The aim of this paper is to present a first approach to the contrastive analysis of two discourse markers – the Italian "allora" and the Spanish "entonces". The two discourse markers have similar pragmatic functions and similar semantic values acquired in discourse, especially in conversational inter- action. However some differences in these interactional uses explain why Spanish learners of L2 Italian have difficulties in the use of the Italian "allora". Our point of departure is a descriptive analysis of both elements in interactional linguistic contexts. Next we examine "allora"’s functions in an audiovisual corpus of L2 Italian.
