of you’re not invited to somebody’s wedding you don’t invite them to yours you know <#> No but I think there’s a bit of <,> there’s a bit more of that than you might <,> expect actually <#> And that’s and that’s I mean truly honest to God <unclear> 4 sylls </unclear> <,> after all we didn’t invite him and we would have been in Australia anyway <#> (S1A-006)

It is characteristic of the concessive anyway that it is ‘supported’ by other contrastive elements. After all in the left periphery already expresses the concessive relation between ‘we didn’t invite him’ and ‘if you are not invited to someone’s wedding you don’t invite them in return. We can conclude that anyway in the right periphery does not alone force an interpretation as a concessive marker but that its interpretation also depends on ‘after all’. The function of anyway in the right periphery is to dismiss or reject the potential inference (that if you’re in Australia you don’t get invited to a wedding in Ireland).

In (15) the speakers are listening to the commentator reporting from a football tournament in Newcastle:

  1. (15)

    <B> <#> Where was that in

    <C> <#> Joelle

    <D> <#> In Newcastle

    <B> <#> On the radio like

    <C> <#> <{> <[> Aye well they </[>

    <E> <#> <[> Well they’re </[> </{> All-Ireland champions anyway <#> It doesn’t matter

    <B> <#> I wanted to go to that match the day (S1A-022)

The speakers have been commenting or what the players did during the game. They did some really funny things and didn’t care about winning. Anyway co-occurs with ‘it doesn’t matter’ (‘even if what they do is against the rules it does not matter since they are All-Ireland champions’). Anyway means objection since a contrasting opinion has been expressed by a different speaker (‘well they’re All-Ireland champions’).

When anyway is placed in the right periphery the relationship to the preceding context may be fuzzy. Anyway may be in contrast with a preceding utterance (something said by someone other than the speaker), something said by the speaker herself or more generally the preceding discourse. Fretheim and Johansson (2007, p. 269) describe the anaphoric use of anyway in the following terms:

[A]nyway advises the addressee not to worry too much about how to link this marker to specific abstract entities in the interactants’ mutually manifest context. The speaker may not have had a determinate antecedent proposition or set of propositions in mind at all.Footnote 4

In extract (16) the speaker tells the story about a woman who contacted the doctor (McDaid) to say that her husband was ready to come home from hospital. The examples of anyway illustrate the dismissive function of anyway:

  1. (16)

    <B> <#> She’s no <,> but she doesn’t want to give up the pension book <,> you <{1> <[1> see </[1> <#> Isn’t afraid he’ll be sent home at all <,> she couldn’t care less <&> laughter </&> whether he was at home or abroad <,> but <,> the pension book <#> So <,> the other night she came in <,> and she had an appointment to see Doctor McDaid <,> but she couldn’t make it then <#> But this lady that was with her <,> her husband took a night off <#> He’s on night shift you know but he <{2> <[2> took a night off <,> to bring </[2> her in <#> Uh she wanted to see the doctor <#> And I was saying that that the doctor wasn’t on at all now really <,> and we didn’t know like whether that the doctor that’d be standing in wouldn’t know the history or anything But faith then she contacted him <#> She rang McDaid anyway but <#> It was all money anyway and pension book <,> you see <#> She was saying <,> that uh <,> she was sort of saying <,> he that he’d be ready to come home <,> even as bad and all as he was he’d be ready to come home <#> Kind of <,> he’ll only be in a few days <#> It isn’t worth your while charging like for the few days you have him <#> But she came <&> laughter </&> in anyway and she said to me <,> Mike Mullins isn’t inside in his bed at all (S1A-055)

Anyway occurs several times in the speaker’s narrative. The woman rang McDaid (although the doctor wasn’t on at all now). It was just money and pension book in any case so it did not matter that the doctor did not know about the patient. She came to the hospital anyway (although the patient was no longer there).

A distinction can be made between concessive (dismissive) uses where anyway points back to a specific antecedent in order to dismiss it and uses where anyway can be interpreted as having a hedging function. As will be shown below, I have generally regarded anyway as hedging when it co-occurs with other final pragmatic markers and when anyway is used with the meaning ‘at least’ to restrict the truth of a proposition by focusing on the fact that it is true only in respect of a certain lexical element

The analysis is in the spirit of Haselow’s (2012, p. 189) analysis of final markers carrying out common ground management as one of their functions. It is also in line with regarding anyway in the right periphery as maximally subjective or intersubjective (or interpersonal) (Beeching & Detges, 2014, p. 7).

Utterance-Final Anyway in Combination with Other Discourse Markers or Final Particles

The interpretation of anyway is dependent on the context and position. Anyway in the right periphery can combine with other final particles at the end of a clause in which the speaker conveys that the message is in contrast with a message conveyed by an antecedent sentence in a way which takes into account the hearer’s face needs (anyway so, anyway but, anyway though, anyway like, anyway you know, now anyway, anyway sure). In these examples anyway seems to have only weak concessive meaning (dismissive function). It can easily be omitted without causing any change in the interpretation of the utterance. In (17) anyway combines with you know in final position:

  • (17) B> <#> Och we don’t bother with the Metro that much <#> It was so packed <#> I couldn’t <,> <{> <[> stick it </[>

  • <A> <#> <[> Aye I </[> </{> know <#> No we were in the Metro and it was <,> but we got a seat <#> Handy enough

  • <B> <#> Aye aye

  • <A> <#> But Luke was whining wanting to <,> wanting to go to The Strand Tavern you know so <,> we had to go <#> But och I like the Strand Tavern anyway you know <#> You know it’s grand <#> I’d rather have the Strand Tavern than sitting up in the Dungloe (S1A-026)

You know is a multifunctional pragmatic marker with the specific function to highlight shared assumptions (‘as we both know’). According to Palma-Fahey (2015, p. 362), you know in final position has the function to reassure solidarity ‘which appears to be the main function of this marker when placed in final position in Irish English’. In this way the speaker can also soften the assertion

Anyway so is another way of ending a concession (‘never mind what happens it is certain that half the photographs were shit’):

  1. (18)

    <A> <#> Well even at the end of the day half the photographs were shit anyway so <#> You know what I mean <#> (S1A-095)

Anyway but ends the clause in which the speaker concedes that the individual can speak better than most of them (other politicians). At least he speaks better than Bertie Ahern.

  • (19) <A> <#> <[> Oh God he didn’t </[> </{> <#> He made a holy show <{> <[> of himself the other day </[>

  • <B> He can speak much <,> he can speak much better </[> </{> than most of them better than Bertie Ahern but anyway

  • <C> <#> Can he

  • (S1A-073)

Anyway so is another way of ending the concession (‘never mind what happens it is certain that half the photographs were shit’):

  1. (20)

    <A> <#> Well even at the end of the day half the photographs were shit anyway so <#> You know what I mean <#> (S1A-095)

Anyway like also has a retrospective function with a similar function to but and so signalling the end of the concession:

  • (21) <D> <#> <{> <[> Cool </[>

  • <B> <#> <[> Hey you </[> </{> trendy dude you

  • <D> <#> <{> <[> Yeah yeah </[>

  • <D> <#> <[> Well he’s sick </[> </{> anyway like

  • <E> <#> My dad went on a shopping spree yesterday (S1A-051)

It can be argued that anyway can be removed without any change of meaning. The concessive relation is already expressed and the added final particle functions as a strategy to close the utterance in which something is conceded from an interpersonal or polite perspective.

(22) illustrates the use of ‘your man’ together with the dismissive anyway. Your man has been analysed as a typically Irish device used to refer to an unnamed male individual ‘for furthering agreement among participants’ (Hickey, 2015, p. 22):

  • (22) B> <#> <[> Aye <#> Was it the Joe Duffy one </[> </{> <#> Joe Duffy was doing <{> <[> an outside programme <unclear> several sylls </unclear> </[>

  • D> <#> <[>Was it Joe Duffy that does it <,> <#> Well he met </[> </{> he met up with this man anyway your man <#> He was a real Dubliner </[1> and all the rest of it and he was going on <#> And he was really funny <#> It was the best laugh <#> He’d the whole place laughing you know <#> He was <,> as I say <,> he was a better comedian than you would hear on the <,> or see on the <,> on the television (S1A-033)

To sum up, it has been argued that anyway in combination with other final particles has the function to close a concession in a polite way considering the hearer’s face needs. Anyway has only a weak concessive meaning and can be deleted with no change in the message conveyed.

Anyway in the Right Periphery with a Restrictive (‘At Least’) Function

In the examples discussed above, anyway in the right periphery has had a dismissive function. Anyway can also have a restrictive function where the scope of anyway is restricted to a particular word or phrase (28 occurrences in ICE-IRL) to be compared with 155 occurrences where anyway has other functions. Several sub-types of restriction can be distinguished.

The ‘Specializing’ Type of Concession (in the Context of Especially, for Definite)

In (23) the speaker limits the scope of estate agents to specifically ‘estate agents in East Belfast’ (a semantic sub-set of estate agents in cities) (cf. Haselow, 2012, p. 196). The restrictive anyway is characterised both by its position and collocational properties.

  • (23) B> <#> Mhm

  • A> <#> Whereas all the actual specific ones uhm <,> especially in East Belfast anyway you know Pooler Watson Cowley Groves and and estate agents like that <{> <[> they’re </[1> always really up-to-date (S1A-092)

In (24) anyway picks out specifically or definitely ‘after Easter’ as the time when the speaker has to apply to a university:

  • (24) <C> <#> <[> Yeah I’m going to go </[> </{> I’m going to go to Galway and doing it down there <,> I think <#> Cos I can either stay with uhm <,> Callaghans or else uhm <{> <[> <unclear> 2 sylls </unclear> </[>

  • <B> <#> <[> When did </[> </{> you have to have it organized by

  • <C> <#> Uhm I think <,> for definite after Easter anyway so we’ve a few weeks left there’s two left (S1A-022)

The anyway-clause makes an addition or clarification aimed at the hearer’s acceptance of what is asserted. According to Ranger (2018, p. 111), anyway makes ‘a reflective adjustment of an initial representation which is felt to be excessive in argumentative terms’.

The ‘At Least’ Type of Concession

In (25) anyway (another year) collocates with the restrictive at least:

  • (25) D> <#> So what are you going to stay there at least another year <{> <[> and try next year </[>

  • A> <#> <[><[> At least another </[> </{> year anyway you know <#>(S1A-015)

At least another year is in contrast with staying at the university for one or two years (in order to take the examination again). Anyway indicates an adjustment to an alternative which is more restricted in scope. The stronger version of the proposition (I’m going to stay there for two years) is less likely.

The Hedging Type of Concessives (e.g. in the Context of I Think):

In (26) (I think so) anyway like marks a weakening or revision of the speaker’s statement ‘you know Mairead’s mum’s kind of style’.

  • (26) <B> <#> What happened <{> <[> there </[>

  • <A> <#> <[> There’s cardboard </[> </{> tubes just fell down <&> laughter </&> <#> Uhm no is uh <,> is not sort of a bit more sort of well it’s either Protestant estates or <,> nice family homes semi-detached with gardens <{1> <[1> that are </[1> pretty you know <{2> <[2> expensive </[2> <#> You know Mairead’s mum’s kind of style <{3> <[3> <#> I </[3> think so anyway like (S1A-092)

Anyway in the Right Periphery of an Evaluative Utterance

In addition, anyway in the right periphery serves as a politeness device when the assertion expresses a subjective evaluation. In (27) speaker A suggests that she is going to make paté and toast for starters. The main function of anyway is to express softening or mitigation with a weakening or loss of the core concessive meaning.

  • (27) <A> <#> I’m going to make uhm <,,> well I was thinking just sort of pate/ <{> <[> <,,> uh </[> and toast or whatever for starters <#> And then

  • <B> <#> <[> Mm hm </[> </{>

  • <B> <#> That’s lovely anyway (S1A-036)

The function here seems to be to make sure that the hearer shares the speaker’s emotions or attitudes.

“The Right Periphery: Anyway in Questions”section will discuss the more frequent use of anyway in the right periphery of the question.

The Right Periphery: Anyway in Questions

Anyway also appears in the right periphery of an interrogative sentence (mostly wh-questions) (10% of the examples).Footnote 5 According to Haselow (2012, p. 196), the interpretation of final anyway in information-seeking directives changes the character of the proposition: ‘such directives are not neutral requests for information but initiate the negotiation of the general truth-value of a proposition, independently of any other given propositions. In such directives, the basic reason for the validity of a proposition is questioned, i.e. the directive with final anyway requests information on why or how a state of affairs comes into existence at all, independent of the specific context.’ (27) illustrates the use of a wh- question with anyway which emerges in the evolving conversation with the function to request information which has not been supplied in the preceding discourse but is needed to make sense of the intervening material:

  • (28) <B> <#> <{> <[> One in the </[>

  • <A><#> <[> One in </[> </{> the morning yeah <#> <unclear> 6 sylls </unclear> and <,> we got to the house anyway <#> Who gave us a lift <#> Billy Bailey gave us a lift up

  • <X> <#> Yeah

  • <A> <#> And <,> we thought there’d be nobody up like <#> The mother and father and brothers and sisters’d be gone to bed

  • <B> <#> Who’s Billy Bailey anyway

  • <A> <#> He’s works with Ivor

  • <B> <#> Right

  • <A> <#> He was drunk <,> but we still took the chance <#> We didn’t want to walk home <#> So uhm <,> we went into the house anyway <#> (S1A-063)

Speaker A describes how they got to the house and how Billy Bailey gave them a lift. The interrogative sentence with anyway represents a request for clarification (what I want to know is: ‘who’s Billy Bailey?’). The request emerges at a specific point in the discourse where the speaker indicates that she needs additional information to fill an information gap. After the information has been provided, the conversation continues on the topic of Billy Bailey (he was drunk).

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (online), anyway at the end of questions is used for emphasis and to express the speaker’s negative emotions:

Used for emphasis at the end of a question: ‘may I ask?’, ‘would you say?’ Also sometimes used to indicate firmer intent to direct the conversation, or to register scepticism, exasperation, etc.: ‘anyhow’, ‘more to the point’ (quoted from Ranger, 2018, p. 127).

Ranger (2018, p. 127) points out that questions containing anyway in the right periphery can have a polemical tone. The polemical or provocative tone is illustrated by the following example:

  • (29) <B> <#> Oh sorry <#> I’ll not talk then <,> <&> laughter </&>

  • <A> <#> And when are you going to throw out all my baby books anyway <#> I mean what’s the point of them

  • <B> <#> They’re for after dop

  • <A> <#> As long as you don’t leave them here

  • <B> <#> I’ll hardly leave them here unless you’re planning to have one

  • <A> <#> No you’re alright <#> No <{> <[> thanks </[> (S1A-025)

The speaker does not necessarily expect an answer to the question but expresses her exasperation as indicated by the continuation ‘what is the point of them (the baby books)’. Anyway calls in question the assumption that it is meaningful to keep old baby books when you are an adult.

A further example illustrates the use of anyway at the end of the interrogative sentence to ask a question which interrupts the discourse by its polemical nature. The young men at the pub have discussed how couples run off to Gretna Green to get married. Speaker B’s question is challenging (questioning the assumption or expectation that there is a point in getting married):

  • (30) <D> <#> Anybody who snuck sneaked off and got married was fucked <,> big time

  • <A> <#>Well I actually would just head away <#> Just go for it <#> Just go mad and just head away from <{> <[> here </[>

  • <B> <#> <[> What </[> </{> you want to get <{> <[> married </[> for anyway <&> phone rings </&>

  • <A> <#> <[> It’s </[> </{>

  • <A><#> I know <#> I wasn’t even thinking of it <{> (S1A-024)

The use of anyway in the right periphery does not imply hedging and politeness. It is polemical and emphatic and conveys negative connotations (the speaker is exasperated). The use can be derived from the concessive function of anyway (‘p even though q’).The question will be performed ‘nevertheless’ (independent of the context).

To sum up, anyway was more frequent in the right than in the left periphery in ICE-IRL. It has a concessive or dismissive function to refute a potential or actual criticism or objection as irrelevant. The dismissive function of anyway was indicated both by position and by its co-occurrence with collocating elements in the environment with a contrastive meaning (e.g. ‘well…anyway’, ‘but… anyway’).

The most interesting thing about anyway in the right periphery both synchronically and diachronically is its use as a final particle with a hedging meaning. Anyway has a restrictive or corrective meaning where different sub-types can be distinguished depending on collocations (e.g. ‘at least’, ‘especially’). It also develops a hedging meaning closely associated with mitigation and softening. The hedging particle anyway co-occurred with other discourse markers in the right periphery (e.g. anyway like) with the function to put an end to a concession (a proposition having a concessive relation to a preceding statement) in a polite way. Anyway at the end of a wh-question can also be regarded as a hedging particle (derived from the concessive meaning). However it has an emphatic or boosting rather than a hedging function.

Concluding Discussion

The paper has focused on describing anyway in the ICE-IRL corpus and the similarities and differences in its use compared with other varieties of English. The findings showed that anyway was most frequent in ICE-IRL closely followed by ICE-CAN. It was least frequent in the SBCSAE. Anyway had a flexible position in the clause in all the varieties. However, there were differences between the varieties. In ICE-IRL, ICE-GB, ICE-AUS, ICE-NZ and ICE-SIN anyway was placed in the right periphery of the clause in more than half of the cases with the highest frequency in ICE-IRL. The position in the left periphery was preferred to the right periphery in SBCSAE, ICE-CAN, ICE-PHIL and in ICE-SIN.

The present analysis has also demonstrated that anyway in Irish English has a distinctive pragmatic profile which is based on its position in the peripheries and what it is doing there. Anyway in the left periphery was placed after an intrusive topic, a digression, a correction, interruption by the hearer and permits the speaker to resume the topic in an explicit way. Initial anyway was common in (partly lexicalized) patterns such as but anyway, so anyway, and anyway with specific or ‘marked’ meanings in addition to topic resumption (addition, transition). The speaker controls the progression of the discourse and can strengthen his/her authority by using anyway.

In Irish English anyway in the right periphery is above all an attenuating politeness marker. Anyway is found with a hedging meaning in contexts where it restricts the validity of a proposition by making a correction or adjustment of some kind. When it co-occurs with other final particles it has the function to end an utterance or a turn (having a concessive relation to a preceding sentence) in a polite way. In wh-questions anyway is used with a polemical (or at least emphasizing) rather than hedging function. The questioner goes back in the conversation in order ask why something happened, who is the person referred to as X in order to make sense of the preceding lexical material

The high frequency of anyway in the right periphery with a hedging or interpersonal function suggests that the grammaticalization process has advanced further than in the other varieties of English. However, the extent to which anyway is also undergoing grammaticalization in the different varieties will need diachronic data and additional research.

The large number of occurrences of anyway in the right periphery as a hedging pragmatic marker can also be explained in socio-cultural terms. Analysing Irish English anyway in this way is supported by research on other pragmatic markers in Irish English (e.g, you know, sure, like) whose functions have been analysed in terms of their capacity to index a special kind of Irishness characterized by the absence of self-promotion and avoidance of social distance (Clancy & Vaughan, 2012; Corrigan, 2015; Farr & O’Keeffe, 2002; Palma-Fahey, 2015).