Transcript Interaction shapes grammar

Discourse and
Syntax
March 5, 2009
Thompson and Couper-Kuhlen.
Clause as Locus of Interaction
grammar
shapes
interaction
Introduction
grammar shapes
interaction
  observation of interaction (discourse) will
help us understand more about grammatical
structures.
Introduction
Interaction shapes
grammar
 actions
 greeting people
 ending a conversation
Interaction shapes
grammar
 An analysis of interaction contributes to
our understanding of grammar.
 A linguistic perspective on the nature of
grammar must be both interactionally
sensible and cognitively realistic.
 Formats or schemas are a valuable
notion in the study of language in
interaction. (patterns)
Schemas in interaction
Schemas in interaction
 utterances (in certain contexts)
  habits (schemas, patterns)
  part of grammar (function)
Interaction shapes grammar
Interaction shapes
grammar
 In a conversation, we need to solve
communicational problems.
 The utterances made in a conversation
become a routine. They are repeated in
subsequent instances.
 They become grammaticalized and become
part of the grammar.
 Different languages find varying grammatical
solutions.
 How does grammar shape interaction?
Interaction and the
‘clause’
 What task is the other person trying to accomplish?
 We know through the utterances spoken.
 We know what the other person is trying to say.
 We know when the other person completes his utterance.
 Grammar plays the major role in this understanding.
Interaction and the
‘clause’
 When a turn is finished, the stretch of talk is a
grammatical format.
 In English, this grammatical format is the clause.
Interaction and the clause
 In other languages, the clause is also
thought of as the locus of interaction.
The ‘clause’
The ‘clause’
 Upon hearing the predicate (which is within the
clause), the recipient will know what action is
being taken up.
 This is also true for Japanese.
 The authors are trying to say that this is true for any
language.
 The predicate
 when it will occur (early or late)
 the nature of that predicate
The ‘clause’
 More than half of utterances are not clauses, but
utterances are made with reference to a nearby verb or
predicate.
The ‘clause’
 Is this also true in Mandarin Chinese,
Taiwanese, or Hakka? Can you provide
illustrations?
The ‘clause’ in English
 Clause formats:
 Subject NP (pronoun) + verb (complex) + object NP +
prep phrase + adverb + adv phrase
The ‘clause’ in English
Lines 12-15
 When an English
speaker hears an NP
near the beginning of a
turn unit, s/he can predict
that a verb complex is
likely to follow.
 Upon hearing that verb
complex, s/he can
narrow down the range
of types of linguistic
elements that it would
take to complete the
clause in context and
thus to bring the turn unit
to a point of possible
completion.
Lines 12-15
The clause in English
The ‘clause’ in Japanese
 Japanese
 clause: predicate + phrases
 But the Japanese clause has a different
structure from English.
The ‘clause’ in Japanese
 Japanese: delayed projectability
 predicate comes last
 anaphors; how many NPs is not predictable
The ‘clause’ in Japanese
 to compensate,
 utterance-final elements (following the predicate):
speaker’s stance and mark turn as complete
saying verb
The ‘clause’ in Japanese
English and Japanese