Natural language conjunctions and logical operators: discursive function of the Russian conjunction no ‘but’

The object of the paper are Russian conjunctions no (‘but’) and khotia (‘though’). The goal is to demonstrate that no (‘but’) marks an unexpected turn in the narration when the preceding text (or utterance) induces recipient’s mental readiness (expectancy) for different information, thereby violating the expectancy. Thus, no (‘but’) is a specific discursive marker. The paper also shows that khotia (‘though’) operates as a similar discursive marker.