1 Wait, espera, peraí: Signalling discourse model misalignment in English, Spanish, and Portuguese Mark Hoff (Queens College-CUNY) & Scott A. Schwenter (The Ohio State University) Abstract English wait and Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese espera/pera/peraí ‘wait (there),’ are derived from imperatives that signal physical waiting. Using examples from tweets, text messages, and spoken interactions, we investigate the metadiscursive functions of these wait- forms as discourse markers that signal the need to pause and repair interlocutors’ mental discourse models of the common ground (CG) before proceeding. We show that wait-forms appear in dialogues and monologues, to signal misalignment with an interlocutor or with one’s own expectations, and can be triggered by both linguistic and non-linguistic material in the CG or a speaker’s own mental model. Wait-forms introduce expressions of surprisal, challenge presuppositions, refer back to unresolved discursive material, and convey sarcasm—all of which share the core pragmatic effect of initiating repair of a perceived misalignment in speakers’ mental models of the ongoing discourse. Tests of pragmatic function show that these wait-forms are constrained to refer to content assumed to be part of the CG (Wait, didn’t you hear the news?) and that their removal results in loss of an important pragmatic cue that relates the upcoming modification to existing CG content. Our analysis contributes to the body of pragmatic-typological literature on the cross- linguistic uniformity of discursive repair strategies. It goes beyond this research, however, in highlighting the role that discourse markers can play in CG management in dialogues, and furthermore demonstrating their capacity to indicate self-initiated misalignment of a speaker’s mental model in monologues, despite the origins of these forms as addressee- oriented imperatives. Keywords: discourse markers, common ground, repair, imperatives, English, Romance 1. Introduction English wait, Spanish (es)pera, and Brazilian Portuguese (es)pera and peraí ‘wait (there),’ derive from imperatives with a temporal adverbial phrase that signal physical waiting (e.g. Wait a moment there, Espera un segundo ‘Wait a second’, or Peraí uns minutos ‘Wait a few minutes’). However, in their present use these forms also frequently operate at a metadiscursive level, functioning as discourse markers (DMs) that insert a pause into the discourse (cf. Waltereit 2002). 1 One possible hypothesis of this progression is that wait and (es)pera(í) have developed from verbs of waiting in the physical world (e.g. Wait, don’t leave yet) to an instruction for cognitive waiting (e.g. Wait, don’t conclude yet), to their current use as DMs that momentarily pause the conversation (e.g. Wait, don’t continue yet) (cf. Sweetser 1990). This DM use serves as a means of signalling perceived misalignment between interlocutors’ discourse models of the common ground (CG), or even for setting up a 1 We use the term discourse in a broad sense which includes not only verbal exchange but also interlocutors’ actions, shared assumptions or understandings, elements of the physical context, etc. For more, see our discussion of what is included in speakers’ discourse models of the CG, as well as Keevallik (2012), who raises the question of what constitutes discourse.