1887
Volume 43, Issue 2
  • ISSN 0378-4177
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9978
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This article focuses on free NPs, i.e. noun phrases that are grammatically not part of any clause but form units of their own. Using the methodology of discourse-functional and interactional linguistics, I analyze the morphosyntactic, prosodic and interactional features of free NPs in conversational Finnish. With its rich morphological marking, Finnish provides an interesting perspective on free NPs: Morphosyntactic features, together with semantics, are crucial in determining the status of an NP as a clausal constituent or a free NP. The prosodic analysis shows that the majority of free NPs show clear prosodic boundaries, signalled for example by speaker change, coherent intonation contour, pause or pitch reset. Free NPs serve various interactional functions, such as making assessments or disambiguating referents. These are functions which operate on something already established in the discourse. Free NPs, however, can also initiate something new for example by making requests or introducing new topics.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/sl.16064.hel
2019-11-13
2024-12-04
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aho, Eija
    2010: Spontaanin puheen prosodinen jaksottelu. Helsinki: University of Helsinki Doctoral dissertation. urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-10-6405-0 [retrievedDecember 28, 2015].
  2. Antaki, Charles
    2012 Affiliative and disaffiliative candidate understandings. Discourse Studies14(5). 531–547. 10.1177/1461445612454074
    https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445612454074 [Google Scholar]
  3. Arkisyn = Arkisyn
    Arkisyn = Arkisyn, A morphosyntactically coded database of conversational Finnish. Data-base compiled at theUniversity of Turku, with material from the Conversation Analysis Archive at theUniversity of Helsinkiand the Syntax Archives at theUniversity of Turku. Department of Finnish and Finno-Ugric Languages, University of Turku.
  4. Auer, Peter
    2005 Projection in interaction and projection in grammar. Text25(1). 7–36. 10.1515/text.2005.25.1.7
    https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2005.25.1.7 [Google Scholar]
  5. Barnes, Betsy K.
    1985The pragmatics of left detachment in spoken standard French (Pragmatics and Beyond VI, 3). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pb.vi.3
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pb.vi.3 [Google Scholar]
  6. Boersma, Paul & Weenink, David
    (2019) Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.1, retrieved13 July 2019www.praat.org
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Bruce, Gösta
    2005 Intonational prominence in varieties of Swedish revisited. InSun-Ah Jun (ed.), Prosodic Typology: The Phonology of Intonation and Phrasing, 410–429. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199249633.003.0015
    https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199249633.003.0015 [Google Scholar]
  8. Chafe, Wallace
    1987 Cognitive constraints on information flow. InRussell Tomlin (ed.), Coherence and grouding in discourse, 21–51. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.11.03cha
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.11.03cha [Google Scholar]
  9. 1988 Linking Intonation Units in Spoken English. InJohn Haiman & Sandra A. Thompson (eds.), Clause Combining in Grammar and Discourse, 10–27. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 10.1075/tsl.18.03cha
    https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.18.03cha [Google Scholar]
  10. 1994Discourse, consciousness, and time. The flow and displacement of conscious experience in speaking and writing. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth
    2014 What does grammar tell us about action?Pragmatics24(3). 623–647. 10.1075/prag.24.3.08cou
    https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.24.3.08cou [Google Scholar]
  12. Cruttenden, Alan
    1986Intonation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Du Bois, John W., Stephan Schuetze-Coburn, Danae Paolino & Susanna Cummings
    1992 Discourse transcription. Santa Barbara Papers in Linguistics, vol.4. Department of Linguistics, University of California, Santa Barbara.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Erman, Britt & Beatrice Warren
    2000 The idiom principle and open choice principle. Text20(1). 29–62. 10.1515/text.1.2000.20.1.29
    https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.2000.20.1.29 [Google Scholar]
  15. Ford, Cecilia E., Barbara A. Fox & Sandra A. Thompson
    2002 Constituency and the Grammar of Turn Increments. InCecilia E. Ford, Barbara A. Fox & Sandra A. Thompson (eds.), The Language of Turn and Sequence, 14–38. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa
    1991 Syntaktiset rakenteet kertomuksen jäsentiminä. Virittäjä95. 33–47.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. 1997 Functions of case-marking vs. non-marking in conversational Finnish. InAnne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen, Kristin Davidse & Dirk Noël (eds.), Reconnecting Language: Morphology and Syntax in Functional Perspectives. CILT. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/cilt.154.13hel
    https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.154.13hel [Google Scholar]
  18. 2001Syntax in the Making. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/sidag.9
    https://doi.org/10.1075/sidag.9 [Google Scholar]
  19. Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa & Nobufumi, Inaba
    2013 Functions of free NPs in Old Finnish texts. Paper presented at theGrammar and Context Conference, June 2013. University of Tartu.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Heritage, John
    1984 A change-of-state token and aspects of its sequential placement. InJ. M. Atkinson & John Heritage (eds.), Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis, 299–345. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. 2012 The epistemic engine: Sequence organization and territories of knowledge. Research on Language and Social Interaction45(1). 30–52. 10.1080/08351813.2012.646685
    https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2012.646685 [Google Scholar]
  22. Hopper, Paul
    1987 Emergent grammar. InJohn Aske, Natasha Beery, Laura Michaelis & Hana Filip (eds.), Proceedings of the thirteenth annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 139–157. Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society.
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Huumo, Tuomas
    2013 On the many faces of incompleteness: Hide-and-seek with the Finnish partitive object. Folia Linguistica47(1). 1–23. 10.1515/flin.2013.005
    https://doi.org/10.1515/flin.2013.005 [Google Scholar]
  24. Huumo, Tuomas & Marja-Liisa Helasvuo
    2015 On the subject of subject in Finnish. InMarja-Liisa Helasvuo & Tuomas Huumo (eds.), Subjects in constructions: Canonical and non-canonical, 13–41. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Laakso, Minna & Marja-Leena Sorjonen
    2010 Cut-off or particle: Devices for initiating self-repair in conversation. Journal of Pragmatics42. 1151–1172. 10.1016/j.pragma.2009.09.004
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.09.004 [Google Scholar]
  26. Lagae, Véronique
    2007 Left-detachment and topic-marking in French: The case of quant à and en fait de. Folia Linguistica41(3). 327–355.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Laury, Ritva, Marja Etelämäki & Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen
    (eds.) 2015 Approaches to grammar for interactional linguistics. Special Issue. Pragmatics24(3).
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Laury, Ritva & Marja-Liisa Helasvuo
    2016 Detached NPs with relative clauses in Finnish conversations. InM. M. Jocelyne Fernandez-Vest & Robert D. Van Valin, Jr. (eds.), Information structuring of spoken language from a cross-linguistic perspective, 149–165. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Ono, Tsuyoshi & Sandra A. Thompson
    1994 Unattached NPs in English Conversation. Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session Dedicated to the Contributions of Charles J. Fillmore. 10.3765/bls.v20i1.1477
    https://doi.org/10.3765/bls.v20i1.1477 [Google Scholar]
  30. Pekarek Doehler, Simona
    2011 Emergent grammar for all practical purposes: the online formatting of left- and right dislocations in French conversation. InPeter Auer & Stefan Pfänder (eds.), Constructions: Emerging and Emergent, 45–87. Berlin: Mouton. 10.1515/9783110229080.45
    https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110229080.45 [Google Scholar]
  31. Pekarek Doehler, Simona, Elwys de Stefani & Anne-Sofie Horlacher
    2015Time and emergence in grammar. Dislocation, topicalization and hanging topic in French talk-in-interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/slsi.28
    https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.28 [Google Scholar]
  32. Selting, Margret & Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen
    (eds.) 2001Studies in interactional linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/sidag.10
    https://doi.org/10.1075/sidag.10 [Google Scholar]
  33. Seppänen, Eeva-Leena
    1997 Vuorovaikutus paperilla. InLiisa Tainio (ed.), Keskustelunanalyysin perusteet, 18–31. Tampere: Vastapaino.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Siro, Paavo
    1964Suomen kielen lauseoppi. Helsinki: Tietosanakirja.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Sorjonen, Marja-Leena
    2001Responding in Conversation: A Study of Response Particles in Finnish. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.70
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.70 [Google Scholar]
  36. Sorjonen, Marja-Leena & Liisa, Raevaara
    2014 On the grammatical form of making requests at the convenience store: Requesting as embodied action. InPaul Drew & Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen (eds.), Requesting in Social Interaction, 243–268. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Tao, Hongyin
    1996Units in Mandarin Conversation: Prosody, Discourse, and Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/sidag.5
    https://doi.org/10.1075/sidag.5 [Google Scholar]
  38. Terasaki, A. K.
    2004 Pre-announcement sequences in conversation. InGene Lerner (ed.), Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation, 171–223. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 10.1075/pbns.125.11ter
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.125.11ter [Google Scholar]
  39. Voronov, Mikhail
    (forthcoming). Kielellinen muutos ja sen ymmärtäminen. Tapaustutkimuksena totaaliobjektin merkinnän tasoittuminen Pohjois-Norjan kainun murteissa. Turku: University of Turku doctoral dissertation.
/content/journals/10.1075/sl.16064.hel
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/sl.16064.hel
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Finnish; free NP; interactional linguistics; morphosyntax; prosody; syntax
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error