John Benjamins Publishing Company
From subordinate clause to noun-phrase: Yang constructions in colloquial Indonesian
Abstract
This paper addresses the blurring of a distinction between subordinate clause and nominal phrase in colloquial Indonesian conversation. Specifically, it presents a discourse-based analysis of the forms and functions of constructions introduced by the morpheme yang. Previous literature has generally described these constructions as relative clauses; however, this paper shows that they form a continuum around three general foci. They range from traditional relative clauses serving as modifiers of head nouns, to headless referring expressions serving as presupposed information in clefts, to referring expressions functioning as direct nominal arguments of predicates. The findings call into question the label “relative clause” for these Indonesian constructions, and support a view of grammatical categories as emerging from their use in discourse.
Abstract
This paper addresses the blurring of a distinction between subordinate clause and nominal phrase in colloquial Indonesian conversation. Specifically, it presents a discourse-based analysis of the forms and functions of constructions introduced by the morpheme yang. Previous literature has generally described these constructions as relative clauses; however, this paper shows that they form a continuum around three general foci. They range from traditional relative clauses serving as modifiers of head nouns, to headless referring expressions serving as presupposed information in clefts, to referring expressions functioning as direct nominal arguments of predicates. The findings call into question the label “relative clause” for these Indonesian constructions, and support a view of grammatical categories as emerging from their use in discourse.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction ix
- From subordinate clause to noun-phrase: Yang constructions in colloquial Indonesian 1
- On quotative constructions in Iberian Spanish 35
- Bulgarian adversative connectives: Conjunctions or discourse markers? 79
- Projectability and clause combining in interaction 99
- Conjunction and sequenced actions: The Estonian complementizer and evidential particle et 125
- Clause combining, interaction, evidentiality, participation structure, and the conjunction-particle continuum: The Finnish että 153
- The grammaticization of but as a final particle in English conversation 179
- Quotative tte in Japanese: Its multifaceted functions and degrees of "subordination" 205
- Quoting and topic-marking: Some observations on the quotative tte construction in Japanese 231
- Index of names 247
- Index of subjects 251
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction ix
- From subordinate clause to noun-phrase: Yang constructions in colloquial Indonesian 1
- On quotative constructions in Iberian Spanish 35
- Bulgarian adversative connectives: Conjunctions or discourse markers? 79
- Projectability and clause combining in interaction 99
- Conjunction and sequenced actions: The Estonian complementizer and evidential particle et 125
- Clause combining, interaction, evidentiality, participation structure, and the conjunction-particle continuum: The Finnish että 153
- The grammaticization of but as a final particle in English conversation 179
- Quotative tte in Japanese: Its multifaceted functions and degrees of "subordination" 205
- Quoting and topic-marking: Some observations on the quotative tte construction in Japanese 231
- Index of names 247
- Index of subjects 251
