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Volume 31, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0929-0907
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Abstract

Abstract

Previous studies have described a range of placeholder (PH) items. A PH fills in the grammatical slot of a target that a speaker is unable or unwilling to produce. This paper argues that Japanese , an expression wholly underdescribed in the literature, serves as a PH and that it may also be used as a general extender (GE). Unlike previously known PHs, is regarded as a ‘meta-discourse’ PH; it replaces a discourse segment, rather than a linguistic form. I develop a cognitive-pragmatic account in Relevance theory, arguing that encodes procedural meaning and that the PH and GE functions emerge through interaction among encoded meaning, pragmatic principles, and contextual assumptions. Further, the account situates in the broader picture of vague language in a theoretically coherent manner. I also suggest that some of the previously described PHs in other languages may be re-classified as meta-discourse PHs.

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2024-10-11
2025-04-23

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/content/journals/10.1075/pc.00043.ser
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Japanese unnun as a meta-discourse placeholder
Pragmatics & Cognition 31, 156 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.00043.ser
/content/journals/10.1075/pc.00043.ser
/content/journals/10.1075/pc.00043.ser
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): general extender; Japanese; meta-discourse placeholder; procedural meaning; Relevance theory; vague language

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