Questioning the clause as a crosslinguistic unit in grammar and interaction
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Ritva Laury
Abstract
This paper focuses on ‘clause’, a celebrated structural unit in linguistics, by comparing Finnish and Japanese, two languages which are genetically, typologically, and areally distinct from each other and from English, the language on the basis of which this structural unit has been most typically discussed. We first examine how structural units including the clause have been discussed in the literature on Finnish and Japanese. We will then examine the reality of the clause in everyday talk in these languages quantitatively and qualitatively; in our qualitative analysis, we focus in particular on what units are oriented to by conversational participants. The current study suggests that the degree of grammaticization of the clause varies cross-linguistically and questions the central theoretical status accorded to this structural unit.
Abstract
This paper focuses on ‘clause’, a celebrated structural unit in linguistics, by comparing Finnish and Japanese, two languages which are genetically, typologically, and areally distinct from each other and from English, the language on the basis of which this structural unit has been most typically discussed. We first examine how structural units including the clause have been discussed in the literature on Finnish and Japanese. We will then examine the reality of the clause in everyday talk in these languages quantitatively and qualitatively; in our qualitative analysis, we focus in particular on what units are oriented to by conversational participants. The current study suggests that the degree of grammaticization of the clause varies cross-linguistically and questions the central theoretical status accorded to this structural unit.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- On the notion of unit in the study of human languages 1
- Understanding ‘clause’ as an emergent ‘unit’ in everyday conversation 11
- Linguistic units and their systems 39
- Free NPs as units in Finnish 59
- Referring expressions in categorizing activities 87
- Questioning the clause as a crosslinguistic unit in grammar and interaction 123
- The predicate as a locus of grammar and interaction in colloquial Indonesian 161
- Index 203
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- On the notion of unit in the study of human languages 1
- Understanding ‘clause’ as an emergent ‘unit’ in everyday conversation 11
- Linguistic units and their systems 39
- Free NPs as units in Finnish 59
- Referring expressions in categorizing activities 87
- Questioning the clause as a crosslinguistic unit in grammar and interaction 123
- The predicate as a locus of grammar and interaction in colloquial Indonesian 161
- Index 203
