18 Conversation structure
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Olivia N. Sammons
Abstract
Everyday conversation represents a core facet of human interaction and expression, and its documentation and analysis provide the potential for a richer understanding of language. Conversation is also increasingly important to language revitalization, where conversational proficiency and the expansion of language usage into increased domains is often a primary goal (Amery 2009; Miyashita & Hirata-Edds forthcoming). Nevertheless, everyday conversation has remained both underdocumented and understudied for many Indigenous languages, representing a significant gap in the documentary record (Amery 2009; Berge 2010). The documentation and analysis of everyday conversation in North American Indigenous languages has only recently begun to receive more dedicated attention, in part due to recent advances in recording technologies, increasing emphasis on documentary representativeness (Biber 1993; Himmelmann 2006; Sankoff 1988), and growing recognition of the importance of connected, spontaneous speech in interactive contexts (Mithun 2001). This chapter provides an overview of recent developments in this area, surveying several conversation documentation projects in North America and considering the relevance of conversation to linguistic research and language revitalization.
Abstract
Everyday conversation represents a core facet of human interaction and expression, and its documentation and analysis provide the potential for a richer understanding of language. Conversation is also increasingly important to language revitalization, where conversational proficiency and the expansion of language usage into increased domains is often a primary goal (Amery 2009; Miyashita & Hirata-Edds forthcoming). Nevertheless, everyday conversation has remained both underdocumented and understudied for many Indigenous languages, representing a significant gap in the documentary record (Amery 2009; Berge 2010). The documentation and analysis of everyday conversation in North American Indigenous languages has only recently begun to receive more dedicated attention, in part due to recent advances in recording technologies, increasing emphasis on documentary representativeness (Biber 1993; Himmelmann 2006; Sankoff 1988), and growing recognition of the importance of connected, spontaneous speech in interactive contexts (Mithun 2001). This chapter provides an overview of recent developments in this area, surveying several conversation documentation projects in North America and considering the relevance of conversation to linguistic research and language revitalization.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Table of contents VII
- List of North American families, languages, and dialects XIII
- Maps XLI
-
I Sounds and sound structure
- 1 Acoustic phonetics 1
- 2 Articulatory phonetics 39
- 3 Tone 63
- 4 Segmental phonology 89
- 5 Prosodic morphology 109
- 6 Word prosody 135
- 7 Prosody beyond the word 155
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II Words
- 8 What is a word? 183
- 9 Word classes 205
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III Sentences
- 10 Syntax within the clause 247
- 11 Negatives 267
- 12 Questions and requests in North American languages 283
- 13 Information structure 305
- 14 Clause-combining: Relative clauses 323
- 15 Clause combining: Syntax of subordination and complementation 345
- 16 Switch-reference and event cohesion 363
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IV Discourse
- 17 Verbal art 385
- 18 Conversation structure 421
-
V Meaning
- 19 Lexicalization and lexical meaning 453
- 20 Lexicography 479
- 21 Evidentiality 497
- 22 Pluractionality and distributivity 511
- 23 Mass and count nouns 527
- 24 Sense of place: Space, landscape, and orientation 547
- 25 A sense of time and world 577
- 26 Pragmatics 599
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VI Languages over space and time
- 27 Languages as dynamic systems: How grammar can emerge 619
- 28 Language contact and linguistic areas 647
- 29 Language classification 669
- 30 Archival-based sociolinguistic variation 689
- 31 Community-based sociolinguistic variation 701
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Table of contents VII
- List of North American families, languages, and dialects XIII
- Maps XLI
-
I Sounds and sound structure
- 1 Acoustic phonetics 1
- 2 Articulatory phonetics 39
- 3 Tone 63
- 4 Segmental phonology 89
- 5 Prosodic morphology 109
- 6 Word prosody 135
- 7 Prosody beyond the word 155
-
II Words
- 8 What is a word? 183
- 9 Word classes 205
-
III Sentences
- 10 Syntax within the clause 247
- 11 Negatives 267
- 12 Questions and requests in North American languages 283
- 13 Information structure 305
- 14 Clause-combining: Relative clauses 323
- 15 Clause combining: Syntax of subordination and complementation 345
- 16 Switch-reference and event cohesion 363
-
IV Discourse
- 17 Verbal art 385
- 18 Conversation structure 421
-
V Meaning
- 19 Lexicalization and lexical meaning 453
- 20 Lexicography 479
- 21 Evidentiality 497
- 22 Pluractionality and distributivity 511
- 23 Mass and count nouns 527
- 24 Sense of place: Space, landscape, and orientation 547
- 25 A sense of time and world 577
- 26 Pragmatics 599
-
VI Languages over space and time
- 27 Languages as dynamic systems: How grammar can emerge 619
- 28 Language contact and linguistic areas 647
- 29 Language classification 669
- 30 Archival-based sociolinguistic variation 689
- 31 Community-based sociolinguistic variation 701
