Functions of the particles <i>tõesti</i> ‘really’ and <i>tõepoolest</i> ‘indeed’ in the spoken,online and printed registers of Estonian

Abstract The article examines the use of two Estonian pragmatic particles, tõesti ‘really’ and tõepoolest ‘indeed, truly’, in everyday conversations, online news comments and academic prose. The data is drawn from the Estonian Pragmatic Corpus. The material analyzed reveals that the main function of both particles in the different registers is to confirm and emphasize some statement, fact, general knowledge, etc., either in the previous text or in the current utterance or sentence. Both particles can add an element of surprise or bewilderment to the sentence or utterance. The use of tõepoolest is associated with higher degrees of formality, whereas tõesti , being a relatively frequent particle, can occur in both formal and informal texts.