Chapter 4. The noun phrase as an emergent unit in Finnish
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Marja-Liisa Helasvuo
Abstract
The article focuses on the use of noun phrases in Finnish conversation as arguments, contrasting these uses with the use of free NPs. I show that several grammatical processes characteristic of Finnish contribute to making the internal structure of NPs relatively stable. Agreement in case and number, together with the relatively fixed ordering of elements within the NP, help the co-participants to project the future course of the turn. In the construction of NPs as referring expressions, recipient design is an important preference. A close examination of the use of argument NPs and free NPs in interaction reveals different clusterings of features characteristic of NPs as units. Based on these findings, the NP emerges as a robust unit in Finnish.
Abstract
The article focuses on the use of noun phrases in Finnish conversation as arguments, contrasting these uses with the use of free NPs. I show that several grammatical processes characteristic of Finnish contribute to making the internal structure of NPs relatively stable. Agreement in case and number, together with the relatively fixed ordering of elements within the NP, help the co-participants to project the future course of the turn. In the construction of NPs as referring expressions, recipient design is an important preference. A close examination of the use of argument NPs and free NPs in interaction reveals different clusterings of features characteristic of NPs as units. Based on these findings, the NP emerges as a robust unit in Finnish.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
-
Part I. Languages from Europe
- Chapter 2. The Finnish se että initiated expressions 11
- Chapter 3. Emergent complex noun phrases 43
- Chapter 4. The noun phrase as an emergent unit in Finnish 71
- Chapter 5. Noun phrases in other-repetitions 93
- Chapter 6. Asserting no-problemness in Spanish 119
- Chapter 7. Multimodal noun phrases 153
- Chapter 8. Nouns and noun phrases in other-initiated repair in English atypical interaction 179
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Part II. Languages from other parts of the world
- Chapter 9. Multiple nominal expressions in Garrwa conversation 211
- Chapter 10. The pragmatics of ‘light nouns’ in Besemah 237
- Chapter 11. NP clustering in Mandarin conversational interaction 271
- Chapter 12. What can Japanese conversation tell us about ‘NP’? 315
- Chapter 13. Robust argument phrases (DPs) but unruly NPs in Maa 329
- Index 363
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
-
Part I. Languages from Europe
- Chapter 2. The Finnish se että initiated expressions 11
- Chapter 3. Emergent complex noun phrases 43
- Chapter 4. The noun phrase as an emergent unit in Finnish 71
- Chapter 5. Noun phrases in other-repetitions 93
- Chapter 6. Asserting no-problemness in Spanish 119
- Chapter 7. Multimodal noun phrases 153
- Chapter 8. Nouns and noun phrases in other-initiated repair in English atypical interaction 179
-
Part II. Languages from other parts of the world
- Chapter 9. Multiple nominal expressions in Garrwa conversation 211
- Chapter 10. The pragmatics of ‘light nouns’ in Besemah 237
- Chapter 11. NP clustering in Mandarin conversational interaction 271
- Chapter 12. What can Japanese conversation tell us about ‘NP’? 315
- Chapter 13. Robust argument phrases (DPs) but unruly NPs in Maa 329
- Index 363
