The predicate as a locus of grammar and interaction in colloquial Indonesian
-
Michael C. Ewing
Abstract
Descriptions of Indonesian usually take the clause as the starting point for analysing grammatical structure and rely on the notion of ellipsis to account for the way speakers actually use language in everyday conversational interaction. This study challenges the status of “clause” by investigating the structures actually used by Indonesian speakers in informal conversation and it demonstrates that the predicate, rather than the clause, plays a central role in the grammar of Indonesian conversation. The preponderance of predicates in the data that do not have explicit arguments suggests that this format is best viewed as the default. When a predicate is produced without overt arguments, reconstructing what arguments may have been elided is often ambiguous or indeterminate and seems to be irrelevant to speakers. An examination of turn-taking, overlap and incrementing in conversation also shows that predicates, rather than full clauses, are the grammatical format participants regularly orient to.
Abstract
Descriptions of Indonesian usually take the clause as the starting point for analysing grammatical structure and rely on the notion of ellipsis to account for the way speakers actually use language in everyday conversational interaction. This study challenges the status of “clause” by investigating the structures actually used by Indonesian speakers in informal conversation and it demonstrates that the predicate, rather than the clause, plays a central role in the grammar of Indonesian conversation. The preponderance of predicates in the data that do not have explicit arguments suggests that this format is best viewed as the default. When a predicate is produced without overt arguments, reconstructing what arguments may have been elided is often ambiguous or indeterminate and seems to be irrelevant to speakers. An examination of turn-taking, overlap and incrementing in conversation also shows that predicates, rather than full clauses, are the grammatical format participants regularly orient to.
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
