Chapter 7. Practices of clause-combining
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Susanne Günthner
Abstract
Traditionally, conditional wenn-clauses in German are treated as subordinate clauses, either preceding or following their matrix clauses. My data – based on naturally occurring German talk-in-interaction from various settings – show that participants in everyday interactions use various types of (pre-positioned) wenn-constructions as resources to accomplish social activities. These constructions not only blur the boundaries between subordinated and main clauses, but also reveal a wide range of in-between wenn-constructions ranging from tightly integrated to loosely integrated, from non-integrated to free-standing.
The empirically based analysis, furthermore, shows that practices of clause-combining turn out to be closely connected to the temporal unfolding of talk-in-interaction, and thus to issues of projection, retractive expansions as well as the ongoing accomplishment of social action.
Abstract
Traditionally, conditional wenn-clauses in German are treated as subordinate clauses, either preceding or following their matrix clauses. My data – based on naturally occurring German talk-in-interaction from various settings – show that participants in everyday interactions use various types of (pre-positioned) wenn-constructions as resources to accomplish social activities. These constructions not only blur the boundaries between subordinated and main clauses, but also reveal a wide range of in-between wenn-constructions ranging from tightly integrated to loosely integrated, from non-integrated to free-standing.
The empirically based analysis, furthermore, shows that practices of clause-combining turn out to be closely connected to the temporal unfolding of talk-in-interaction, and thus to issues of projection, retractive expansions as well as the ongoing accomplishment of social action.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Complex syntax-in-interaction 1
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Part I. Emerging projecting constructions
- Chapter 2. Nel senso (che) in Italian conversation 25
- Chapter 3. The emergence and routinization of complex syntactic patterns formed with ajatella ‘think’ and tietää ‘know’ in Finnish talk-in-interaction 55
- Chapter 4. The insubordinate – subordinate continuum 87
- Chapter 5. Emergent patterns of predicative clauses in spoken Hebrew discourse 127
- Chapter 6. From matrix clause to turn expansion 151
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Part II. Locally emergent clause-combining patterns
- Chapter 7. Practices of clause-combining 185
- Chapter 8. Grammatical coordination of embodied action 221
- Chapter 9. Consecutive clause combinations in instructing activities 245
- Chapter 10. Right-dislocated complement clauses in German talk-in-interaction 275
- Chapter 11. Relative-clause increments and the management of reference 303
- Chapter 12. Afterword 331
- Index 339
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Complex syntax-in-interaction 1
-
Part I. Emerging projecting constructions
- Chapter 2. Nel senso (che) in Italian conversation 25
- Chapter 3. The emergence and routinization of complex syntactic patterns formed with ajatella ‘think’ and tietää ‘know’ in Finnish talk-in-interaction 55
- Chapter 4. The insubordinate – subordinate continuum 87
- Chapter 5. Emergent patterns of predicative clauses in spoken Hebrew discourse 127
- Chapter 6. From matrix clause to turn expansion 151
-
Part II. Locally emergent clause-combining patterns
- Chapter 7. Practices of clause-combining 185
- Chapter 8. Grammatical coordination of embodied action 221
- Chapter 9. Consecutive clause combinations in instructing activities 245
- Chapter 10. Right-dislocated complement clauses in German talk-in-interaction 275
- Chapter 11. Relative-clause increments and the management of reference 303
- Chapter 12. Afterword 331
- Index 339
