Abstract

Addition and digression are speech construction operations that involve apparently similar insertions within the textual structure but show significant differences as to the nature of the inserted graft and its relevance to its context. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for the two phenomena and related discourse markers, and elaborates a classification within a continuum between a maximum and a minimum degree of accessoriness. The author then analyses a selection of non-literary examples which mainly present usual uses, and literary examples that also illustrate atypical uses or cases that are strongly subject to interpretation, to provide an overview of the many facets of these apparently basic operations for the construction of discourse.