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Chapter 4. Category-building lists between grammar and interaction

A constructionist view
  • Eugenio Goria and Francesca Masini
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Building Categories in Interaction
This chapter is in the book Building Categories in Interaction

Abstract

Lists are one of the most common devices that are used in interaction to refer to a category. Yet, there are only few studies that analyze the relationship between lists and categorization. Our paper aims at advancing our knowledge of this relationship, and of lists in general. From a theoretical point of view, we discuss the benefits of integrating the Construction Grammar approach to lists adopted in Masini et al. (2018) with some of the basic assumptions of Interactional Linguistics. From an empirical point of view, we offer a qualitative analysis of lists based on data from two corpora of spoken Italian: the LIP corpus (De Mauro et al. 1993) and the KIParla corpus (Mauri et al. 2019a). In particular, we discuss a case study on the use of the Italian discourse marker insomma within list constructions: while it serves as a reformulation marker in most of its uses, insomma also proves to be used (more marginally) as a category introducer within category-building lists. Our findings provide useful insight to ultimately bridge the gap between denotation lists as a reference-oriented phenomenon and other types of mechanisms that are relevant at the discourse level, including conversational repair.

Abstract

Lists are one of the most common devices that are used in interaction to refer to a category. Yet, there are only few studies that analyze the relationship between lists and categorization. Our paper aims at advancing our knowledge of this relationship, and of lists in general. From a theoretical point of view, we discuss the benefits of integrating the Construction Grammar approach to lists adopted in Masini et al. (2018) with some of the basic assumptions of Interactional Linguistics. From an empirical point of view, we offer a qualitative analysis of lists based on data from two corpora of spoken Italian: the LIP corpus (De Mauro et al. 1993) and the KIParla corpus (Mauri et al. 2019a). In particular, we discuss a case study on the use of the Italian discourse marker insomma within list constructions: while it serves as a reformulation marker in most of its uses, insomma also proves to be used (more marginally) as a category introducer within category-building lists. Our findings provide useful insight to ultimately bridge the gap between denotation lists as a reference-oriented phenomenon and other types of mechanisms that are relevant at the discourse level, including conversational repair.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Building categories in interaction 1
  4. Chapter 2. Ad hoc categorization in linguistic interaction 9
  5. Chapter 3. Categories at the interface of cognition and action 35
  6. Chapter 4. Category-building lists between grammar and interaction 73
  7. Chapter 5. Are new words predictable? 111
  8. Chapter 6. The Camel Humps prosodic pattern 155
  9. Chapter 7. Making the implicit explicit 187
  10. Chapter 8. Online text mapping 211
  11. Chapter 9. Exemplification in interaction 239
  12. Chapter 10. The on-line construction of meaning in Mandarin Chinese 271
  13. Chapter 11. Et cetera, eccetera, etc. The development of a general extender from Latin to Italian 295
  14. Chapter 12. Morphopragmatics of rhyming and imitative co-compounds in Russian 317
  15. Chapter 13. Encoding ad hoc categories in Georgian 355
  16. Chapter 14. French type-noun constructions based on genre 373
  17. Chapter 15. In a manner of speaking 415
  18. Chapter 16. Why it’s hard to construct ad hoc number concepts 439
  19. Index 463
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.220.04gor

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Building categories in interaction 1
  4. Chapter 2. Ad hoc categorization in linguistic interaction 9
  5. Chapter 3. Categories at the interface of cognition and action 35
  6. Chapter 4. Category-building lists between grammar and interaction 73
  7. Chapter 5. Are new words predictable? 111
  8. Chapter 6. The Camel Humps prosodic pattern 155
  9. Chapter 7. Making the implicit explicit 187
  10. Chapter 8. Online text mapping 211
  11. Chapter 9. Exemplification in interaction 239
  12. Chapter 10. The on-line construction of meaning in Mandarin Chinese 271
  13. Chapter 11. Et cetera, eccetera, etc. The development of a general extender from Latin to Italian 295
  14. Chapter 12. Morphopragmatics of rhyming and imitative co-compounds in Russian 317
  15. Chapter 13. Encoding ad hoc categories in Georgian 355
  16. Chapter 14. French type-noun constructions based on genre 373
  17. Chapter 15. In a manner of speaking 415
  18. Chapter 16. Why it’s hard to construct ad hoc number concepts 439
  19. Index 463
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