88 Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen
it tends to occur together with markers of intersubjective positioning which
tone down the assertion (see Section 2 above). Example (7) illustrates this use of
basically.
(7) A: What’s the right situation?
B: You know, basically, by and large we don’t know.
(BNC, spoken, conversation)
In (7) basically co-occurs with you know, which is a strongly intersubjective dis-
course marker oriented to the addressee’s face (see e.g. Östman 1981) and with by
and large, which expresses less than full commitment, conveying an approxima-
tion. It has been pointed out by several authors (see e.g. Crystal and Davy 1974;
Stenström 2002; Aijmer 2002) that speakers in casual conversation tend to use
markers which soften or weaken the assertions, using words that convey impreci-
sion, approximators and vague terms. Biber et al. (1999: 557) include such words
as kind of, sort of among markers of imprecision and approximately, about among
approximators. Stenström (2002: 306) sums up the various functions of such hedg-
ing devices as expressing ‘weak commitment’. In such contexts basically also func-
tions as a marker of lesser commitment. There is a clear difference in commitment
to the truth of the assertion if one says “We don’t know” or “Basically, we don’t
know”. In the latter case speakers leave open the possibility of knowing something
even if it isn’t everything. Alternatively, it may suggest that they do not know even
though appearances seem to indicate that they do know. These appearances may
be due to their knowing some minor things. The core sense of basically (‘at bot-
tom’, ‘in essence’) is still present but the pragmatic sense is that of toning down
the force of the utterance. Butler (2008b: 44) points out that all three adverbs have
a “weakly subjective meaning” in that they express the speaker’s assessment of
the perspective in which the assertion is considered to be true. In addition, how-
ever, basically has developed a “strongly subjective meaning” including “the toning
down of a face-threatening act, or the lessening of commitment to what is being
said” (Butler 2008b: 46). Here are some more examples.
(8) A: Well, if you I mean she does everything, you know, burgers, you know,
stuff that people want, I mean, that’s bar meals, but to sit in the dining
B: yeah
A: room you have
B: yeah
A: well, basically proper meals, ours basically what you wa what you what is
set up there basic bar meals but i you can have it in the restaurant if you
want
B: if you wish
A: if you wish you know (...) (BNC, spoken, conversation)