On the rise of contrastive discourse markers

In this paper, I consider contrastive discourse markers (CDMs) in English and Greek in terms of their etymological

origins. In particular, I argue that English and Greek CDMs draw on sources inspired by the same basic cognitive categories:

namely, PLACE, QUANTITY, and MANNER; and that these sources are designations of three apparently distinct concepts: namely,

allness, sameness

, and

oppositeness

. What makes this consensus even more interesting, not to

say curious, is that Greek does not belong to the group of the Indo-European family that includes English. I will suggest that our

world experience is the common denominator of the three designated concepts. It is hoped that this suggestion will be grounds not

only for explaining the attested unanimity among English and Greek but also for illuminating the development of CDMs

cross-linguistically.