Movement Verbs as Discourse Markers in Spanish: The Case of Vamos in the City of Granada, Spain

Abstract

The discourse marker vamos is the first-person present indicative plural of the verb ir (“to go”) and acts as a guide throughout the discourse. We studied its use in the PRESEEA corpus of Granada, analyzing 54 interviews and rescuing 270 occurrences of vamos. Mainly, we detected that its use was higher in the speech of people with only a primary education, while its use among the university educated represented 27% of cases. It was also used more frequently by young people, particularly females, although only age was found to be influential because of the intrinsic and original value of the first-person plural form, by which speakers are integrated and form part of a group. Among the pragmatic values of the marker is its use as a reformulator in more than 60% of cases; 22% as a structurer that helps to continue and conclude the discourse; and approximately 13% when used as a modalizer to convey the speaker’s attitude. Its main linguistic characteristic is its appearance preceded by conjunctions such as pero and y, and its main position is initial, as it accounts for 90% of occurrences.