LOL a “discourse marker”

Linguist John McWhorter argues in his TED talk that LOL is no longer used in its original meaning “laugh(ing) out loud”, but has come to be a marker of empathy with the hearer (used in contexts that are not particularly humorous). That is, it is used like a discourse markers such as you know orĀ I mean:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/30/opinion/mcwhorter-lol/index.html?hpt=hp_t5

 

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