We investigate if and how Discourse Markers (DMs) can be integrated into a dynamic semantic framework (in the SDRT variant (= Segmented Discourse Representation Theory », cf. Asher/ Lascarides 2003, 2008, 2009) to study the relationships between discursive markers and rhetoric relations in a dialogue.

We assume that short answers (Schlangen/ Lascarides 2003) and DMs have the same basic characteristics: (i) both are semantically under-specified; (ii) in both cases, the receiver adds, by deduction, significant elements, to narrow, or even eliminate the semantic under-specification.

We illustrated the possibility of integrating the DMs in the SDRT by examining in a corpus the behaviour of the French DM quoi «what» in expressing rhetorical relations, such as:

– Explanation(α, β) (A: – Le curé est arrivé à pied, ou quoi?  B: – Il est venu dans la voiture de Mathurin. «A : – The priest arrived on foot, or what? B: – He came in Mathurin’s car»)

– Contrast(α, β) (A: – Je vais attendre.  B: – Attendre quoi? Ils viennent de sortir.  «A : I am going to wait. B:  – What for? They have just left»);

– Phatic(α, β), when the channel does not function (A: –Coco! B (who is hard of hearing): – Quoi? A: (screaming) – Ils te disent au revoir. «A: – Coco! B : –What? A: – They are saying ‘goodbye’ to you. »).

The study of discourse markers in the SDRT framework provides insight into the deductive processes involved in successful human communication.

Keywords: discourse markers, rhetorical relations, dialogue, SDRT