Discourse values of Spanish porque in causal tautologies

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the discursive values of tautological constructions with porque that imply, therefore, repetition of the first member: Va a llorar, porque va a llorar / No lo sé porque no lo sé. In these constructions the causal sense is so weakened that it eventually disappears. Based on a theoretical approach to the question of causation, characteristics and types of causal tautological constructions are described and their discursive and pragmatic implications are explained: the evidential tautological causal sentences (Va a llorar, porque va a llorar) mark the certainty of the assertion, pointing to the source of the transmitted information, expressed or implied in the knowledge, beliefs, and expectations of the speaker; tautological causal sentences used to block the reply (No lo sé porque no lo sé) become a strategy to avoid a reactive turn and can be a type of explicature and lead to disambiguation processes to remove the possibility of interpretation of this kind of sentences as pure causal.