“Ok, qui d’autre na, nobody on the line right now?”: A Diasystematic Construction Grammar approach to discourse markers in bilingual Cajun speech

Discourse markers (DMs) in bilingual speech have received much attention in language contact studies because their semantic and syntactic detachability make them easy targets for being used bilingually. Though past studies on multilingual DM usage have provided rich insights, open questions remain with regard to non-salient examples and the emergence of mixed code DMs. This paper looks at the DM system of Cajun bilinguals in Louisiana using a Diasystematic Construction Grammar approach. The analysis demonstrates that the DM systems of Cajun bilinguals are simultaneously active. Besides using DMs outside of their native languages, evidence of the congruence of the two systems is further supported by the documentation of mixed code DMs such as na, yeah mais and mais yeah.