Discourse and Syntax

1. Discourse and Syntax March 5, 2009 Thompson and Couper-Kuhlen. Clause as Locus of Interaction

2. grammar shapes interaction

3. Introduction grammar shapes interaction •  observation of interaction (discourse) will help us understand more about grammatical structures.

4. Introduction

5. Interaction shapes grammar • actions • greeting people • ending a conversation

6. Interaction shapes grammar

7. 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)

8. Schemas in interaction

9. Schemas in interaction • utterances (in certain contexts) •  habits (schemas, patterns) •  part of grammar (function)

10. Interaction shapes grammar

11. 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?

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. Interaction and the clause • In other languages, the clause is also thought of as the locus of interaction.

15. The ‘clause’

16. 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

17. The ‘clause’ • More than half of utterances are not clauses, but utterances are made with reference to a nearby verb or predicate.

18. The ‘clause’ • Is this also true in Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, or Hakka? Can you provide illustrations?

19. The ‘clause’ in English • Clause formats: • Subject NP (pronoun) + verb (complex) + object NP + prep phrase + adverb + adv phrase

20. The ‘clause’ in English

21. 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.

22. Lines 12-15

23. The clause in English

24. The ‘clause’ in Japanese • Japanese • clause: predicate + phrases • But the Japanese clause has a different structure from English.

25. The ‘clause’ in Japanese • Japanese: delayed projectability • predicate comes last • anaphors; how many NPs is not predictable

26. The ‘clause’ in Japanese • to compensate, • utterance-final elements (following the predicate): speaker’s stance and mark turn as complete

27. The ‘clause’ in Japanese saying verb

29. English and Japanese