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Chapter 3. Emergent complex noun phrases

On-line trajectories of ‘relativized’ NPs in French talk-in-interaction
  • Ioana-Maria Stoenica , Simona Pekarek Doehler and Anne-Sylvie Horlacher
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The ‘Noun Phrase’ across Languages
This chapter is in the book The ‘Noun Phrase’ across Languages

Abstract

In this paper, we document the temporal and contingent nature of noun phrases (NPs). Focusing on relativized NPs, we show that they are produced as an interactional accomplishment, emerging from how participants adapt to each other’s verbal and non-verbal conduct. Based on 20 hours of French conversation, we identify two types of emergent complex NPs, and document their interactional working: Those resulting from a current speaker’s adding on a relative clause increment to his/her preceding turn; and those resulting from a next speaker’s production of such an increment, yielding jointly constructed NPs. We discuss implications for our understanding of the NP as an emergent unit, of the subordinate (or not) status of relative clauses, and of the notion of increment.

Abstract

In this paper, we document the temporal and contingent nature of noun phrases (NPs). Focusing on relativized NPs, we show that they are produced as an interactional accomplishment, emerging from how participants adapt to each other’s verbal and non-verbal conduct. Based on 20 hours of French conversation, we identify two types of emergent complex NPs, and document their interactional working: Those resulting from a current speaker’s adding on a relative clause increment to his/her preceding turn; and those resulting from a next speaker’s production of such an increment, yielding jointly constructed NPs. We discuss implications for our understanding of the NP as an emergent unit, of the subordinate (or not) status of relative clauses, and of the notion of increment.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Languages from Europe
  5. Chapter 2. The Finnish se että initiated expressions 11
  6. Chapter 3. Emergent complex noun phrases 43
  7. Chapter 4. The noun phrase as an emergent unit in Finnish 71
  8. Chapter 5. Noun phrases in other-repetitions 93
  9. Chapter 6. Asserting no-problemness in Spanish 119
  10. Chapter 7. Multimodal noun phrases 153
  11. Chapter 8. Nouns and noun phrases in other-initiated repair in English atypical interaction 179
  12. Part II. Languages from other parts of the world
  13. Chapter 9. Multiple nominal expressions in Garrwa conversation 211
  14. Chapter 10. The pragmatics of ‘light nouns’ in Besemah 237
  15. Chapter 11. NP clustering in Mandarin conversational interaction 271
  16. Chapter 12. What can Japanese conversation tell us about ‘NP’? 315
  17. Chapter 13. Robust argument phrases (DPs) but unruly NPs in Maa 329
  18. Index 363
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.128.03sto

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Languages from Europe
  5. Chapter 2. The Finnish se että initiated expressions 11
  6. Chapter 3. Emergent complex noun phrases 43
  7. Chapter 4. The noun phrase as an emergent unit in Finnish 71
  8. Chapter 5. Noun phrases in other-repetitions 93
  9. Chapter 6. Asserting no-problemness in Spanish 119
  10. Chapter 7. Multimodal noun phrases 153
  11. Chapter 8. Nouns and noun phrases in other-initiated repair in English atypical interaction 179
  12. Part II. Languages from other parts of the world
  13. Chapter 9. Multiple nominal expressions in Garrwa conversation 211
  14. Chapter 10. The pragmatics of ‘light nouns’ in Besemah 237
  15. Chapter 11. NP clustering in Mandarin conversational interaction 271
  16. Chapter 12. What can Japanese conversation tell us about ‘NP’? 315
  17. Chapter 13. Robust argument phrases (DPs) but unruly NPs in Maa 329
  18. Index 363
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