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Chapter 10. Right-dislocated complement clauses in German talk-in-interaction

(Re-)specifying propositional referents of the demonstrative pronoun das
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Abstract

This contribution deals with right-dislocated complement clauses with the subordinating conjunction dass (‘that’) in German talk-in-interaction. The bi-clausal construction we analyze is as follows: The first clause, in which one argument is realized by the demonstrative pronoun das (‘this/that’), is syntactically and semantically complete; the reference of the pronoun is (re-)specified by adding a dass-complement clause after a point of possible completion (e.g., aber das hab ich nich MITbekommen. (0.32) dass es da so YOUtubevideos gab. (‘But I wasn’t aware of that. That there were videos about that on YouTube.’). The first clause always performs a backward-oriented action (e.g., an assessment) and the second clause (re-)specifies the propositional reference of the demonstrative, allowing for a (strategic) perspective shift. Based on a collection of 93 cases from everyday conversations and institutional interactions, we found that the construction is used close to the turn-beginning for referring to and (re-)specifying (parts of) another speaker’s prior turn; turn-internal uses tie together parts of a speaker’s multi-unit turn. The construction thus facilitates an incremental constitution of meaning and reference.

Abstract

This contribution deals with right-dislocated complement clauses with the subordinating conjunction dass (‘that’) in German talk-in-interaction. The bi-clausal construction we analyze is as follows: The first clause, in which one argument is realized by the demonstrative pronoun das (‘this/that’), is syntactically and semantically complete; the reference of the pronoun is (re-)specified by adding a dass-complement clause after a point of possible completion (e.g., aber das hab ich nich MITbekommen. (0.32) dass es da so YOUtubevideos gab. (‘But I wasn’t aware of that. That there were videos about that on YouTube.’). The first clause always performs a backward-oriented action (e.g., an assessment) and the second clause (re-)specifies the propositional reference of the demonstrative, allowing for a (strategic) perspective shift. Based on a collection of 93 cases from everyday conversations and institutional interactions, we found that the construction is used close to the turn-beginning for referring to and (re-)specifying (parts of) another speaker’s prior turn; turn-internal uses tie together parts of a speaker’s multi-unit turn. The construction thus facilitates an incremental constitution of meaning and reference.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Complex syntax-in-interaction 1
  4. Part I. Emerging projecting constructions
  5. Chapter 2. Nel senso (che) in Italian conversation 25
  6. Chapter 3. The emergence and routinization of complex syntactic patterns formed with ajatella ‘think’ and tietää ‘know’ in Finnish talk-in-interaction 55
  7. Chapter 4. The insubordinate – subordinate continuum 87
  8. Chapter 5. Emergent patterns of predicative clauses in spoken Hebrew discourse 127
  9. Chapter 6. From matrix clause to turn expansion 151
  10. Part II. Locally emergent clause-combining patterns
  11. Chapter 7. Practices of clause-combining 185
  12. Chapter 8. Grammatical coordination of embodied action 221
  13. Chapter 9. Consecutive clause combinations in instructing activities 245
  14. Chapter 10. Right-dislocated complement clauses in German talk-in-interaction 275
  15. Chapter 11. Relative-clause increments and the management of reference 303
  16. Chapter 12. Afterword 331
  17. Index 339
Emergent Syntax for Conversation
This chapter is in the book Emergent Syntax for Conversation
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.32.10pro

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Complex syntax-in-interaction 1
  4. Part I. Emerging projecting constructions
  5. Chapter 2. Nel senso (che) in Italian conversation 25
  6. Chapter 3. The emergence and routinization of complex syntactic patterns formed with ajatella ‘think’ and tietää ‘know’ in Finnish talk-in-interaction 55
  7. Chapter 4. The insubordinate – subordinate continuum 87
  8. Chapter 5. Emergent patterns of predicative clauses in spoken Hebrew discourse 127
  9. Chapter 6. From matrix clause to turn expansion 151
  10. Part II. Locally emergent clause-combining patterns
  11. Chapter 7. Practices of clause-combining 185
  12. Chapter 8. Grammatical coordination of embodied action 221
  13. Chapter 9. Consecutive clause combinations in instructing activities 245
  14. Chapter 10. Right-dislocated complement clauses in German talk-in-interaction 275
  15. Chapter 11. Relative-clause increments and the management of reference 303
  16. Chapter 12. Afterword 331
  17. Index 339
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