Incorporating the interpersonal: Some topic manipulation in Rembarrnga
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Adam Saulwick
Abstract
Rembarrnga (Gunwinyguan, Australian) is a polysynthetic language exhibiting complex verbal morphology with multiple (typically obligatory) slots in the verbal template for the expression and discourse manipulation of core propositional actants. External to the verbal word there exist a number of syntactic slots which may function to identify or further specify event participants. Through the investigation of the distinct function of a number of formally alternative means available to a speaker for tracking discourse participants in Rembarrnga, this article is intended to show the subtle interaction between grammatical properties and discourse strategies of the language. These interactions are to some extent driven by the interpersonal level of grammar in which a speaker signifies to an addressee through grammatical means outlined here the assumptions as to what discourse status the speaker wishes — and believes — the addressee will attribute to discourse participants; as tacit (e.g., presupposed or given) or explicit (e.g., new). The discussion herein also proposes an appropriate FDG representation of these structures at the interpersonal level of grammar.
© 2009 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Biblical Hebrew qatal verb: a functional discourse grammar analysis
- The interpersonal level in English: Reported speech
- Illocution and Focus at the semantics-pragmatics interface in Umpithamu (Cape York, Australia)
- Aspects of the interpersonal grammar of Gaelic
- What's in a morpheme? Obviation morphology in Blackfoot
- Focus structure and Q-word questions in Hittite
- Incorporating the interpersonal: Some topic manipulation in Rembarrnga
- Identifiability and verbal cross-referencing markers in Hungarian
- The emergence of modification patterns in the Dutch noun phrase
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction
- The Biblical Hebrew qatal verb: a functional discourse grammar analysis
- The interpersonal level in English: Reported speech
- Illocution and Focus at the semantics-pragmatics interface in Umpithamu (Cape York, Australia)
- Aspects of the interpersonal grammar of Gaelic
- What's in a morpheme? Obviation morphology in Blackfoot
- Focus structure and Q-word questions in Hittite
- Incorporating the interpersonal: Some topic manipulation in Rembarrnga
- Identifiability and verbal cross-referencing markers in Hungarian
- The emergence of modification patterns in the Dutch noun phrase
