This paper compares the functions and development of right peripheral (RP) alors, donc and then in French and English. These items developed historically from temporal expressions, they express consequence and can serve, intersubjectively, as an appeal to the addressee to confirm previous assumptions. An analysis of the frequency and positions of alors, donc, so and then in contemporary spoken corpora of standard British English and French shows that, though these terms are similar in consequential function, they have different distributions. From a diachronic perspective, drawing on recent theories which highlight the crucial role of contact with Anglo-French in the history of the English language (e.g., Ingham 2012a,b), this paper adduces evidence from the Manieres de langage (1396; see Kristol 1995), which suggests that the final positioning of then in English may have arisen as a sense/pragmatic extension on analogy with French donques.

中文翻译：

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Alors/donc/然后在右外围

本文比较了右外设（RP）alors、donc和法语和英语的功能和发展。这些项目在历史上是从时间表达发展而来的，它们表达了后果，并且可以作为主体间的诉求，呼吁收件人确认先前的假设。对 alors、donc、so 和 then 在标准英式英语和法语的当代口语语料库中出现的频率和位置的分析表明，尽管这些术语在结果功能上相似，但它们具有不同的分布。从历时的角度来看，借鉴最近的理论，这些理论强调了与英法接触在英语历史中的关键作用（例如，Ingham 2012a,b），本文引用了 Manieres de langage（1396；参见 Kristol 1995),